What's wrong with only exercising when you feel uncomfortable?

Naer · Jun 8, 2025

Instead of having a concrete regimen on when and how long to exercise, only exercise when you feel noticeably uncomfortable.

What is wrong with this?

IronWing · Jun 8, 2025

I’m comfortable with being fat so the criteria you’ve suggested would lead to never exercising.

Note: I don’t like to be fat but if causes no discomfort.

igor_kavinski · Jun 8, 2025

Naer said:
What is wrong with this?

That's making things very hard for yourself. By the time you feel uncomfortable walking or fitting into clothes, you have already gotten on a few layers of unwanted fat that will be VERY hard to get rid of.

Kaido · Jun 9, 2025

Naer said:
Instead of having a concrete regimen on when and how long to exercise, only exercise when you feel noticeably uncomfortable.

What is wrong with this?

20% of all deaths of people age 35 and older in the study died from reasons due to inactivity:

Sitting can kill you

Decisions made pertaining to daily life activities -- specifically nutrition, activity and sleep -- will make a greater difference to your health than the 100 minutes visiting your health care provider.

www.army.mil

Physical inactivity has been identified as the fourth-leading risk factor for death worldwide:

https://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/health/sitting-will-kill-you

Just 11 minutes a day increases your life span:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/health/daily-exercise-increase-life-span-study-wellness/index.html

11 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic activity per day could lower your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease or premature death:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/28/health/moderate-physical-activity-cancer-death-risk-wellness

It doesn't have to be anything specific, just consistent. I hate exercising, so I play VR exercise-adjacent games instead:

* PowerBeatsVR (better than BeatSaber!)
* Suprenatural
* Ragnrok (DDR but with your arms!)
* Eleven Assassin
* Rec Room
* Gorilla Tag
* Eleven Table Tennis
* Racket NX
* Thrill of the Fight
* Budget Cuts

Naer · Jun 9, 2025

i do longer than 11 minutes when I do exercise. It may be around 45 minutes. I get noticeably uncomfortable if I don't do the stationary bike for a bit. After biking a bit, I'm good for many hours.

I just don't have a fixed schedule for it. Basically I just listen to my body to tell me when to do it. Guess my diet is directly correlated to when I get the message to exercise.

igor_kavinski · Jun 9, 2025

If you sit at a desk a lot, exercise 5 and 7 can help a lot in keeping the body burning calories:

nakedfrog · Jun 9, 2025

In your case, you have a very sedentary lifestyle and a bad diet. Exercise can help with the effects of a bad diet. You'll probably die young, how do you feel about that? Your life as an old person (if you make it that far) will also be less enjoyable if you've been out of shape for the preceding decades.

thestrangebrew1 · Jun 9, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
If you sit at a desk a lot, exercise 5 and 7 can help a lot in keeping the body burning calories:

Good tips. I have a desk job with a rising desk so I stand up a lot. I've been taking the dog out on walks in the mornings for awhile, but I'm trying to be consistent about it. Also, first day of summer so I don't have to take the kid to school so today I rode the bike into work for the first time since her spring break.

NuclearNed · Jun 9, 2025

Simply put, exercise has a cumulative effect on the body. Stopping for any amount of time is a loss of ground that was difficult to gain.

Red Squirrel · Jun 9, 2025

I find if I take a break I find once I get back into it the first few workouts are more like warmups to get me back into it. So if you only workout once in a while you never really get to a point where you can do a proper workout to your full potential.

I'm kinda guilty of it myself, I work shifts so there's not much of a sense of routine for me, so I try to workout on my days off but then sometimes I fall out of the groove especially in summer since on my days off I'm doing jobs around the house or going out to my camp etc so just not in the mood to workout at the end of the day. I guess all that stuff does get me moving at least so it's something. I probably put like 10km the other day just doing electrical and data work going back and forth and climbing up and down the ladders while fishing wire etc. I suppose that could count as a workout maybe not a super hard one but it's better than sitting in a chair all day.

purbeast0 · Jun 9, 2025

I haven't NOT had an exercise regiment in about 25 years, so I wouldn't really know what it is like.

I did break my ankle like 20 + years ago and it really really sucked not being able to go to the gym for months. I would get home and play Halo 2 online for hours. I had actually sprained my other ankle at the same time so I couldn't be mobile on crutches even for a week or two after surgery. I did start to at least try using dumbells and stuff but when I finally went back to the gym my strength had REALLY depleted but I got it back fairly quickly.

During covid was another time that sucked because gyms closed. I ended up getting some exercise bands but the workout you get with those overall was completely ass compared to lifting real weights.

Every time I exercise though I feel uncomfortable. If you don't feel uncomfortable, you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. The last reps of a hard set are supposed to be uncomfortable and it becomes a mind game at that point too as to how far you can push yourself. Many people do not even push themselves to failure on sets, and that's okay, but pushing yourself to failure is always uncomfortable.

It's not supposed to be easy and is called "work"ing out for a reason. It takes work.

Kaido · Jun 9, 2025

Naer said:
i do longer than 11 minutes when I do exercise. It may be around 45 minutes. I get noticeably uncomfortable if I don't do the stationary bike for a bit. After biking a bit, I'm good for many hours.

I just don't have a fixed schedule for it. Basically I just listen to my body to tell me when to do it. Guess my diet is directly correlated to when I get the message to exercise.

The single biggest change we can all make in our lives is switching from mood-based motivation to commitment-based motivation. This means:

1. Not waiting until prompted to act
2. Pushing through not feeling like it

Lack of nutrition & exercise are probably the Top 2 killers in America. 73% of the American diet is ultra-processed & we sit around all day on our screens. It doesn't take much to improve, however! Just 11 minutes of brisk cardio day is literally life-changing! I recommend learning how food works when it comes to bodyweight control & high energy:

Macros tutorial

I do meal-prepping to make that happen:

Meal-prep system

I prefer outcome-driven design, so the question is: what is available for YOU? Our bodies are designed to feel 3 very specific ways:

1. Happy for no reason, just sitting there doing nothing
2. Like a motor of energy is inside of you, pushing you along all day long
3. Instantly awake the MOMENT you wake up!

This was NOT the case for the first 30 years of my life! Mine went more like this:

1. Depressed & apathetic
2. Dead battery, no energy
3. Sleep inertia in the morning

As it turned out, I had a variety of undiagnosed issues, including sleep apnea, as well as poor nutrition & no consistent exercise plan. What I learned is that MANY things are available to us, if we're willing to put in the work! Those things include:

1. High energy
2. Great food all day every day
3. Better health & longer lifespan!

The question is simply this: what do WE want to invite into our lives?

[DHT]Osiris · Jun 9, 2025

Naer said:
Instead of having a concrete regimen on when and how long to exercise, only exercise when you feel noticeably uncomfortable.

What is wrong with this?

There are many reasons. Notably:
1) The human body is remarkable in that it can get used to a lot. If you are 18, work out 5x a week, become 25, work out 4x a week, 30, work out 3x a week, 35, 2x a week, and 40, stop working out, you probably won't feel any different, other than 'normal creaks and groans' (which aren't).
2) Your body needs regular workouts just to maintain muscle mass, much less strengthen. Other parts of your body are similar, in that tendons/ligaments need regular stressing to avoid tears/strains. Even your bones need regular compression forces applied to them to behave correctly. If you only work out periodically, you massively expose yourself to injury or even death (I've seen it happen first-hand).
3) The human body expects a routine. There's many forces within the body that will work toward the same goal if they're predictable. Regular eating schedules, regular workout schedules, regular sleep, etc, all contribute to this, and your body will respond in-kind by regulating your energy levels, hormone levels, nutrient uptake/utilization, etc. Our biology craves routine.

igor_kavinski · Jun 9, 2025

purbeast0 said:
Many people do not even push themselves to failure on sets, and that's okay, but pushing yourself to failure is always uncomfortable.

That's the real secret to building strength.

The Mentzer method is also supposed to be very effective:

Kaido · Jun 9, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
That's the real secret to building strength.

Science update!

New Research Says Training to Failure Builds Size But Not Strength

What's wrong with only exercising when you feel uncomfortable?

Naer

Diamond Member

IronWing

No Lifer

igor_kavinski

Lifer

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord

Sitting can kill you

Naer

Diamond Member

igor_kavinski

Lifer

nakedfrog

No Lifer

thestrangebrew1

Diamond Member

NuclearNed

Raconteur

Red Squirrel

No Lifer

purbeast0

No Lifer

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord

[DHT]Osiris

Lifer

igor_kavinski

Lifer

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord

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