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strkentoday at 12:59 PM3 repliesview on HN

Reading these studies has slowly convinced me that motivation is a more important factor than optimising a workout.

Yeah, we know that resistance training is wonderful and so is high intensity cardio, but the biggest barrier seems to be motivating people to do something difficult which puts stress on their bodies. I don't feel like I see much research on HN or elsewhere that covers how to make people actually follow health advice.


Replies

matwoodtoday at 1:11 PM

It's not about motivation, it's about discipline. Motivation is fleeting, and if someone only exercises when motivated it's going to be hard to keep going. Discipline is what will get a person to exercise enough that it becomes part of their life. But to your point, discipline is not that common.

I've done some sort of workout almost every day for the last 25+ years. It had nothing to do with motivation, but making exercise a part of my day like brushing my teeth.

sigmoid10today at 1:07 PM

This still seems like a step in that direction. If you can have more benefits by spending less time training and enduring physical discomfort, then that should be an overall guideline for training aimed at the general population. Although the biggest change in health we've ever seen in our obesogenic society is still from semaglutide and I think physical exercise will never reach the same prevalence as a drug that you can take.

Bluescreenbuddytoday at 1:27 PM

If you're waiting around for motivation to exercise, you will never succeed. It needs to be a habit. You need discipline.