Ask HN: Observed a behaviour amongst my peers around Fitness

[nemath]

So I have a big friend circle mostly from the tech. Recently, I have observed some interesting patterns. 3 of my friend groups have whatsapp groups for accountability of working out daily and it seriously has transformed couple of people in my group. Also monthly leaderboards seem to be really driving them. Do any of you have experienced similar patterns in your circle? I don't own a fitness trackers so haven't particularly participated in any fitness challenges and I'm thinking if I should get one. Also I'm fairly active person in good shape so I don't feel the need as much. But still open to trying for further improvements, maybe (?)

[anishgupta]

I wouldn't say our friend circle has an accountability group but recently in last 2-3 years they have been lot of green washing and fitness related content on social media which might fuel this obsession, even the popularity of the word 'protein' is in its all-time high if you see on Google trends.

Also, backed by science, they have been increase in nutritional studies since 2010s, the same orange which our grandma consumed, had 5x more nutrition than the ones we eat today just because of the genetic modifications we have done over the years. So yes, being on the same diet we may need more fitness and hence the recent popularity

[pavel_lishin]

Exercising is already unpleasant enough; being hounded about it, and having to gamify it seems like it would make it even more of a chore.

But everyone's different. What motivates one person demotivates the other.

[Jtsummers]

I was going to say something similar. Competitions between people does nothing for me (neither motivates nor demotivates), but accountability groups help me a lot to be more consistent or push a bit harder. But I've found that some of my friends really get turned off by the accountability groups, they feel like they're falling behind and end up giving up. Which is disappointing, the accountability groups aren't meant as competitions but encouragement. If you've got someone like me (I can lose weight quickly once I start exercising just a bit more than whatever my baseline is going into it) but your weight is harder to shed, if you see it as a comparison/competition then it can become very discouraging.

Phrasing in things like that matters a lot, how you talk about it and what you talk about.

[nemath]

But wouldn't you say gamifying it makes it less unpleasant and more interesting? But yes agree with your general thought on this.

[pavel_lishin]

For me, no, it makes it more unpleasant because now it feels like more of a chore, and I'll feel guilty about losing streaks, or dropping down in rankings, or whatever.

I exercise for myself, not for clout.

[MisterTea]

Are you doing this to compete with them as a result of peer pressure or are you genuinely interested in exceeding your current fitness goals?

[nemath]

For now I want to do it just to be part of it honestly, I feel I do good rn fitness wise but by taking part in it I do see an improvement, then I wouldn't actually mind focusing on exceeding my current fitness goals.