[sublinear]

Lift weights. Do it multiple times a day and chase that pump. Do it for stress relief. Do it to help you fall asleep. Do it to wake up.

It's not all about cardio. Your muscles are such a significant part of your metabolism and far too many people avoid strength training. A ton of problems that arise while aging are ultimately hormonal. Even your skin improves. Cardiovascular health begins here. People are literally running before they can walk.

That's the realistic answer for most people under 65 trying to make it to at least 80 with a decent quality of life.

[dingaling]

> far too many people avoid strength training.

Yes, because it hurts.

Lifting weights is sore and exhausting. You're never going to persuade rhe plurality of people to improve their physical condition by enduring pain, it needs to be engaging and appealing.

[sublinear]

I'll respond anyway, but please don't do this here.

Unless you have an injury or disability, there's always a weight you can lift that doesn't hurt for a decent amount of reps.

You already lift your own weight all the time. You can always add more and keep going at your own pace from there. The whole point of strength training is to be comfortable lifting increasing amounts of weight over time.

For all the reasons I already listed in other comments, it's the simplest and fastest known way to not feeling like shit all the time. This is a form of exercise that can be done effectively with minimal sweating indoors. It doesn't get any simpler than this. Consider that all forms of exercise involve weight. If even this "hurts", you might have an injury you weren't aware of.

[unparagoned]

I think the key thing is to make people aware of the consequences of their choices. If people are completely aware of how much they are fucking up their life fine, that’s on them. Many people don’t realise just how much of a big impact it has. Is not just physical health. For mental health nothing beats exercise.

[loeg]

Lift weights, but like 30-60 minutes 3x a week is plenty. You definitely don't have to do it multiple times a day if that would be inconvenient.

[jq-r]

As a person who started lifting weights in my young age of 40 something, and doing it for a bit over 2 years consistently, I'll add that your muscles absolutely fucking love it. Seeing something which is a round skin and bone turn into angular muscle and tendon mass is intoxicating and a great morale booster. I just wish I have started earlier which probably would have saved me for going to two ugly spine surgeries.

[sublinear]

Yeah I agree, but considering this is HN, there's a large audience of people who want a serious answer despite it being a somewhat silly question. I already know these comments will be absolutely polluted with conjecture that isn't practical.

If someone works from home and doesn't have kids and hates going outside, this is it. If you can at least get into the habit of lifting weights, you're doing better than most.

I'm going to be the one that says it: people avoid cardio because they instantly feel like crap. Why? They lack the strength. Your legs are considered a "second heart" for a reason. When you get your strength up, you feel amazing. That run will no longer feel like a chore.

[loeg]

I can't object to any of that. If you can swing the space for a squat rack at home, it's pretty life-changing. Highly recommend.

[confidantlake]

People not liking cardio was always a weird one to me. Kids love to run around. They naturally do it, no one has to prompt them. Not sure what happens to people as they grow up that makes them lose this joy.

[sublinear]

Kids have a higher strength-to-weight ratio. It's not psychological.

It's less effort for them to move around like that, which was my original point.