Wondering if you might have an undiagnosed medical condition.

I've been very a active exerciser my whole adult life. It's part of my identity.

Last year I started suffering from chronic fatigue. Exercise began to hurt. It hurt when I did it. It hurt afterward. I was tired all the time. I was gaining weight. I stopped exercising. It brought me no relief. Only resting did.

I knew something was wrong. Went to Doctor. Treated me like I'm a lazy ass who doesn't know how to care for myself. Fuck that dr.

I was on my own to figure this. I finally found out a treatment that works. Salt supplements and licorice root to address adrenal insufficiency. Day and night difference.

I feel bad for anyone who goes through something like that. It's not fair. And many people are dismissed by the medical establishment when they need help and compassion. It's awful how people get treated when they are sick but don't have the standard common diseases. The whole system sucks.

If it weren't for a long history of excellent health and fitness, I might thought I just don't like exercise. And never have the motivation to figure out how to get better.

Might be. I'm planning to do thyroid tests soon, because some of the things in my life could be explained by problems there, and my sister recently found out she has some thyroid problems. I understand the experience - for me, day-and-night difference was getting on SSRIs.

But it could also just be that I never started to like exercising in the first place. I have myopia since early childhood - so from the first years in school, glasses gave me logistical problems on PE lessons. It was especially problematic during team games - when I took the glass off, I was the worst player in class. When I left them on, I could play somewhat well, but I was risking breaking them when hit by a ball (it actually happened). So I ended up avoiding team sports as much as I could, and there a negative feedback loop starts (not playing made me only suck more and be less willing to play).

Anyway, thanks for the advice :).

The reason I wrote my long response was because you said exercise was painful. Sure, if you overdo it, it can be painful to anyone. But it's not supposed to painful. Uncomfortable sure, tiring sometimes yes.

But not painful. Afterward you should feel alert and relaxed. And in reasonable amounts it should feel like it is increasing what you can get done. Usually anyway.

If not, something is wrong. Hopefully something that can be treated.

Good luck to you! Health can be very tricky. In so many ways health and wellness is still in the dark ages. So many incomplete models and misinformation. I've been there and feel bad for anyone else bewildered because they don't fit into mainstream ideas of how their bodies are supposed to work.

>I was on my own to figure this. I finally found out a treatment that works. Salt supplements and licorice root to address adrenal insufficiency. Day and night difference.

How did you find out this is what you needed?

Trying many different supplements.

Thought maybe I had mold in my house. Tested that. Maybe I'm allergic to my bedding. Got s new mattress and beefing.

Thought it might be kidney related since I had back pain in my flanks. Thought it might be my gallbladder. Thought it might be my liver. Tried various foods and supplements. Nothing helped.

Thought it might be thyroid related perhaps due to iodine deficiency. So I started taking table salt that has iodine in it. Started feeling less muscle pain immediately. Then started iodine tablet supplements. Pain returned. Then tried just salt tablets. Found relief. Then researched and found adrenals regulate sodium. Then found out licorice root blocks an enzyme that metabolizes cortisol, which is produced by your adrenal glands. Tried that. Fatigue disappeared. Sleep improved. Pain gone. Started losing weight.

So basically trial and error over many months. I'm only mentioning a small number of things I tried. Doctor was no help. But a better Doctor probably would have suggested better tests and things to try. But how would a normal person know their doctor is letting them down? Shit is hard.

Stronglifts.

3 days/week. Takes about 30-45 minutes. Alternate A/B each week. So week 1 is ABA, week 2 is BAB, repeating.

    A: Squats, Overhead Press, Deadlifts
    B: Squats, Brench Press, Barbell Row

All exercises are five sets of five reps except Deadlifts which are one set of five reps.

Ignore the marketing speak: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ - has all the info you'd need and a free app to track your exercises. I highly recommend it.

Still tiring. Not painful unless you have bad form, and 3 hours/week isn't that time consuming (IMO).

You might not necessarily lose a ton of weight - but you will feel stronger. And you'll notice when you go from struggling with light weights to effortlessly lifting triple that.

That's very concrete advice, thanks! I'll look into that.

If you really want minimum time but still some benefit, taking a walk around the block 2-3 times a day is probably your best bet. But that's "fitness" in the same way the 15 year old with a pirated copy of Photoshop is "a graphic designer."

I don't think anyone who has done weightlifting would say you can do it quickly or that it takes minimal time or effort.

I don't want to minimize time, I want to maximize the benefit/time ratio, where time includes maintenance expenses (like showering, getting to the gym) as well. I.e. if jogging every day for an hour provides X "fitness points", but you can also get those X "fitness points" by doing e.g. weightlifting 3 times a week, I prefer to go for the second option. It can be painful - I won't like it, but when I work out I don't do it for pleasure (which I generally never got from exercises); its means to an end. End being losing weight, keeping cognitive power at full capacity, living longer.

I'm not an expert, but jogging every day for an hour seems excessive. Running for half an hour (~5km) 3 times a week will get you a long way and it is one of the best exercises there is. I'd argue it's better than weightlifting because you activate (almost) the whole body and it's free.

The whole body can be activated by utilizing compound lifts as well. IMO running can be monotonous while outdoor running is weather dependent depending on one's tolerance for enduring inclement weather.

For many, doing a 10 minute mile for 30 minutes can be quite challenging.

Make that 7km, at 7km/hr, 3 times a week and I believe you hit the sweet spot of the Danish study that came out a couple of years ago.

If I recall correctly, it monitored ~20000 people over ~19 years, and provided bell curves of the best benefit.

I used to jog every day for an hour, and it was bliss. I miss it. Any day I don't get up and go for a run, I feel like I am worse off for it. But I'm trying to migrate to the above.

www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness

Include the protocol to make links clickable.

CrossFit. It is the most time efficient all-around fitness program I have run across. And they're the ONLY methodology I've seen that has an actual measurable definition of the fitness they seek.

> I really find no pleasure in exercise and would like to approach it in the most cost-effective way (i.e. maximum benefit for minimum time used).

"Body by Science", easily. No need to read the book, just the chapter on the protocol. The protocol is 12 minutes all-out effort, ONCE a week.

You know what's more painful? Dying of a heart attack. Being bedridden. Joint failure. The inability to walk a few city blocks. Diabetes. Having to ride in a mobility scooter. Or even the inability to keep pace with your children when they're playing.

These things aren't inevitable, scaring people into exercise won't work. But even if they were, it wouldn't be terrible to die '"on my back, lying on my many rolls of fat, scarcely uttering a word, taking labored breaths, and eating my fill," for of all the ways a man might die, an excess of luxury was the only truly happy death'. (From http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/dimtext/kjn/people/heavies...)

More specifically to weight lifting, compound lifts: squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead press. (also rows)

As far as exercise related pain goes, the general rule is that sharp pains are bad (e.g. go see a doctor and get an xray/mri/scan) and dull throbbing pains are okay. Weight lifting can bring out dormant injuries as inactive muscles become activated and the body recomposes itself. These usually are treated with stretching, trigger point therapy, cupping and with time diminish significantly.

The Wendler 5/3/1 Program is very time efficient. There's an explanation of the program here in an interview with body builder by the name of Matt Ogus. http://www.simplyshredded.com/rising-star-natural-bodybuilde...

There's thousands of variations of exercise "programs" out there but the fundamentals are the same.

1. show up consistently 2. move weight at high intensities (>60%) to induce muscle hypertrophy 3. eat a lot (to gain muscle) || eat a little less (to lose fat) || eat adequately to maintain. (caloric surplus/deficit/maintenance)

Intensity refers to a percentage of your maximal weight that can be moved once. There are some calculators that can also calculate your 1-repetition-max based on the maximum.

One other piece of advice for myself is that I have very dry skin and using any type of soap on a daily basis dries out my skin pretty badly. As an Asian that lacks the specific type of sweat glands with BO, I've made showers that are time efficient by merely washing with water only. Soap is used sporadically, but 98% of daily showers are with water only. Anecdotally, other nationalities on reddit have reported success with water-only showering.

I can drive to the gym in 5 minutes, do several sets in 20-45 minutes depending on which compounds I am targeting, then be back home and spend another 5-10 minutes on a shower. Time is further made efficient by standardizing my tops with black t-shirts, so very little time is spent on choosing clothing.

Home versions of this is possible has well with a set of dumbbells, but if you have any strength, it is quite possible to outgrow the dumbbells in relatively short amount of time.

Glasses also don't get in the way of weights, other than wiping sweat underneath them between sets, but there aren't swift fast movements that jerk the face such that glasses are flying off of the face or a ball will knock one's glasses off.

For chronic conditions that inhibit intense activity, it may be worth looking at the concepts introduced by Terry Wahls in her Ted talk: http://terrywahls.com/minding-your-mitochondria-dr-terry-wah...

I got her book and it is repetitive, but the basic premise from this MD is that the body is a chemical environment and chemical deficiencies lead to malfunctions. As it is obvious that plants won't thrive without fertilizer and water, the same goes for human nutrition. Her solution is consuming food sources with 2-3 cups each of greens, 2-3 cups of sulfur (broccoli, cabbage, etc), 2-3 cups of color (blueberries, tomatoes, blackberries) & 4-6 oz of nutrient dense meat on a daily basis.

I found a tremendous amount of quality of life improvement by adding the greens/sulfur/color just several times a week as well.

I may have a different skin type, but I've found that switching from sodium-laureth-sulfate-based detergent soaps to castile soaps significantly reduced the dryness I used to get on the skin on my hands. A good castile soap does not have any residual lye in it because the lye is fully consumed in the reaction that produces the soap.

Tim Ferris's book "The 4-Hour Body" is written with time min-maxing in mind. There's some weird stuff in there ("I supplement with garlic because a random homeless guy told me it's good for weight loss") but the core workout/diet regimen is effective and easy to stick to.

Thanks, adding to "to-read" list!

If this 4 hour book is the one I am thinking it is, no need to spend any money on it. It outlines the 80/20 rule, where you can derive 80% of the benefit with 20% of the effort and how the last 20% of benefit is derived from 80% of the effort.

It then focuses on deadlifts being one of the exercises that engage about 80% of the body's muscles and focuses on a short deadlift workout on a consistent basis.

Enjoy your limited life span, lack of energy, and general attractiveness. There's no secret here; you get out what you put in. Everyone wants to be in shape, no one wants to lift heavy things.

Since getting into fitness. I would say the easy part of lifting. The hard part is the diet.

Agreed. I enjoy lifting, but I also enjoy eating...