Updates and Reflections on Optimal Exercise after Nearly a Decade

Curated. I find it very cool for someone to have a ~decade follow-up to advice they wrote long ago. A strength of the LessWrong community is that people will review available research and evidence, apply a higher-than-average epistemic approach, and figure out what actually seems like the best way of doing a particular thing. It's cool that LessWrong is now old enough that people can look back and reflect on that advice, and I'd love to see more of this.

(Plus personally, will be trying to build more of an exercise routine along these lines.)

The basic idea that lifting twice a week and doing cardio twice a week add up to a calorie expenditure that get you the vast majority of exercise benefits compared to extreme athletes holds up, especially when you take reverse causality adjustments into effect (survivorship bias on the genetic gifts of the extreme). Nothing I've encountered since has cast much doubt on this main takeaway.

I'd like to offer further reinforcement [LW · GW] on this point:

1. Any exercise, even trivial amounts like walking 20 minutes or doing two sets of exercise a day, can yield dramatic improvements in quality of life. Young-ish healthy-ish people don't tend to notice this because they're already above the "life isn't constantly painful and difficult" bar, but aging combined with a highly sedentary lifestyle can sneak up on some people. It can sometimes take very little to fix or avoid.
2. Maintaining muscle mass that you've already built is much easier than building it in the first place. Some people find the thought of progressively overloading for eternity to be daunting- and if you don't want to, you don't have to! If you achieve a level of strength that satisfies your requirements, you can maintain it with relatively little effort. And if you do lose it, getting strong a second time will be easier.

In other words: when it comes to exercise, doing anything really does help! (Just don't hurt yourself.)

I have followed your advice for over a year now, and have this note on my phone with a summary of the regime.

Gym routine

• ~1-2 hour weightlifting sessions 2-3x a week. (A third weightlifting session is recommended for the first several months, for both gaining strength and building habits.)
• ~15-40 minutes of vigorous cardio 2-3x a week.

Cardio: 

Very high intensity routines follow a pattern of a short warmup (5 minutes at a slow pace) followed by several bursts of 10-60 seconds all out intensity. (30 on 30 off for 10 intervals is popular and close to maximizing vV02max)

VO2 max interval training consists of four 3-5 minute intervals at 85%-95% your max heart rate interspersed with slower jogging for the same interval.

Weightlifting: A: 4x4 each of squats, bench, weighted chins, deadlifts B: 4x4 each of squats, overhead press, barbell row, power cleans twice per week to give yourself more recovery time.

I’m understanding from your article that the cardio advice stays, however the weightlifting should be replaced as follows:

A: 4x4 each of weighted step ups, incline bench, weighted chins, weighted hypertension B: 4x4 each of weighted step ups, dumbbell shoulder press, barbell row, weighted hyperextension twice per week to give yourself more recovery time

Am I reading it correctly?

Thanks

One of the stated purposes of the LessWrong Review is to decide what posts stood the test of time, looking back at the last year. We have yet to do a LessWrong Review that looked back at the last decade, but wouldn't it be awesome if we did?

That's what this essay offers. It's short! I wish it had a little more data, or went into details like what nervous system training was tried (what about Yoga works?) but if the biggest complaint I have about an essay is 'I wish it was longer' that's a really good problem to have! 

I'd like to encourage people to write more followups to plans they laid a decade ago. I wish LessWrong had more feedback loops that did look at we were all excited about a decade ago. For both those reasons, I'd like this to be in the Best Of Review. I want Romeostevensit to get a really nice cookie for the followup.

Re injury prevention, you may be interested in Stuart McGill, professor of 'spinal biomechanics' at Waterloo.

For example, you shouldn't exercise first thing in the morning. Something about your discs being more hydrated --> swollen --> vulnerable after laying overnight.

Very open questions, but curious if you have any thoughts on Olympic lifting vs powerlifting. Or on kettlebells and hip-hinge exercises.

Agreed. I'd like to add that if you're avoiding heavy compound exercises, such as Squats and Deadlifts, due to injury concerns, you might not be adequately targeting your core muscles. It's common to see people at the gym performing numerous high-rep bodyweight exercises. However, your core muscles are not much different from the rest of your muscles. To achieve better hypertrophy and strength gains, you should apply the same principles as you would for other muscles, meaning you should aim for approximately 8 to 12 reps.

Reaching sufficient intensity within this range can be challenging with bodyweight exercises, which is why I suggest weighted machine crunches. They not only allow for heavier loads but also simplify the application of progressive overload, leading to improved hypertrophy and strength. These exercises have also been proven to provide superior EMG muscle activation compared to traditional bodyweight crunches.

For those particularly concerned with aesthetics, I recommend training your obliques by adding wood choppers to your routine, applying the same principles as you would for machine crunches.

I also don't particularly like the hedonic gradient of pushing yourself to run at the volume and frequency that seems necessary to really git gud

What do you mean by "hedonic gradient" in this context?

For the resistance training, I recall the minimal program was something like deadlifts, bent rows, and inclined bench press, although I can't recall timing, intensity, or progression for those.

Given your update on spinal injury risk, what would be the minimal program now? Add planking or Pilates to reduce the risk? Or a completely different program?

For injury prevention (and can help with exercise efficiency as well): use machines, not free weights.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on inspiratory muscle training (like with a POWERbreathe) vs cardio.

The LessWrong Review [? · GW] runs every year to select the posts that have most stood the test of time. This post is not yet eligible for review, but will be at the end of 2024. The top fifty or so posts are featured prominently on the site throughout the year.

Hopefully, the review is better than karma at judging enduring value. If we have accurate prediction markets on the review results, maybe we can have better incentives on LessWrong today. Will this post make the top fifty?

You talk about it in snippets here and there, but I'd love for you to share your full up-to-date strength training program recommendation! 

Weighted step ups instead of squats

Lunges vs weighted step ups?

Weighted step ups instead of squats can be loaded quite heavy.

What are the advantages of weighted step ups vs squats without bending your knees too much? Squats would have the advantage of greater stability and only having to do half the reps.

Dumb question: what about VR games like Beat Saber?

You should link this post on the top of your old one

Any good reading on switching away from powerlifting movements to less injury prone ones, pros and cons, studies etc? Also out of curiosity, are injuries from deadlift for example more permanently affecting or just putting you out of action for on average x% of time etc.

Any advice for a rowing schedule? I picked up the sport three months ago and I've been doing 30 minute sessions at the upper limit of my Zone 2. Basically I slow down if I go above 150 bpm and ramp up when I go below 145 bpm.

I've been reading about doing some higher intensity intervals, but I've mostly focused on having good form for now.