>I care about doing important intellectual and professional work that depends on my mind. >Physical exercise doesn’t much impact my ability to do that type of work.
Do you not feel an immediate post-exercise mental benefit? A day where I get a good sweaty run in the morning is a day where I +3 on all my D20 INT skill checks. Even more than +3 on rolls specifically to maintain concentration and resist distractions. This is my primary motivation for cardio and I felt an improvement even when wildly out of shape and barely able to run, feels like relative effort level (amount of sweat, anyway) is what matters.
Even as a child I had this effect. But it was impossible to exercise before school because it started so early.
I suspect this is one of those universal human experiences that isn’t.
My best mental outcome after exercise is “no change,” and if I push myself too far, I can pretty much ruin myself for 2 days. And sometimes end up on the ground, unable to move, barely staying conscious due to something that looks an awful lot like hypoglycemia.
I do still exercise- I have to, because the alternative is worse- but I’ve had to come up with less invasive training routines to compensate. Mostly spreading them over the day, and over the week, never doing too much at any one time.
I do have a nice selection of medical issues that at least partially explain this, but gotta say, getting an INT/proficiency buff from exercise sure sounds like cheating!
Lately I also have changed to very long “zone 2” cardio. Because of specific joint and back problems, some injuries, some congenital. But the exertion itself still feels good mentally if I seperate it from my aching body.
Luckily zone 2 still works for mental effects, it just takes hours to have the same effect. Basically you only exert yourself below the threshold where your body would start building up lactic acid. So if you feel muscle soreness the next day, you’re pushing too hard. Unless you live in a lab you have to use proxies and trial and error to estimate where zone 2 is. Usually people say something like, “You should still be able to have a good conversation at this effort level.”
The time is annoying but my Netflix addiction has never felt so useful.
>I care about doing important intellectual and professional work that depends on my mind.
>Physical exercise doesn’t much impact my ability to do that type of work.
Do you not feel an immediate post-exercise mental benefit? A day where I get a good sweaty run in the morning is a day where I +3 on all my D20 INT skill checks. Even more than +3 on rolls specifically to maintain concentration and resist distractions. This is my primary motivation for cardio and I felt an improvement even when wildly out of shape and barely able to run, feels like relative effort level (amount of sweat, anyway) is what matters.
Even as a child I had this effect. But it was impossible to exercise before school because it started so early.
I suspect this is one of those universal human experiences that isn’t.
My best mental outcome after exercise is “no change,” and if I push myself too far, I can pretty much ruin myself for 2 days. And sometimes end up on the ground, unable to move, barely staying conscious due to something that looks an awful lot like hypoglycemia.
I do still exercise- I have to, because the alternative is worse- but I’ve had to come up with less invasive training routines to compensate. Mostly spreading them over the day, and over the week, never doing too much at any one time.
I do have a nice selection of medical issues that at least partially explain this, but gotta say, getting an INT/proficiency buff from exercise sure sounds like cheating!
Lately I also have changed to very long “zone 2” cardio. Because of specific joint and back problems, some injuries, some congenital. But the exertion itself still feels good mentally if I seperate it from my aching body.
Luckily zone 2 still works for mental effects, it just takes hours to have the same effect. Basically you only exert yourself below the threshold where your body would start building up lactic acid. So if you feel muscle soreness the next day, you’re pushing too hard. Unless you live in a lab you have to use proxies and trial and error to estimate where zone 2 is. Usually people say something like, “You should still be able to have a good conversation at this effort level.”
The time is annoying but my Netflix addiction has never felt so useful.