http://blog.wolfire.com/2009/10/game-developers-need-exercise-too-part-ii/
Posted by John
(Continued from previous announcement.)
Do you have any advice to other developers that are considering incorporating a workout program into their schedule?
You should look forward to working out! If it’s drudgery you’ll never keep it going, and you’re probably doing it wrong. After all, the whole point is to improve quality of life.
Greg Glassman’s “Fitness in 100 Words” is a great starting place:
“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports.”
Finally, it’s worth viewing “fitness” as a single, unified spectrum. Don’t split it up into nutrition, exercise, mental health, stress levels, sleep, whatever. These things are all interconnected. The best route to improving your strength might be to sleep more and reduce stress in your life, not lift more. Try to improve everything together; you can’t fix a 14-hour day by going to the gym three times a week!
***
Thanks again for answering my questions Matthew. There were a lot of good points mentioned here. It’s important to remember that you can’t treat yourself like a robot (unless you are one :) ) and should approach fitness holistically. Both Matthew and Dan have reinforced the concept of making exercise fun. Perhaps technologies like motion controllers will eventually allow game developers to create methods of fun exercise instead of an excuse to sit down and push buttons. Should we peer pressure Dan and Matthew to make a Crossfit video game?