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The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast Topic: How do you make time for working out?
by Stephanie Drury 
Jan 19th 2011 at 8:00AM
A recent NPC comic strip touched on an issue I find very near and not quite dear to my ... mid section. It has one of the main characters admitting he's gained some weight; he then suggests that a rule be enacted that he cannot play WoW until he has worked out.
Sounds simple, right? Some would say that depends on your level of self-control and willpower. Having tried this rule myself, I also say it depends on your raid schedule, your work schedule and any unexpected overtime, the traffic levels on your drive home, what's for dinner ... There is so much to this balancing act that such a rule is tough to keep in place. Do you make 24 people counting on you to be in a raid wait for you or replace you while you do your workout regimen?
An obvious rebuttal: Work out in the morning! Well, as the comic strip characters find out, that doesn't always pan out either. On a regular day I get up at 5 a.m., which is plenty early enough for me without a workout on top of it.
How do you balance your gaming habits and health concerns? Do you work out in the morning? Do you have a rule in place as the comic characters did, that you can't play til you work out? Or perhaps you're one of the lucky people who just have a high metabolism? /jealous
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 8)
razion Jan 19th 2011 9:44AM
I guess that depends--is your occupation in athletics or yoga instructing?
Jorges Jan 19th 2011 8:50AM
I have to walk 15 min in the morning to get to work and then walk 15 min in the afternoon to get back home, normally under a 35ºC to 40ºC temperature. On top of that, the walks and sometimes runs I have to make from one place to another at the office.
I think I have enough exercise in my days already.
Xantenise Jan 19th 2011 8:27PM
Fellow Aussie, I assume? I hate walking in that weather.
Ilya Jan 19th 2011 8:51AM
I have a high metabolism myself, so I don't really need to work out...
But that aside, I still walk just about everywhere. I usually walk to work (which is a good 45 min. - 1 hr. walk in itself, given sidewalk conditions [icy, burdened with snow, etc]); my pace is also much faster than most others, so I'm not exactly 'taking it easy' when I walk, either. I also walk on my days off, as it gives me that sense of 'keeping in shape'. I tell everyone who asks why I walk that it's really the only exercise I get... because really, it is.
And this walk has uphills, downhills, and everything in between. This is no simple walk.
As for times, I just do it whenever I'm ready to go for the day; this can be anywhere between... want to say 9 AM to 4 PM.
So yeah, I don't really set time aside to get exercise I may very well need, metabolism be damned; I just DO.
matt Jan 19th 2011 8:52AM
I have been working on getting more exercise lately and I find that the more time I spend at the gym, the less I feel like logging in to WoW. Perhaps there is no correlation but the time seems to manage itself.
Tim Jan 19th 2011 8:54AM
I weighed 140 at the time I got married. 6 years later I'm at a steady 173. I started P90X and stopped. I loved it though. Am gonna get back to it soon. WoW will in no way interfere with my plans. I get off work at 8am. work out and then get on wow till I'm tired. No big deal. When some children start showing up; I'm sure my whole world view will be much different.
transrelativity Jan 19th 2011 9:04AM
I already save WoW for after 5pm on the weekdays in order to make sure I get all my work done. It's not too hard to take a couple hours and go to the gym right after dinner, and since I'm the GM of our guild, nightly events don't start until after 8pm. I generally don't log on until then.
Rodrigo Jan 19th 2011 9:03AM
I heal PUGs in heroics.
It makes me grind my teeth so hard, my jaw muscles burn all the carbs I have.
Nick Jan 19th 2011 9:03AM
I personally do lots of exercise, I do weights 3 times a week, after each weights session i run for half an hour to an hour. I play basketball too, and train on the days I don't lift weights, our league has 1 game per week. I have a fairly tight schedule in that I like to get home quickly after class so that my evenings are as free as possible. Weekends are harder, since I work 12 hours on both saturday and sunday. I just leave rather earlier than I need to and cycle rather than take the car. Getting 60 miles on a bike each weekend is also a good way to save on fuel costs.
I cannot stand those people too lazy to do some physical activity (note the difference between PA and exercise). If you don't have time to be active you're doing it wrong.
Walk to work or school, take the stairs, get off the bus a bit earlier, ride a bicycle it's not difficult.
Daisyfizzi Jan 19th 2011 9:04AM
I do 2 miles a day on the treadmill. I have a shelf rigged up so I can watch a dvd or grind herbs/ore or do dailies whilst I jog, can't manage anything more complicated though. I have enough trouble with my co-ordination without trying to raid whilst jogging.
Nina Katarina Jan 19th 2011 9:28AM
I read about someone else who had done this, and I really want to try putting together this setup for myself.
How did you build your laptop shelf? What sort (brand/model) of treadmill do you have? Is the shelf seperate from the treadmill, to minimize jiggling? Where do you put the mouse? I hope these questions aren't too nosy, but I'm really curious.
Daisyfizzi Jan 19th 2011 9:57AM
The tread mill is an old(ish) Carl Lewis once, to be honest I don't think they make it anymore. I did have a quick look to see if I could see a model number or anything, but not a sausage. It was really easy to rig up a shelf on since the hand rails are straight and fairly long (which is why I wanted to get the model number for you to see a picture). All we did was get a pine shelf from a d.i.y. store, measure the gap between the hand rails and then screw in the wooden brackets that came with the shelf so they were either side of the hand rail.
I have a netbook set up with wow (minimal addons) and there's enough space for the mouse, water bottle, phone, i-pod or whatever at either end of the shelf. I only do light jogging since I injured my knee many years ago and serious running tends to set it off again, so there isn't an awful lot of vibration going on. I guess you could do the same with a monitor if you didn't have a netbook/laptop but it may be too close to be comfortable playing.
Daisyfizzi Jan 19th 2011 9:59AM
Ninja edit - there was an article about treadmill wow on WoW Insider
http://wow.joystiq.com/tag/treadmill/
Baba Jan 19th 2011 9:11AM
I don't put on weight easily (then again, only 19), but I work-out during my heroic random queues :D
Being a dps has some advantages lol, 30 minutes work-out followed by 90-120 minutes playing, followed by 30 minutes work-out etc...
Doldrums Jan 19th 2011 9:13AM
Or you could do the OTHER NPC comic thing, with the WoW attached to the exercise bike.
Blayze Jan 19th 2011 9:17AM
I plan on using my body's extreme natural caffeine sensitivity to my advantage. The plan involves coffee, lots of water, less food and much less takeaways.
I'm too lazy to exercise when I can rely on my ability to need the toilet far more than anyone else I know.
mibu.work1 Jan 19th 2011 11:35AM
two hours of aerobic and weight-training three days a week before dinner. I'm a college student.
Kay Jan 19th 2011 9:20AM
This article has inspired me to do some exercise now. As folks say, it's all about the motivation, and once you're going well, it's not that hard to keep at it. Yummy addictive exercise chemicals.
I find that if i'm working long hours and am generally busy, i will work out, since it might be the only free hour i can get, and i'll want to use it. If i have no work and too much time, i tend to put it off, saying "i'll do it in an hour" and keep procrastinating. Need something to shock me back into activity, a rule of "no Wow till after exercise" would suit me just fine.
CIncyKartar Jan 19th 2011 9:24AM
I walk 1 to 2 miles a day at lunch. There is a nice park accross the street from work and it has a half mile track. I walk then come back and have a healthy lunch. Also doesn't hurt that I live in Phoenix where the average temp in December and January is the mid 60's.
zaababy Jan 19th 2011 9:26AM
Just Dance 2 fits the bill for me. But I find that eating less just seems to work really well. I eat around 1500 calories a day, spread out among 5-6 small meals. And I eat exactly what I want so no deprivation, it's just the amounts are smaller. And I've lost 100 pounds. When I started out I just walked everyday, going further each time til I hit about 2 1/2 miles a day. Now with all the ice and snow I just do something on the wii which is really fun. Good luck to you all!