How do you deal with post high school inactivity?

Okay this question might not apply to everyone here as I erronously imagine you all to be 18-25 years old men, but I'll still give this a try. I guess some of you were physically active during high school. It was fairly easy to be back then : plenty organized teams on a local or regional level, training facilities, lots of free time, basically a requirement to be a ''cool kid'' etc. When I was a senior I was part of the badminton, volley ball and flag football teams. That obviously kept me in good shape, but now in college I lack both the time and abilities to keep up, so I'm left on my own to avoid getting the dreaded beer belly.

The first natural step is usually to head to a local gym, but hell this is more complicated than I thought. As soon as you master a circuit, or technique, you read on some forums that it's complete shit (first Nautilus machines, then dumbbells and finally the Big 3 on barbells). I also had the impression that I was doing it just to get rid of it, a mandatory chore to avoid getting fat. It kinda is the case, but how on earth are you supposed to keep motivated with that reasoning? How can anyone enjoy running on a treadmill? When I was part of sports teams, doing squats helped getting better blocks, bench pressing gave my smash quite a punch and the jump rope allowed me survive as a receiver. With all these pragmatical objectives gone I found myself at a loss lifting weights -- the egotist satisfaction of douchey big gunzz sure isn't doing it.

Then I thought of martial arts. Great, a way to get in shape with fun, observable goals in mind. I can get in or out as I wish, no contract and I don't owe anything to a team (also, limited socialization, yay!). Choosing one is the hard part though, especially for one who loves RPGs and min-maxing. Karate? Psh, no contact sparring, fighting invisible opponents is boring and useless, did it for 4 years as a kid. Boxing? Too much contact, especially on the head. I like my IQ thanks. Judo? Bunch of crazies, the injury rate seems incredibly high. BJJ? UFC meatheads. Kung fu? See karate. I observed a few classes of each and none pleased me.

After three years of searching in vain for the be all end all solution, I'm beginning to lose hope. Can't stand jogging, I might give swimming a shot.

Giantbombers, how do YOU remain active?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I'm not trying to lose weight (6'1'', 160 lbs). I need innovative ways to stay in shape since the traditional jog & lifts combo isn't fulfilling enough for me.

I face myself.

How is Karate not full contact? Did you never spar during the 4 years of training? Back when I was taking Karate, we had full contact sparring, and since I was fairly strong for my age class, I was always fighting people way older then me.

Mostly jog and run in the morning. I'm also a fat guy so don't listen to me.

A physically demanding job can help keep you in shape as you will have to keep busy to do the work. I personally jog while keeping distracted listening to podcast or run on the treadmill usually with my ipad with me watching random stuff on netflix or stuff I may have missed on giantbomb.

Where do you live, are you in a city, is it a nice city, would you probably be mugged? See if you can do a jog every morning. Before work or whatever you do with your day.

Edit: I just read your second to last sentence. Go with Karate, I'm pretty sure it has contact sparring.

Run, pushups, situps. The APFT is a decent goal to shoot for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Physical_Fitness_Test

Jog. Eat less/better

As with most things, having someone to do it with makes that sort of thing a lot easier to stay committed to. If you have a buddy who's willing to go to the gym, drag him along. If one of you wants to bail, the other can be like 'nah bitch we liftin'.

Ride my bike 15 miles to school twice a week, and 7 miles to work three other days.

18 to 25? Physically active in high school?? Excuse me while I crawl into the fetal position (if the ole knees can take it) and eat my feelings.

I go to the gym. I am much more active now then I ever was in high school.

Stop jerking off.

No, seriously. Just be more productive. Discover new things, get into interests. Get off the internet and go meet people.

Whether karate has contact sparring depends on the style and the dojo. Kyokushin karate, for instance, has a large emphasis on full contact sparring.

As for how I remain active, I exercise at home. Body weight exercises like pushups, squats, crunches etc. + karate techniques from back when I practiced that.

@LiquidPrince said:

How is Karate not full contact? Did you never spar during the 4 years of training? Back when I was taking Karate, we had full contact sparring, and since I was fairly strong for my age class, I was always fighting people way older then me.

Admittedly, I did Shotokan which is known to be more soft than Kyokushin. There is contact, but it's buried under years of fastidious kihons and katas. I also observed that inexperienced people didn't use the techniques they learned when they sparred --fancy sideblocks aren't so useful against a full speed punch. Before the brown belt it looks like funky kickboxing.

EDIT: Let's not turn this in a karate thread, they've torn forums apart before.

Go to the local ymca or sports complex. They usually have organized rec leagues of sorts, i personally joined a rec 5v5 soccer league.

Play ice hockey. I could spend hours skating around and shooting pucks into the net. That or just playing pickup games, no obligations, no stress, no need to spend hours on improving your game. (BTW just replace hockey with any sport you enjoy). Yeah you're in college and have a job but you probably have enough time to exercise during the week, I'm sure of it.

Swimming is a good idea too.

@Napalm said:

Stop jerking off.

No, seriously. Just be more productive. Discover new things, get into interests. Get off the internet and go meet people.

Probably should have read more than just the title.

This is how I lost 38lbs. And you don't have to go to the gym.

Knuckle Pushup

Regular Pushups

Dumbbell Curls - 20 lbs (9.072 kg)

My chest and arms have gotten noticeably bigger and cut and my stomach doesn't stick out anymore..

@BraveToaster: I think you mean KG pushups http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig0NVMVdmoA

@Fredchuckdave said:

@BraveToaster: I think you mean KG pushups

Actually, those pushups have more than one name, so I meant knuckle pushups.

When I'm done with Football finally I'll be taking up Jiu Jitsu, grappling sports are great for staying in shape. As well I just really enjoy the act of working out and lifting weights, so it is quite easy for me to get to the gym.

Also watch what you eat, your metabolism is decreasing, and you are getting less exercise.

Join a sporting team? Unless America is weird, you'll have local comps for various sports.

Otherwise, take up Krav Maga

I furiously masturbate at least 25 times a day.

I have copious amounts of sex.

Just eat small portions of rice throughout the day and take a daily vitamin. You'll never need to exercise again! Granted, you'll have no muscle tone and a lowered metabolic rate

i'm just outside that 18 to 25 range (26), but honestly I haven't done anything since high school. actually i have been more lazy then i was in high school, because i at least played basketball during lunch and had gym class for the first three years. and the sad thing/good thing is that i'm only about 5lbs heavier at the current moment (5-10" 140lbs) then i was those 8+ years ago. I haven't been a complete lazy ass as i have rode bike every so often, but not enough that it would have an actual effect. guess having a good metabolism works for me. just waiting for that point when it stops and i become a fat ass lol.

Just get on a treadmill and hold on for dear life for 20 minutes. Gradually increase your speed and/or distance over time. Just by cutting soda out of my diet and running three or four miles every other day I've gone from chubby and awkward to skinny and slightly less awkward.

I make every attempt to jog 3 miles every other day, run sprints the other 'other' days, and do weight training on the days I do sprints. I've been pretty consistent but sometimes life gets in the way.

Jog for a bit, walk, sit down and breathe, and do it one more time every week. Not everyday, mind you.

Just bike really, I usually bike as a main mode of transportation since it gives me a breath of fresh air and just makes me feel better then driving.

I was in great shape til college, just due to ridiculous time commitments. Afterwards, joining gyms and stuff is all well and good. But then I started bike riding outside in order to get some sun and because you just feel better. When you can't go out due to weather, just do some push ups, sit ups, maybe some weights... anything to stay active.

Now we play basketball once a week at my old grammar school, which is actually a huge motivator. Before I did some MMA, so being in decent shape avoided getting ass kickings. But now playing basketball with my buddies is even more important (we take us old folks vs. the high schoolers). Bragging rights and beating these kids feels excellent.

Sounds like you are doing a lot more complaining than anything else. It's all routine, and setting up a great mix on your phone/mp3 player helps a lot. Pick something, pick a great mix, and discipline yourself to routine. Then smoke a bowl when you are done.

College left me in better shape than high school, actually, given the distances I had to walk with the weight of a full backpack every day. It also helped that the campus had readily available exercise equipment for students that wanted to make use of it.

I adopted a low, healthy carb, extremely low sugar intake diet (not really a diet, as it's completely sustainable and I eat what I want, just not garbage like soda, fast food, white bread, empty carbs, etc.), and I casually work out for like half an hour 5-6 times a week--just basic stuff I can do in my bedroom--stretches, pushups, crunches, leg lifts, squats, some cardio exercises. It keeps me in pretty damned good shape too. It's not to lose weight or gain a ton of muscle or anything; just to maintain good health. In fact, I'm in far better shape now than I was when I was a senior in high school, where I really wasn't all that active--lower body fat percentage, leaner, more muscle. It's really not too difficult. You are what you eat, though. People who just exercise and eat shit have the wrong idea.

I started doing cardio type exercise machine while reading. Makes it way more tolerable, and less hamster like. Weight lifting helps a ton though - but where I work has a gym so that ends up being trivial to knock out in the morning. For weight training just pick up basic stuff and try to hit all muscle groups (just make sure your not doing something that is likely to injure yourself - recommended abdominal muscles in particular have changed). Forums relating to nutrition or particular routines, if not run by medical doctors*, basically consist of shamanism and faddish tribal wisdom. Try not to pay to much attention to it.

Commuting to work when the weather is nice via bicycle is also fantastic exercise. Though going much more than 10 miles (or even 10 miles alone) gets to be a bit to much of a time commitment.

*= Does not mean the person is at one point a doctor. I mean something that is run by or through Harvard's school of public health or other college equivalents. There are a lot of quacks with degrees too.

If you're having trouble finding motivation to work out, try just giving it a shot. Commit yourself to seriously exercising (gym or martial arts or swimming or whatever -- what the exercise is is not what's essential here) for a handful of weeks. Chances are you'll get hooked. I'm sitting here after some exercise and a shower and I feel fucking incredible. It's easy forget this feeling after not exercising for a while, which I assume is the case with you. I know because I did in the past which led to several years of no exercise when I was younger.

I played a lot of football after high school but I recently broke my left arm from playing and now I can't work out so I'm kinda just pissed at everything right now....

Take longer to chew your food.  Now thats an activity everybody can get behind!

I think I'm just lucky because I don't gain weight despite not working out. The only thing I do is walk the dog about twice a week.
 
also it helps that I live with my parents because my mom always cooks relatively healthy meals.

@Icemael: So true, the post-workout feeling is incredible, like a full-body high. Practically a drug, and addictive too.

@CL60 said:

I furiously masturbate at least 25 times a day.

I feel like this is not the first time I clicked on a thread to say this, only to discover you'd already said it. If that's accurate, I don't know what that says about us.

I got a job loading trucks after high school. It was like being paid to go to the gym whenever I wanted. It was great. If there had been a way to get a tv or wi fi in the trucks, I might never have left. Well, that and the tendon pains, as I never really stretched properly beforehand. I'm only five pounds heavier than I was when I quit a few years ago, but the difference is noticeable.

@pyromagnestir said:

@CL60 said:

I furiously masturbate at least 25 times a day.

I feel like this is not the first time I clicked on a thread to say this, only to discover you'd already said it. If that's accurate, I don't know what that says about us.

That sounds about right.

Stuntin is a habit

I like to think of myself as fit, I have never dealt with weight issues I used to play basketball three times a week, with a game every weekend. That stopped when I had to join the army. Now a year and a half after the army I play basketball once a week and started lifting weights.

Well I try not to stay sober.

Your judo excuse sucks. Also I'm doing boxing, in my class there is a nobel prize winner nominee (IQ is untouched)... your just looking for excuses not to exercise. The truth is any of those do fine, except the gym of course, I don't understand how someone can invest so much time in something that doesn't even put you in good shape...it just makes you look like your in good shape.

@BraveToaster said:

Knuckle Pushup

Regular Pushups

Crunches

Let yourself go, you'll feel such relief

no don't listen to me, it's the fat talking! IT'S IN MY HEAD! I CAN'T GET IT TO ST

jk cheeseburgers are good.

i push carts part time as a job. theres that. i also lift weights.

i got motivated because a friend started doing it, losing a bunch of weight. i started to lift in the basement. me seeing the results of lifting i want to keep going with lifting.

I enjoyed the shit out of it.