John: Chris Waters and Laura Minor!

[applause]

John: So we've never worked out in front of an audience before, I mean Laura has a little bit but like we haven't and

Attendee: You do every day!

John: Well, we do every day but like, then we get to approve the cut, which is a critical part of the process. So let's focus on working out more than like capturing Chris and John looking like doofuses.

John (voice over): Welcome back to 100 Days. So back in February, my brother Hank and I held a conference called Nerdcon Nerdfighteria in Boston and early Sunday morning, tons of Nerdfighters lined up to participate in a workout led by Laura and alongside Chris and me, although we were still followers more than leaders. In the end, so many people showed up that we couldn't fit everyone into this weird, packed convention center room. Some people who couldn't get into the room still completed the workout from the hallway, which was pretty incredible. By the way, Laura wore an amazing outfit recreating my fashionable attire from a 2010 Vlogbrothers video titled "Fitness for Nerds". And Chris and I of course were sporting our F**king Majestic t-shirts. Available now at DFTBA.com! Luckily, unlike most of our 100 Days workouts, we listened to music, including Bruno Mars. Over at the Community tab you can find Laura's playlist. I should have known of course that Laura was gonna have us do a billion squats.

Laura: That's about 45 minutes I think.

John: After the workout, we spoke to a few participants who shared their experiences with fitness and following along with the show.

Joy Greenwald: I just did the workout. For the most part it was actually pretty easy for me, which is amazing because I was really out of shape 100 days ago.

Erin Files: It's always been on my to-do list to get back into working out but when you're in school and when you're starting to work, you know, other things get prioritized above that. It's been nice to see someone else prioritizing their own physical health, and so that's been really, really motivating.

Katie Collins: I'll sit there and I'll watch the video and then I'll be like "um I should probably go do something" and it actually has made me stop watching YouTube for four hours and just go do something and then come back to it.

Sharin Berman: You know if John can do it, then I really ought to put in effort and start thinking about what I'm doing.

Dina Atia: It was sort of like all of Nerdfighteria was telling me "We have to go to the gym today."

Ami el Khatib: To be able to focus on like, okay I still need to take care of myself, I still need to eat right, and I still need to work out and be active and do something for myself every day. That's been really huge.

Alyssa Chrisman: I've been trying out different types of workouts. I really like kickboxing.

Joy: I woke up early before Nerdcon and did yoga.

Sara Cochran: So I recently started using city bikes, which is a bike share program and I actually really enjoy cycling.

Erin: A friend and I went to a American Ninja Warrior training gym.

Joy: Every Saturday morning, I take a belly dance class. I totally embarrass my two daughters by practicing belly dance in my dining room.

Yasmine Mitchell: Well I started working with weights and stuff like that and I've definitely seen an improvement in my upper body strength.

Katie: I started with a goal of hitting five thousand steps on my Fitbit and I've noticed I've started doing that and I've started doing more

John: They talked about eating healthy.

Ami: Paying a lot more attention to my portion control and eating throughout the day and making sure that the things that I am putting into my body are really nutritional.

Alyssa: I've been just eating like a lot more fruits and vegetables.

Sharin: And I started, you know, choosing apples instead of other snacks.

Yasmin: My policy before was basically to just to eat whatever was in front of me. I've definitely tried to cut out a lot of junk food I've been eating.

Sara: I'm trying to like cut my sugar addiction and like eating less sugar and desserts and things like that.

Katie: I've been working on narrowing down what I'm eating. I'm a big junk food person. I have a job that usually has me up super late at night, so the first thing I'm going to is whatever's in the freezer, the bag of chips that I have. It's been me resetting my eating habits really.

John: And they reflected on their mental health, including how it was impacted by meditation and exercise.

Alyssa: I do meditate. I have anxiety disorder and dysthymic disorder and I find that really helpful. I usually do it in the morning and I do it for like about ten minutes a day.

Joy: The yoga and that stuff is really about finding a place of centering for me and it's, I think that it's really really helping my mental health.

Ami: I'm definitely able to concentrate better and I think be a better program manager and program coordinator at my job and really focus and you know not get sidetracked as much.

Erin: When I don't work out I have a lot more trouble falling asleep, I've noticed. So working out really helps with sleep in general, which is great.

Katie: I've seen an improvement and I'm hoping the people in my life have also seen an improvement that I'm being more positive.

Dina: Exercise is really therapeutic for me, so I'll go to the gym and then I'll come back home and I'll be like "wow that was great. I'm on top of the world now!"

John: Thanks to these Nerdfighters for sharing their stories and to everyone else who joined us that morning and thanks to all of you for watching.