Learn Hardcore Chinese: bǐqǐ yìzhí zài fángjiān lǐ shàngwǎng, tā juéde qù gōngyuán pǎobù gèng néng fàngsōng zìjǐ. - Compared with being online in her room all the time, she feels that running in the park relaxes her more.

Both are grammatical and natural.
The version in your sentence uses the 比起 …，(main clause) structure, which is very common in spoken and written Chinese to set up a contrast at the start.

What’s the difference between 比 and 比起?

They’re closely related, but used a bit differently:

A 比 B + adj/verb
Standard comparison pattern.
- 去公园跑步比一直在房间里上网更能放松自己。
比起 B，A …
“Speaking of comparing with B, A …”
- 比起一直在房间里上网，她更喜欢去公园跑步。

Nuance:

比 is more direct: A > B in some aspect.
比起 feels a bit more like “as for comparing with … / compared to …”, often used to introduce a contrastive topic at the beginning of a sentence.

In many cases, especially here, you could replace 比起 with 比 and rearrange slightly, but 比起 is natural when used sentence-initially with a comma.

In 比起一直在房间里上网, there is no subject. Who is being compared?

The subject is understood from context and comes later: 她.

The full “logical” meaning is:

比起（她）一直在房间里上网，
“Compared to (her) always being online in her room, …”

Chinese often omits repeated subjects when they’re clear:

（她）一直在房间里上网。她觉得去公园跑步更能放松自己。
→ Combine and compress → 比起一直在房间里上网，她觉得……

If you explicitly say 比起她一直在房间里上网, it’s not wrong, but it sounds a bit heavier and is usually unnecessary because it’s clear you’re still talking about “her.”

Why do we need both 一直 and 在 before 房间里上网? Could we just say one of them?

They do different things:

在 + place + verb = “to be doing [verb] at/in [place]”
- 在房间里上网 = be online in the room.
一直 = “continuously, all the time, constantly”
- 一直在房间里上网 = “(to be) always online in the room.”

So:

在房间里上网 = surf the Internet / be online in the room.
一直在房间里上网 = be constantly online in the room (habit or long duration).

You could say 在房间里上网 without 一直, but you’d lose the “all the time / constantly” nuance.

Why do we say 房间里 instead of just 房间? Do we always need 里 for “in the room”?

房间 = “room” (the space/area as a noun)
房间里 = “in the room / inside the room”

In many everyday contexts, Chinese often adds a location word like:

里 (inside), 上 (on), 下 (under), 旁边 (beside), etc.

在房间里上网 literally: “be online inside the room.”

Sometimes native speakers drop 里 and just say 在房间上网 and it’s still understandable, but:

在房间里 is more standard and explicit for “in/inside the room.”
For beginners and intermediate learners, using 在 + place + 里 is a safe pattern:
- 在学校里，在家里，在车里，在房间里 …

What exactly does 上网 mean here? Is it “to surf the internet” or “to go online”?

上网 (shàngwǎng) literally means “to get on the net”, but in practice it covers:

to go online
to surf/browse the internet
to use the internet (social media, games, etc.)

In this sentence, 一直在房间里上网 means she is constantly online in her room (browsing, chatting, watching videos, etc.). It doesn’t specify exactly what she does online; it’s a general “be on the internet.”

Why do we say 去公园跑步 and not just 在公园跑步?

Both are possible, but they focus on slightly different things:

去公园跑步
- Literally: “go to the park to run.”
- Focuses on the action of going somewhere in order to run. It sounds like a planned activity or habit: “(she) goes to the park for a run.”
在公园跑步
- Literally: “run in the park.”
- Focus is just on the location of the running, not on going there.

In everyday speech about exercise, 去 + place + verb is very common:

去健身房锻炼
去游泳池游泳
去公园散步 / 去公园跑步

So 去公园跑步 is a natural way to say “go (to the park) for a run.”

Why is the order 去公园跑步 instead of 去跑步公园?

Chinese word order here is:

去 + [place] + [action]

So:

去公园跑步 = go to the park (place) run (action)

You can’t say 去跑步公园; that would break normal word order because the place almost always comes before the main verb:

去中国旅行 (go to China to travel)
去图书馆学习 (go to the library to study)
去他家吃饭 (go to his place to eat)

Pattern to remember:

去 + 地方 (place) + 动作 (action)

Why do we say 更能放松自己 instead of just 更放松自己?

Both are possible, but the nuance is different:

更放松自己
- “relax herself even more” (focus on the degree of relaxing)
更能放松自己
- literally: “is more able to relax herself”
- emphasises the ability / suitability: going to the park to run is better at helping her relax.

In this context, 更能放松自己 sounds very natural: it’s saying that as a method, running in the park works better than staying in the room online, in terms of helping her relax.

What is the role of 能 in 更能放松自己? Could we omit it?

能 means “can / is able to / is capable of.”

能放松自己 = “can relax herself / is able to relax herself.”
更能放松自己 = “can relax herself even more / is better able to relax herself.”

If you say:

比起一直在房间里上网，她觉得去公园跑步更放松自己。

This is still understandable, but it sounds a bit less natural. Most speakers would add 能 here, because we’re comparing how effective different activities are at helping her relax.

So:

更能 + verb is a common pattern:
- 更能帮助你学习
- 更能提高效率
- 更能放松自己

What does 自己 refer to here? Why not just say 更能放松?

自己 usually refers back to the subject of the clause — here, 她.

她觉得去公园跑步更能放松自己。
→ “She feels that going to the park to run relaxes herself more.”

Why add 自己?

It makes it clear that the one being relaxed is herself, not someone else.
放松自己 is a very common fixed expression: “to relax oneself / to unwind.”

You can say:

去公园跑步更能放松。

This is also okay and often used in casual speech, especially if it’s obvious we’re talking about her own feelings. But 放松自己 is slightly more explicit and sounds more “complete.”

Can we drop 更 and just say 能放松自己?

Grammatically yes, but the meaning changes:

能放松自己 = “(it) can relax her / helps her relax.”
更能放松自己 = “(it) can relax her more / even better.”

Because this sentence is a comparison (introduced by 比起), using 更 (“more, even more”) fits the logic:

比起 A，B 更能放松自己。
Compared to A, B can relax her more.

Without 更, you’re not clearly stating which one is better at relaxing her.

How is tense/aspect expressed in this sentence? It looks like there’s no past or present tense.

Chinese generally doesn’t mark tense the way English does (no verb conjugations for past/present/future). Instead, it relies on:

Time words (昨天, 现在, 以后, 常常, etc.)
Aspect markers (了, 过, 着)
Adverbs like 一直 (continuously) to show duration or habit.

In this sentence:

一直在房间里上网
- 一直 suggests a continuing/habitual action: “always/constantly.”
The rest is a general statement of opinion:
- 她觉得…更能放松自己。
- This is timeless/habitual — something she generally feels is true.

If you needed a clear past time, you would normally add a time word outside this sentence (e.g., 昨天她觉得…, 以前她觉得…); the structure itself doesn’t change much.

Is it okay to omit 她 in the second part, like: 比起一直在房间里上网，觉得去公园跑步更能放松自己?

No, omitting 她 there is not natural. You almost always need the subject before 觉得:

她觉得 = “she thinks/feels”
If you drop 她, the sentence becomes confusing, because 觉得 normally needs a clear subject.

However, it is fine (and common) to omit the subject in the 比起-clause, as in the original:

比起（她）一直在房间里上网，她觉得……

So:

✔ 比起一直在房间里上网，她觉得去公园跑步更能放松自己。
✘ 比起一直在房间里上网，觉得去公园跑步更能放松自己。

Could we say 她觉得去公园跑步比起一直在房间里上网更能放松自己?

This is not idiomatic. With 比起, the usual and natural pattern is:

比起 + thing A，(subject) + (comment about B)

(Subject) 比起 A，更喜欢/更想/更愿意 B。

If you want the comparison in the middle, you should use 比, not 比起:

她觉得去公园跑步比一直在房间里上网更能放松自己。 ✔

So:

Use 比起 at the beginning with a comma.
Use 比 to link the two items directly inside the clause.

Is the whole sentence natural in spoken Mandarin? Would a native speaker say it this way?

Yes, it’s natural and something like this would definitely be said. A very typical spoken version might be:

比起一直在房间里上网，她觉得去公园跑步更能放松自己。
或者：她觉得去公园跑步比一直在房间里上网更能放松自己。

Both sound good. The original structure (with 比起 at the start) is slightly more “written-like,” but still perfectly acceptable in everyday speech.