How do you keep in shape?

Cycling, and I'll tell you, it does nothing for flexibility. Good cardio, stamina improves, and it does tone up a few skeletal muscles.

i've given up on yoga when the ponytailed guy on the tv screen was telling me to 'relax my eyeballs' as i was attempting to stand on my head with legs twisted into pretzels and arms winding around like tree roots. he angered me.

i box, and since today, also tap dance. i keep in shape in waves it seems, but i never fall off the wagon completely. come spring, i'll be biking everywhere, that helps a lot.

I used to do water earobics, it made me more toned apparently.
Now to stay in shape i just eat 1 less doughnut.

Like dag, I tend to get in shape in waves, trying a lot of different things as the wind carries me or according to the season. I stay active, but sometimes I'm more ambitious/lazy.

Swimming is my biggest passion, so I do that year-long. I try to keep up with some basic weight lifting as well.
Right now I'm still stuck in the pools, but come spring I'll be living where the water is. swooon. That is life!
Swimming benefits me in so many ways, and to me is the perfect exercise. It tones muscles, gets a cardio workout in, endurance, it can be a fun competive outlet or a mental meditation/cleaning. To me it like my spiritual practise. No church for me - I'm getting in the water!

Yoga I used to practise, but I got bored of it as a regular thing. I just incorporated into my daily routine of stretching, taking some moves as I see fit. It's really expanded my ability to find the perfect stretch and learn about my bodies tension.

I love walking and running too. Biking and hiking. I can't think of a lot of physical activities I don't like. It's all FUN and keep me happy and sane.

I tried yoga, but my knees are too far gone to do even the modified positions. I also tried pilates and was ok with parts of it, but again some of the moves require functional knees.

I've been walking about 2-4 miles/day for the past 10 years. I walk 6 days/week and alternate indoor/outdoor, fast/slow, hills/flat as weather and ambition allow. I also lift weights and other strength training exercises. I use a program that works two opposing muscle groups on each of six days per week. Sometimes I skip a day and work 4 muscles the next day, but in general I work 12 muscle groups/week.

Mr B is a runner and biker. In the summer I alternate my walks with joining him on bike rides.

I run on a treadmill at a gym and have been having fun with a "Bellydancing for fitness" video at home. I woke up this morning with a pain in my knee, though, so may lay off the bellydancing for a while. (It's some typical bellydancing in the sense of gyrations, and a lot of hopping around...)

I love running and the treadmill is a much more forgiving surface than concrete/ asphalt. Plus it has cool bells and whistles (TV to watch, a bar to check your heart rate, etc.)

I eat lots of donuts. It is the only way to maintain a round shape.

After years of going to the gym I switched to Powerplate training for muscle development, balance and stamina. Tai Chi on Friday evening is a perfect start for my weekend. And Rollerblading in the summer. Some yoga before I go to bed.

Oh, forgot something important! Chocolate!!!!

What's powerplate? Do you lift it, stand on it, or what?

I'm curious to know too.

Yep, dag, I know what you mean about being twisted into a pretzel! Yoga can be frustrating when you're first learning those positions! But I find it's making me feel pretty good, so I'm gonna stick with it for a while.

I also used to do weights, but I've gotten away from that. I need to go back to it. It's great for firming everything.

I'd like to get back into cycling too. It's still kind of cold and windy here, so I'm not to into the idea at the moment. But when the spring gets here......(ringing bell on handlebars).....look out!

I've heard of one particular group that gets together and goes biking on Saturday mornings, then they have breakfast together! Sounds like fun! I'm going to look into that!

A word of caution, Stray Cat: If you're ever biking with a group of people and you end up behind dag, well, just be careful.

You stand on it, it vibrates and you do various exercises tensing your muscles. It sounds simple and easy and not very strenuous. But depending on how you do it, it is very strenuous. It is great for all ages and firms and builds up muscles surprisingly quickly. You should see BigDice :-)

hey, gus....that was LOW!

i joined the BU cycling club last week, hope to get in some good rides on the weekends. started tap dancing again yesterday (after a ten year long break) and went boxing today. pulled a tendon in my left wrist after i bent it (wrist) at least three times on a frustrated impact with a heavy bag...can barely type. it's all swallen and painful. i'm not so sure anymore that staying in shape is a healthy thing at all. it can kill ya! believe me.

He was in pretty good shape the last time I saw him, Urs.

It's a bitch, dag, and now you have to back off the training, too.

Roger, now he even has some muscles ;-) And he gained some weight since he stopped smoking.

And to keep in shape I will go outside now and shovel snow...

Hmmm....I'm going to have to check out that powerplate thing....

Not only does it work - a complete workout takes only 20 minutes... After years of working out with weights I know my body very well and I am really impressed by the effectiveness.

urs, I did a little research on powerplate. It does indeed sound like a very interesting and effective workout system. I'd love to try it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available anywhere here in the states. Sigh! Maybe in a year or two we'll catch up over here!