I did 3 triathlons last year, and hope to do more (and longer) next year. I don't have great knees, so most of my physical activity takes place on a bike. I didn't ride a century last year for the first time in a few years, but plan on doing two or three next year. I also just started doing cyclocross...

Wow Cosmo, I am impressed!

I don't do sports but for exercise I walk everywhere. I don't drive so it's useful too. Work, supermarket (with as much as I can carry home comfortably), to the city etc. If the destination is less than an hour away, I will walk. Unless I am really pressed for time.

It's not cardio, but it is transport and "me" time. I think a lot while I walk. I don't walk with music. Just me vs the world.

I went through a phase of walking up our local mountain/volcano. Just a 40 minute steep power walk from my house. It was super hard the first couple of times, but got easier and the view from the top is pretty cool. But then I got bored of it.

Dude I could never ever do a triathlon, I'm just not built for cardio. I love lifting weights though.. i posted this in another thread but I'm so addicted to it you guys should check it out... fitocracy, lets you track your workouts and measures how well you're doing, and you have a wall like facebook where you can check out your buddies activities.. it's really helping me get in shape.

I'm in pretty good shape but you can't really tell because well.. I love food. lol.

Food. Yep, most of my walking involves fetching my next meal.

I've had a hard time getting to the gym too, but in the past it really helped to find classes offered by my gym that I like - I like the dance ones and am going to try a weight-lifting class on Monday. There's kickboxing, yoga (plan to try too). I like to mix it up.

A couple years ago, I got really into it and lost about 70 pounds over the course of a year and a half or so. I've gained a lot back recently, so back to it! We could start a Fit Club thread for all of us to just cheer eachother on and swap tales. I find that helpful too!

At this time of year, I get up at 5:30 every morning and run for half an hour before work. During the winter I also snowshoe and cross-country ski. In the summer there's a lot of hiking, running and biking. I do more biking though because like Cosmo I have bad joints. I have slowly worked my running back up to about 8-10km at a time though, so I am trying to stick with it.

I rode a century once. Just once. It took me almost 7.5 hours and I finished with bruises that made me ride my last few miles standing up. Didn't help that I rode it on a mountain bike, which wasn't really geared for that sort of thing.

If I didn't stay active I'd probably be spending a lot more money on alcohol though, so it's a good thing.

I lift my glass ... I put it down ... lift my glass ... put it down .... add ice ... put it down ... lift my glass and put it down ...

Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it

Hmm, I wonder how much a full glass of scotch & water weighs.

good question

Oh my don't even get me started on working out... I'm notorious for crash working out (instead of crash dieting, lol). I teach dance so I'm 'average fit', but it's really hard for teachers to only do dance as exercise, because when teaching, you do a lot of watching, and not as much doing. And when you do 'do' (heheheh do do) your doing it slowly to demonstrate. Sooo I started walking to get my endurance up, gradually building up to running, then running further and longer. Then I usually get sick, or something happens, and I stop cold turkey, and have to start up again from the beginning in several weeks. Currently I'm in the "I've gained all my weight back, I need to get going!" phase.

Another thing I did recently is, being a dance teacher, I enjoy the 'class' setting. But I don't have time to work towards a goal like a dance recital, so I did aerobics style classes. My favorite of all time is Turbo Kick. I did it at school over the summer for my gym credit, and fell in love with it! I'm considering getting certified in it, so I can add it to my teaching regiment (since it's a lot different than teaching a dance class - NO STOPPING! And you do everything with the class). But I need to get my endurance back up again before I do that again. The cool thing about Turbo Kick is, you burn a minimum of 600 calories per hour/class! And you keep burning calories after the class is over! Even the low impact versions burn that much, because of how your body moves. I think once I start my job up again, I'll get back into a routine again and be able to be better about it. Also now that I'm married, Mr Ang has access to the weight room at the fire hall, and GF's are allowed to go as long as they are accompanied by a member, but once your married you can go alone.

My thing is the 'alone time'. I don't push myself the same way I would when others are around.

A couple years ago, a group of us started walking aroung the parking lot and building during our lunch break. When the weather got too hot, someone brought in an excercise video and we did that instead. That lasted all of six months. After Christmas last year, we never really got back into this year.

I had been walking what I thought was about 4 miles in the evening. One day my co-workers came over and we all walked it together (then went to the wine bar). Turns out it was more like 8 miles. That only lasted the one time.

We all did a 5K last year. Then one of my co-workers and I decided to start doing half-marathons. So we slowly added to the the 8 mile loop and now do a 14.5-15 mile walk every Sunday morning.

Ang, did you ever consider changing your forum name to 'TuboKick'?

The most exercise I got in years was in September when I walked a picket line for half a day for three weeks.

Actually, felt great afterwards.

Now I just stare at my grey cubicle walls and try to imagine my legs are moving.

LOL!

(I didn't know I could change my forum name? 0.o)

I'm going to get my two cents in on this...and that will be just about exactly what it's going to be worth.

I am almost categorically against gyms. I know that sounds like the ranting of a sedentary crank who hated gym class, and the fact that I'm a sedentary crank who hated gym class doesn't exactly garnish my view, but hear me out.

My view is that health is about more than just putting the muscles through their paces, there's a mental, emotional and--dare I say it--aesthetic aspect to it. The sight of a bunch of people in garish lycra and spandex, jogging and pedaling along on machines that go nowhere, while plugged into their ipods and watching T.V. strikes me as a sad mockery of physical culture. And also gives me the creeps.

My personal favorite workout activity, which I haven't done for probably twenty years, is chopping wood. Aside from the upper body workout, there is a very meditative aspect to it, sizing up each new log, trying to hone in on the most likely spot, then lifting the axe over your head and trying to bring it down with the most kinetically apt stroke, then watching a stacked cord grow in front of you. And once in a while, you manage to hit that sweet spot and a log cleaves neatly in two pieces, each falling away from the apex of the blade. One of the most satisfying experiences in life.

Of course, not easy to imitate once you've established an urban lifestyle. The only workout I get these days is a) not owning a car and b) shoveling snow.