What do you consider fit?

I occurred to be the other day , that no matter how fast I get or how far I can run or bike, there is always more to go. I set goals with the idea of one day attaining them, however once a goal has been achieved, I feel that I must then go a step further. This brings up the question of, how far can I get my body to go? I find myself wondering if I will ever be good enough of if I will ever be in "Good shape". I find the term "Good Shape" to be a relative term. Who or what am I comparing too. When I set and achieved the goal of a Nine minute mile over 5 miles, I assumed that would put me in "Good Shape" . I am now beyond that point and still striving to get in "Good Shape".

Sat. Feb 24, 9:36am

I have often wondered the same thing. I had been running (as far as 14 miles) and lifting weights primarily for about 1.5 years, along with other random cardio and some biking. Running barely got my heart rate up anymore. Then, I started swimming last month and felt really great (I could swim freestyle for an hour steadly), and then I joined a workout with some really fast people and I was nearly left in the dust! I am struggling to keep up during our sets, and then need like three times as much recovery in between. I thought I was in great shape!

Anyway, I feel like it is relative and you have to decide for you what is the right point. If you are training for a triathalon or something, you want to be in shape for that. If not, there is no reason to exercise for two hours a day. You can probably decide what feels healthy and what doesn't. You could push your body to the point of injury. There is also such as thing as overexercising which can have symptoms of poor sleeping, depression, lack of energy, elevated resting heart rate, etc.

Saturday, February 24, 2007, 9:47 AM

I think you can be fit and in good shape but still have goals that you want to meet. I'm a fit person, healthy and active but I still have the goals to run a half and full marathon.

Saturday, February 24, 2007, 10:05 AM

Good shape is as subjective as pretty. There's no use in defining it. You can aim for a certain weight, you can aim for a certain body fat percentage (more realistic than a certain weight) you can aim for certain health conditions (low bp, hr, cholesterol, etc., etc.,), or you can aim for certain "athletic" goals (time/distance in swimming/biking/running etc, weight/rep for strength training, etc.) All depends on what you want to do, and what you are willing to sacrifice for those goals. Do you let your quest for "good shape" dominate other aspects of your life like friends, family, career, etc..

9:47- You excell at what you train for :) I would likely be one of those swimmers who would leave you in my dust, but I'm still working at running 5 miles in an hour (And I have no intentions of ever running longer than an hour...) My ex can easily run for 40 min at 7mph, which I certainly can't, but he couldn't keep up with me in the pool for more than 5 minutes, and he was as done as could be in 15min, where as I kept on for a whole hour.

Saturday, February 24, 2007, 11:06 AM

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