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strong>Staying in shape is something that comes naturally to Mita.

The sports addict has a fixed routine – going to the gym from Tuesday to Saturday and joining her friends in a running club on Sunday. Monday is her only break.

The healthy habit, she said, started all the way back in her college years.

“I maintain it because I find it important to maintain my endurance, strength, speed, flexibility and balance,” said the 40-something woman, who has been in the running club for a couple of years.

In her regular sessions, Mita will put in 30 minutes of running on a treadmill or cross-country ski machine for cardio training before moving on to strength training — such as using dumbbells, and flexibility training or stretching.

“For me, doing physical activity is just like a natural need. So, it’s never about following trends. And the good thing that comes from this is having more friends,” said Mita, who combines her cardio training with jogging, swimming and yoga.

Her interest in sports has naturally led her to have a healthy lifestyle, including choosing the right things to consume.

“You just get to the point where fried food is not good. You will eat more vegetables, fruit and drink more mineral water,” she says.

Indonesia’s former No. 1 swimmer, Richard Sam Bera has stayed faithful to his sports regime even after retiring from professional sport but has switched his focus to the triathlon — a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events; running, swimming and cycling.

He exercises twice a week, with running, swimming and cycling.

“I’m still a member of a fitness center [in Jakarta], but now I’m more interested in outdoor training,” said Richard, who is currently editor-in-chief of FHM Indonesia and Men’s Fitness Indonesia magazines.

At home, Richard said that he also had several strength training tools like a bench, dumbbells and a gym ball.

The growing trend of staying healthy can be seen from the rising number of fitness centers across the capital, with the top ones — such as Fitness First, Gold’s Gym and Celebrity Fitness — packed with sweating members.

Since it arrived in the country in 2004, Fitness First Indonesia has gathered about 26,000 members in its eight clubs across the capital.

“We maintain our membership number at that level to avoid over-capacity in each club,” said Fitness First Indonesia marketing and promotion manager Julia Nurdin.

Apart from offering classic cardio and strength exercises, most of these mega-gyms also offer variations on training, such as yoga, pilates, dance-based aerobics like hip-hop and Latin dance as well as combat sports-derived aerobics.

Staying healthy comes at a cost, with membership fees ranging around Rp 500,000 (US$52) per month. A personal trainer may cost more, from Rp 250,000 to Rp 500,000 for a one hour-session.

Nutritionist and healthy-lifestyle motivator Phaidon Toruan said that staying healthy should be for both the mind and body.

Mentally, he said people needed to consume food for the mind and do mental activities or the brain might shrink in size.

The body also needs good nutrition and sufficient physical activity to live a full life, he added.

Three things, he said, should be looked after to stay healthy. The first is to control one’s mind, and second, to give the body enough nutrition. The third is to be physically active by doing health-related exercises.

“I consider staying healthy as a skill — just like you need the skill to ride a bike or drive a car.”