Where did you get that body?

23, student at Columbia Law School, Morningside Heights

What is your diet?
For breakfast I eat oatmeal with peaches or strawberries. I like grapes, apples and oranges, but if I'm in a hurry, I'll just grab some orange juice. For lunch and dinner, I usually cook something like tuna with a side of vegetables or couscous. If I order in, I'll get sushi. And I drink a ton of water.

What is your exercise regimen?
I'm not a gym guy; I like pickup games. They're easy to play at school because we have an instant team. I'll either play soccer or tennis, or I'll go for a long bike ride down the West Side and around Central Park. I'm also a member of New York Coed Soccer (nycoedsoccer.com), and in the winter I play squash. It's an amazing workout because you're sprinting around. It's really good for your entire body.

What is your fitness philosophy?
I work out because I like to be outside and running around. I don't really like the gym, but I love to be active. I play something every day of the week. I just make time for it.

How do you balance work and exercise? 
To me, this is fun. By tying in the stuff that's fun, it's easier to make fitness a priority. Sometimes in the winter it is tougher, so I'll run to the gym, lift weights and then run home.

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN

On a sporty workout...
"By joining a group and making a ritual of working out, you get to be social and train with others," says Jo Ann Weinrib, director and owner of Body Central. "You want activities that will work all of the muscles, but you can alternate. So, for example, soccer is a good way to focus on the lower body, while squash focuses on the upper body."

On a regimen for the rest of us...
"Josh works out every day, but if you're new to working out, you should aim for three times a week with a combination of strength training and cardio," Weinrib says. "Just make sure that you give the body time to rest. Do something very vigorous one day and then yoga the next. You want to make your muscles stronger, but you don't want to overwork or strain them. That will cause tightness and spasms."

—Jaime Jordan

33, epidemiologist, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

What is your diet?
I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, especially brussels sprouts, Swiss chard, spinach and broccoli. I also eat lean protein and not many carbs. Last night for dinner, I had salmon, brown rice and kale.

What is your exercise regimen?
I lift five days a week for 45 minutes each time and switch off days. So on Monday, I'll do my back; Tuesday, chest; Wednesday, off. But life happens, so days are skipped or switched pretty regularly. I like to do a lot of pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups and dips, and I mix machines with barbells and dumbbells. And I'll usually do about 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine, too, or take a bike ride around the park.

What is your fitness philosophy?
I think that modern-day humans would benefit from adopting a lifestyle like early man, who ate fruits, vegetables, nuts, meat when he was lucky, very little grains and no processed foods. Eating healthier was a slower process for me, but in some ways, it's more important than the gym in terms of making me feel healthier.

How do you balance work and exercise? 
I work pretty early days, so I have time in the afternoon. I'm not one of those people who loves going to the gym, but I love feeling healthy, so it's a means to an end. It's a struggle getting there half the time, but I make myself and once I'm there, I usually get into it. Besides feeling better and looking better, it makes me feel less guilty about all the time I spend watching crappy TV.

What is your favorite body part? 
Well, the one that gets commented on the most is my chest. Let's leave it at that. My least favorite is easy: I wish I had bigger arms.

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN

On diet...
"Fruits and vegetables are low in calories, fiber rich, and you get filled up quickly," says Elisa Zied, author of So What Can I Eat?! "Fish is a great source of protein, but also of omega-3s, which are very important for neurological function and heart health." Zied is a big fan of whole grains, like brown rice, but thinks that refined grains (the white bread and pasta we've all been warned against) don't have to be eliminated entirely. "If you like sugar cereal in the morning, mix in a whole-grain, high-fiber cereal. Small substitutions can make a big difference."

On regimen...
"You don't want to do the same thing over and over again," says Jason Machowsky, a trainer at Equinox. "If you use the same movements and devices, you will stop improving." Assigning a day to each body part works if you spend five days a week in the gym. For the rest of us, Machowsky suggests a full-body exercise only three days a week. "You don't necessarily have to be in the gym," he adds. "Swimming is a great full-body workout."

—Nicole Tourtelot

26, barista, West Brighton, Staten Island

What is your diet?
I snack all day. I'll usually have a yogurt or a bran muffin for breakfast, then I'll have a soy latte, then a cranberry-oatmeal cookie or a Starbucks triple-chocolate brownie. And I always have a huge dinner with rice, beans, salad and some sort of meat. Then I have to have something sweet afterward, like a brownie or peanut brittle. I also drink a lot of coffee.

What is your exercise regimen?
I don't go to the gym. I'm lazy, so I usually stack two and three boxes of supplies on top of one another and I'll carry six gallons of milk at a time just so I don't have to go back and forth. I also walk my dog a lot—well, he actually walks me. He's a two-year-old pit, so he's still in the pulling stage. I walk him about two or three times a day for ten to 15 minutes. Other than that, I don't work out.

What is your fitness philosophy?
I've always just been this way, so I don't really have a fitness philosophy. I guess I have good genes; my whole family has really well-toned bodies. The only things I do to keep fit are part of my work and part of my life.

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN

On regimen...
"By carrying unstable things like milk gallons, Magdalena's working with an uneven distribution of weight, which means she has to use her entire core in order to stabilize and carry it," says Fitness magazine's senior fitness editor, Lindsey Emery. "In the gym, using equipment like kettlebells or a medicine ball can achieve similar results, because they too force your muscles to constantly readjust and use your entire core. "

On diet...
"The one good thing Magdalena's doing is grazing throughout the day," says Esther Blum, nutritionist and author of Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous. "But she's eating enough carbs for an entire family. Her blood sugar is all over the place, which makes her have sugar crashes and crave more sugar. She needs to eat more protein, but the most important thing is to cut out the coffee. Coffee stimulates the production of cortisol, a stress hormone that, in excess, can cause weight gain, especially around the stomach. She should switch to green tea—it has organic acids that actually help burn fat. As for soy, it disrupts your body's natural hormones and can result in fertility issues. Instead, she could drink almond or rice milk."

—Katharine Rust

23, freelance writer, currently couch-surfing

What is your diet?
Whatever is lying around: a lot of pizza, beer and recently, hot dogs.

What is your exercise regimen?
I go to the climbing gym three to five times a week for around two hours. It's super social; I end up chilling out and talking to people and then jumping back on it.

What is your fitness philosophy?
It's not a workout—rock climbing is much more fun than lifting weights. If I'm not enjoying it, then I don't want to do it.

How do you balance work and exercise? 
I'm a freelancer so I can go during off-hours, but I like to go when my friends get off work—around 6pm.

How do you tame that mane when you're climbing? 
I'm looking up most of the time, so I never feel like I have to brush it out of the way!

What is your favorite body part? 
My forearms—ladies love them! And I didn't have the lats before I started climbing. I used to be really skinny, but when I started climbing I gained 20 pounds.

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN

On regimen... 
Joe DiAngelo, a trainer and nutrition expert at Workout Loft, notes that Andrew's rock climbing works his abs, back and lats. "You can get that with cardio, weight lifting and diet," he says, "but lifting weights gives you the best results in the shortest time."

On diet...
"Andrew's so muscular, he burns almost all that he consumes," DiAngelo says, "but he needs to improve his diet because in the long term, he may have health problems and will gain weight."

On building an even better body...
DiAngelo adds that "Andrew could benefit from some jackknives, assisted pull-ups, squats and military presses to work his legs and shoulders—muscles he doesn't use so much in climbing. This would give him a symmetrical body and the look of perfection."

—Alyssa Pinsker

27, handbag designer, Lower East Side

What is your diet? 
For breakfast, I always have coffee and some kind of cereal or a banana—I'm usually not that hungry. For lunch I'll have a salad, but to keep me full, I'll include some kind of protein like chickpeas, a hard-boiled egg or half an avocado. I'll also have a piece of in-season fruit. I get home late, so dinner is quick, easy and not very memorable, maybe poached eggs with hot sauce or a veggie burger. For dessert, I'll have a piece of dark chocolate or a cup of yogurt. I try to stay away from pasta and bread. Once the weekend comes, I eat whatever I want.

What is your exercise regimen? 
If the waves are good, I'll go out surfing. No matter how in shape I think I am, surfing kicks my ass, makes my arms like Jell-O and leaves me gasping for air, but it's tons of fun. When I need to run errands in my neighborhood, I'll go by skateboard; it's a great cardio workout and good for your legs. In the winter, I love to go snowboarding. And if I can't go boarding, I'll hit the gym for sports conditioning and boot-camp classes.

What is your fitness philosophy? 
Sometimes I'm tired so I just want to go home after work, but I force myself to work out because I know I'll feel better if I do. I don't work out in the mornings unless there are good waves, because I value my sleep. A good playlist on my iPod is key for pumping me up and making the workout fun.

How do you balance work and exercise? 
I don't view exercise as optional. It's just something that I need to do at least three days a week.

THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN

On regimen... 
"Kristin's fitness routine incorporates things she wants to do, which keeps her from getting bored and maintains her motivation," says Kendra Coppey, founder of holistic fitness company Barefoot Tiger. "It's a good idea to pick activities that don't seem like exercise, such as Rollerblading, biking or rock climbing."

On diet... 
"I'd suggest that she plan ahead for more dinner choices and definitely incorporate more vegetables," Coppey says. "She might consider adding grains like quinoa into her diet. Carbs get a bad rap, but whole grains can be a great source of protein."

On nutrition... 
"Kristin says that she isn't that hungry in the morning," Coppey adds. "This could be because she's dehydrated or her metabolism slowed overnight. A glass of water with a lemon wedge would kick-start her metabolism and make her hungrier for breakfast. It's true that breakfast is the most important meal of the day—if you start on empty, you'll crash later on."

—Jaime Jordan