Photo: willposh, Flickr

British people are too lazy to have sex, at least that's according to a recent study by Nuffield Health in UK. And if that wasn't shocking enough, there are even more startling findings. Such as? Well, one in six say they'd rather sit through a TV show they didn't want to watch than get up to change the channel if the remote was broken. And more than half said they'll always choose the elevator over two flights of stairs. Wow -- no wonder Britain is the most obese nation in Europe.

But don't be too quick to point the finger -- I suspect Americans aren't doing much better. Obesity rates are similar between the two countries, and considering the majority of us don't engage in any exercise whatsoever, I'm guessing a U.S. based study would show similar results.

OK, so maybe stairs aren't your thing, and the couch is just too darn comfy to justify getting up, but that doesn't mean you have to be a total blob -- there are plenty of fun and fabulous ways to get fit.

Have you tried bocce ball and beach paddleball this summer? Sorry to burst your bubble but you really have no excuse to be quite so lazy!

That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Everlast and Everlast Woman are giving gorgeous workout T-shirts to each featured member! To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Courtney Clasen

Age: 32

Occupation: Homemaker, Domestic Engineer, In-House Chef, Maid, Taxi, Motivator, Sheriff, Dog Walker, Cat Feeder, Snake Tamer, Playmate and Diva

How often do you exercise? About six days a week.

What type of exercise do you do? I am proud to say that for the first time in my life I can call myself a runner. I also do resistance exercises.

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? My bad mood! I know exercise will snap me out of it and give me that hyper "I love everyone" feeling.

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That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind.

Name: Chuck Marshall

Age: 44

Occupation: Programmer

How often do you exercise? Five to six days a week .

What type of exercise do you do? Body weight strength training and cardio. I like to do intervals, elliptical, rowing, and running (when I'm not injured).

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That's Fit Club is our feature devoted to you, the reader! We have all learned so much on our paths to becoming more fit, and now it's time to learn from and inspire each other! That's Fit Club members are constantly working to better themselves. Some are perfect; some are not. But all have health on the mind. Besides showing you off, we want to reward you for all of your hard work! Everlast and Everlast Woman are giving gorgeous workout T-shirts to each featured member! To join, please send Fitz your answers to these questions with a photo of yourself. Time for you to be the motivator!

Name: Jorn

Age: 38

Occupation: "Tech Things"

How often do you exercise? Three to five days a week.

What type of exercise do you do? Resistance work; I hope to get back to TaeKwonDo soon.

What gets you to work out, even when you're feeling lazy? 1. Knowing that I have never, ever, ever said to myself, "Gee, that workout sucked. I shouldn't have exercised today." 2. Back fat. Ewww. 3. Most people peg me for being 10-15 years younger than I am. That didn't happen when I was fat a few years ago.

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Are you a couch potato? If so, it turns out that laziness isn't just a bad habit -- it may actually be coded in your genes.

A research team from the University of North Carolina has conducted preliminary studies on mice that suggest our genetic makeup may predispose us to being lazy. The team indicated different genomic areas that regulate activity levels. The research team is gearing up to do a human-based study of a similar nature.

The researchers indicate that genetics account for roughly 50% of the differences in activity. If the same genetic traits prove to be valid in humans, it's certainly an interesting concept. Exercise and activity has by and large been considered a healthy choice to make. And, while even if genes play a role, it still is ultimately a choice -- a genetic difference would show that certain people have a larger natural drive to be active.

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This weekend I woke up with absolutely no desire to work out. I had been at a friend's pre-wedding celebration the night before, and I stayed out late, ate more than I normally do, and boy, did I feel it the next morning. Normally, when I feel that lazy, I call a friend, but all my friends had done the same thing and didn't want to exercise either.

I made a deal with myself. I decided to go to the gym, but I promised myself that if I didn't want to keep pushing after 30 minutes of moderate cardio, I would go home. I'll give you two guesses as to what happened.

I started at an easy pace. Ten minutes in, I had the intensity bumped way up. And, after my pre-determined half hour, I was nowhere near ready to go home. I hopped on another machine and did some more, and finished up with some strength work, and I felt fantastic. It reminded me how important that first step can be. Get yourself off the couch, out the door, to the gym -- whatever it is you want to do. But just do it!

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I ran really far on Sunday, and when the time came to go to the gym with my husband on Monday, I thought I'd be too beat to perform. I literally was contemplating stretching for an hour as I walked through the front doors. But then! Then I saw something beautiful to my left. Over the dozens of cardio machines to my side, I saw Tom Cruise plopped down on the couch with Oprah and was drawn over to the treadmills.

Curiosity got my goat, and up I climbed on to the machine before me. Now strangely enough, because of a back injury, walking hurts more than running. So with emotional bricks in my shoes I cranked up the speed to six miles per hour and got going. I swear to you that before I turned that darn machine on, I would have never imagined my legs would take me half a mile. Apparently I was wrong.

Turns out that even though I felt sluggish and was full of doubt, I was capable of running for an hour straight! Isn't that insane? I think so. Listen. I've been in this business a long time, and have made a living out of proving to people that they could do the things they thought they couldn't! Feeling slow, tired, and unmotivated is not unusual. What is unusual, though, is finding the inspiration to yank out your personal best, even under those circumstances.

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Despite a few slothful years I enjoyed as a teenager, I've never been the type of person you could describe as 'lazy.' Not that I'm a workoholic either, but I get bored easily. I can only watch TV or play video games for a couple of hours at a time, and though I could spend an entire day reading, I rarely find books that grab my attention enough to warrant me sitting on my butt for 12 hours. No, I'd much rather enjoy life than put it off. I need fresh air and a certain amount of movement to be content. I'm happiest when I'm doing something good for myself or getting something accomplished.

But according to the author of The Joy of Laziness: How to slow down and live longer, Dr. Peter Axt, the key to a long, healthy life isn't exercise -- it's laziness. Apparently, putting your feet up and relaxing is much better for you than working out. It all comes down to what he calls your life energy, which is finite. When life is hectic and fast-paced and physically demanding, you use up more life energy, which shortens your lifespan. But when you slow down, you conserve your life energy. Hmm. If this is true, I'm probably going to die young.

I'm all for the idea of slowing down your life and taking more time to relax, but I'm not sure if cutting out exercise is the answer. For me, exercise is relaxing, and it gives me much more energy than lounging does. What do you think?

(via Crabby McSlacker)

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Let's be real for a second: nobody is a machine! We all need breaks to rest our weary minds or bodies every now and then. Otherwise we'd crack and then where would that get us? Sometimes to stay more productive, you have to take a break. But as this great Lifehack article points out, there's a difference between constructive rest and just being lazy.

While that line cannot be easily defined, you can still set guidelines to help stay productive. So when should you decide to take a break? Everyone will have different points, but completing a major task can be one benchmark for rest. After finishing a big project, wrapping up an essay, or replying to all those emails, take a break! Another potential guideline for resting up is after many consecutive days of working hard. You've earned it, so take a day off.

So what do you do when you actually get that coveted time to yourself? Enjoy being away from work, break off and do something else. The article also suggests not to rely on substances like caffeine when you try and get back on the job. And as the old adage goes, keep work and home life in check. Why bring that stress to the dinner table?

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I was watching TV last night, flipping at high speed through all the channels with my handy-dandy remote, when I remembered the long-ago days requiring an actual walk to the television set for a little channel surfing. It got me thinking about technology, about how the very thing that is revolutionizing the world in so many ways -- think electronic medical records, on-line banking, the fact that I'm publishing this post in cyberspace for all to read -- is also making us one lazy mass of people.

How about automatic garage door openers? Growing up, I remember hustling out of the car, often on cold and snowy days, to manually lift my family's garage door. Once our car was nestled safely inside, the door had to be yanked back down. These days are long gone. Now, I have a button in my mini-van programmed to shoot that garage door up and down at a moment's notice. I don't think I've ever even touched my garage door with my hand.

Sprinkler systems. Remember watering your lawn with a sprinkler attached to your hose and dragging it from place to place until every blade of grass got a drink? Now we have the luxury of sprinklers running on auto pilot. We also have drive-through and drive-up options at almost every restaurant around. We don't even need to exit our cars to collect our carry-out slop. And riding lawn mowers. We're not talking traditional technology here but still, it illustrates my point. I saw a neighbor plowing through his miniature-sized yard the other day on his big and burly John Deere ride-on. Could the 30 minutes it might take to manicure his entire lot of grass be so difficult?

People in Britain would rather die than make healthy changes to their life, a new study shows. The majority of overweight and obese people are unwilling to become healthy, even face with certain death. In a poll, only 38% said they would exercise more if their life depended on it. And believe me -- their lives do depend on it. Exercise and a healthy diet are essential for longevity.

I think these statistics are shocking -- don't you? I'm appalled that people would choose laziness over life.

Only 4% said that they found exercise fun -- perhaps that's the reason why they're so unwilling to do it? But I'm the opposite -- I don't think laziness is fun; I'd much rather go for a run or a yoga session than lounge on the couch all day. Would you?

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Do you hate exercise? I don't but oh boy, I sure used to. I'm a natural klutz and going to high school in an ultra-competitive environment left me feeling pretty useless. I just didn't measure up to the athletic prowess that so many of my classmates had, and it made me feel, well...ashamed or myself, like I wasn't good enough. But that was then and this is now. I've come to realize that we all have different abilities and that's ok. It sounds pretty obvious, but try telling that to an awkward 16-year-old with little self-confidence.

My point is, some people hate exercise for reasons like this. There are also people who hate exercise because it's boring and those who hate it because, for lack of a better word, they're lazy. But since exercise is such an important part of a healthy life, don't you think it's time you got to the root of your dislike of activity and got over it?

For help, check out this article for tips on learning to love activity. It worked for me ... how about you?

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Are you a self-proclaimed couch potato? You might be if the only workout you seem to get is either manually changing the channel on the TV or grabbing a snack from the kitchen if you're feeling really ambitious. Unfortunately, the bad thing about being a couch potato is that you begin to look like an actual potato -- round and lackluster. I've never been able to sit still for long enough to be a sofa-dweller, so when I came across the confessions of a couch potato, I couldn't really relate. But you might be able to. You also might be able to find inspiration from the story, which comes from someone who had to change his lazy ways after getting a job at one of the internet's largest weight loss sites.

Are you a couch potato? Or a reformed one?

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