I would like to hear how you all stay fit enough to be able to play flute, what kinds of sport would you recommend to do.
I myself do powerwalking (between running and walking) few times a week for an hour but I am not sure that gives my lungs enough workout 
berti
Hi Berti,
How about swimming? Lots of regulated deep breathingā¦ Jon
Hereās a little exercise for your lungs:
Actually, what may be important is working on appropriate breath support, utilizing the appropriate muscles. You might find singing books particularly helpful in this regard.
Kevin Krell
Practice and patience. When your technique improves, youāll need less air, too.
Sonja
swim laps
āPowerlungā, eh?
Looks interesting, and thereās a model geared towards woodwind players. Has anybody used it?
Whoa, Iām puffed outā¦ shouldnāt type so fast 
H.
fill your flute with sand and then try to blow it out
My regimen:
Play, and play. Play again, and play some more. Keep playing. Then play, and continue playing. Play yet again. Repeat until you fall down.
Did I mention play?
well, iāve blurted this response out before, but i truly believe that one of the best things you can do for yourself and for your flute playing is yoga. Now, i aināt no yogi (only been practising for about a year). But imagine the benefits of being able to calmly control your breathing thru a series of asenas (sp?), which is a sequence of poses ranging from easy to difficult. posture improves, breath support improves, concentration improves, etc. iām now working on levitating while i play just for added emphasis 
asanas. See you later, levitator!
I thibk Sonja and Nano have it right. Brendanās on to something too with yoga. I run 60 miles a week and do two marathons a year, so I feel reasonably fit, right? At a session last week an overweight chain smoker with an Irish accent sat next to me and never ran out of air while I was huffing away after two hours of steady playing. Something to say for practice and technique. 
I returned to aerobic workouts recently after a year lull due to severe foot problems, inefficient newbie flute blasting the only regular heavy breathing activity in the interim. -Heart rate can be driven comfortably a little higher now, a surprise as I expected regression. Perhaps Guinness
played a role here too. (the stout that is, not Sir Alec, RIP)
-An episodic conclusion indeed, but I like to attribute retention & slight improvement of aerobic capacity to flute playing. It hasnāt resulted in six pack abs or surferās bod, but a good flute practice sure is invigorating.
Iām a competitive cyclist and triathlete and I too get winded often. Certain tunes are tough to play without getting yourself huffing. Embouchure and control as well as economy of breath seem to play more of a role than pumonary fitness. That said, having good lungs canāt hurt. Iād agree that Yoga certainly would help. The added flexibility and suppleness will go a long way towards preventing tension and discomfort that can result from flutings lack of ergonomics.
Corin
Whereās cocusflute when we need him?
I canāt wait to see Brendan levitating in time to pulsed trebles. Will he look like a human bobbleguru on those fast jigs like āScatter the Mudā? Place your bets now!
OK, seriously ā¦ Iāve found long tones very helpful. Like yoga for your diaphragm. And so nutritious for your tone & ear, too.
Amazing how often I hear this, obviously good technique can make up for a lot, but Iād be interested to hear from a good player who smoked heavily and then quit, just to see if they noticed a significant difference.
I donāt want to out anyone, but I hear one of the better players on this list use to be a serious chain smoker and then quit, maybe heāll chime in?
Loren
Most decidedly NOT alluded-to player, but I do smoke; about 3/4 pack a day sometimes. I can play several hours without too much trouble (as long as I donāt get too excited and start leaping about; another bad habit of mine), but the last time I quit? After about two smoke-free weeks I felt a real difference in my playing & breathing ā in fact, it was great.
āOf course I can quit smoking. Iāve done it hundreds of times.ā ā paraph., Mark Twain :roll:
Loren, hopefully David will reply also ā¦ Iām not a good player, but as a one time respiratory therapist and 25+ year ex smoker, Iād say that, everything else being equal, most people could expect an improvement in flow rates and oxygen carrrying capacity that would translate to a notable difference in fluteabilityā¦ having said that, we all know that efficient use of air through good embouchure can reduce air needs to an incredibly low level - Tod
I donāt know that we should really discount the technique aspect of breathing endurance. I guess Iāll throw this one in as a vote-for-technique post.
I picked up the flute when I was a young buck just out of college. You know, back when I was going to the gym, blah blah blah, ran, did all that stuff. AND back when I was playing highland pipes chiefly. First time I picked up a flute, I couldnāt believe the wind it took. Seriously. I thought, and I realize this is incredibly sexist, but consider it a confession . . . is this really the same instrument all those (small) girls played in band? I mean, I was cool and played the trumpet, and then got smart and took up the GHB. But you get my drift.
Now, when Iām 32, not in great shape, but with a much better embouchure, I can play for a long time without all that much effort. I attribute it all to the breathing techniques I outlined in another thread (having to do with learning to play quietly) . . . Sure, I can still keep the GHB going, but I have a feel for how much less air Iām using now that Iāve learned to play with focus.
Also, perhaps as a hopefully-interesting aside . . . and this actually makes me wonder, but I digress. . . it used to be a lot of fun to let other guys try out the pipes in college, since youād get these guys who thought they were hot-sh!t who couldnāt keep them going at all . . .
Maybe it was harder for me to learn flute because Iād already learned the technique-dealies that make the GHB not seem to take so much air, and I was lazy on the GHB. Hmm! I wonder.
Stuart
I second Cathy:
Loooooooooooooooooooong Tones.
These not only markedly improve embouchure (and hence reduce wind requirement), but also help you develop an ear for the tuning of the individual notes.
Slightly OT ā tone stuff: ---------------------------------------------
The āToneā book from the Trevor Wye series of books for classical flute can be used just as easily for ITM. Lots of good advice there on tone improvement.
Even more OT ā bending pitch (using embouchure) ------------------------------
Just occurred to me whilst writing the above, that I knew several good classical flautists who could bend the pitch of a note by a tone or more just using the embouchure, and that only comes through long note practice.
I myself am able to bend a good semitone or more, but until now have not thought about transferring this over to the trad flute, although Iām intending to.
I havenāt yet seen this mentioned on the flute forum (although Iāve not been reading it for more than a few months), but it strikes me that one advantage with bending the pitch is that half-holing is less of a requirement in tunes, certainly on slow-ish stuff with notes which are hard to play (e.g. Fnat). I used the technique recently in a session with the tune āCliffs of Moherā, and it sounded fine, with no half-holing needed!
What are other playersā thoughts on this? Should I start a new thread?