"Get fit"

[landloper]

Hiya!

I have a question that my mother asked me, and it stumped me, so here I am :)

In my dictionary, 'get fit' is translated as 'estar en forma'. But, wouldn't this be 'keep fit'? As, you're already in a good physical condition and all you're doing is maintaining it.

If you went from obese to muscular, I wouldn't say what you did was 'estar en forma', would I?

Basically I'm looking for the verb for saying not that you kept in shape, but that you went from a bad shape to a good one.

Thanks in advance!

[poli]

Ponerse is the verb to use.

[aleCcowaN]

ponerse en forma (to get from 98-pound weakling or sweaty fatso into a Charles Atlas)
estar en forma (to have reached such state and be able to show it is so)
manterse en forma (to do whatever is needed to keep oneself that way)

[landloper]

Oooh, thanks guys!

So, ponerse en forma is what I'm looking for. Would mantenerse en forma be applicable to someone who who is transitioning from a 98-pound weakling or a sweaty fatso into a Charles Atlas, too?

[poli]

Mantenerse en forma means to keep yourself in shape.

[aleCcowaN]

Oooh, thanks guys!

So, ponerse en forma is what I'm looking for. Would mantenerse en forma be applicable to someone who who is transitioning from a 98-pound weakling or a sweaty fatso into a Charles Atlas, too?

What poli said.

"Ponerse en forma" is any way of changing a body that works poorly into a well oiled machinery. Losing some overweight is usually part of the equation but not necessarily. No obligation to gain a lot of muscle. Anyway, the forma has to be observable.