Things people should realize about fitness:
- you don't have to put hours in 3-4 days of intense training a week to do it, 15 minutes a day will do nicely
- the goal of "looking good" is a bad goal (to me anyhow)
- staring at the scales is bad.
- what do you mean by "fitness"
- you don't need a gym
One thing I try to do every day is a short burst workout when I get up in the morning, I do this mainly for my kung fu training so its geared more to that, but the point is to have a consistent early morning routine - or evening or dinner time, whenever, but I find mornings the best since it wakes me up.
So my basic morning routine is :
15 minutes
1 minute of pushups
1 minute of situps
1 minute of squats
1 minute of pullups
1 minute of starjumps/jump rope (if its not raining outside, jump rope)
5 minutes of stretching - one of the most important things anyone can do, being supple helps avoid injuries and will remove the "owww ooooooh eeeeek" feeling people get when they bend down for something
5 minutes of technique/form-work/sequences to do with kung fu.
I try to do this every day, occasionally I don't tho but its no big deal, but a short burst workout in the morning will yield positive results for anyone, and is a good way for most people to ease into exercising.
Never train just for the vanity of looking good, this applies to both men and women, don't count how many pounds fall off as you train. Train for the joy that is self improvement, train because it is good to do so, train because its healthy to be fit and strong and supple. If you train for purely losing weight, or to look good, what happens when you get there ? You likely stop training, or cut back a lot, then you don't look as good anymore or you start to regain the weight, then the work you put in is suddenly undone.
"fitness" is such a broad term, you can have someone who swims every day, is a powerful swimmer, yet ask him to run somewhere and he can't run very far before he gasses out, because his fitness is specific to the swimming, the same can be said for someone who weight trains, vs someone who does gymnastics, both of these people are fit and strong yet the gymnast will likely not be able to lift the 300lb barbell, just as the weight trainer will likely not be able to do a muscle up.
Take myself, my "fitness" training is specific to martial arts, so I need functional lean muscle mass, flexibility, cardio/endurance, agility and speed, so lifting lots of heavy weights is not the best option for me, since having huge muscles is of no benefit, so I look to more bodyweight exercises, kettlebell workouts, explosive training, that kinda thing.
For the most part no one really needs a gym, unless you are using lots of weights, but even then, you can buy weights and use them at home. Make the world your gym if you can, it amazes me how many people drive to the gym, to use a treadmill... or an exercise bike.... seriously ? buy a proper bike, or go running outside.