Chefs aren't known for their svelte physiques. The stereotypical chef tastes food all day then stays out late eating and drinking. Hitting the gym isn't a top priority.

Although cooking professionally can be physically arduous, it involves activities that mostly leave them exhausted without helping them manage their weight or get in shape.

Stand for eight hours on a cement or tile floor and see how well your back holds up. Add some deep knee bends as you're taking heavy pans in and out of the oven (also great for the back), repetitive motion injuries from cutting up meat, fish and vegetables for hours at a time and the occasional burn or cut.

At the end of the day -- 10 p.m. or even as late as 2 a.m. -- forget about hitting the gym or jogging around the neighborhood.

Yet a number of Pittsburgh chefs and cooks are running today in Pittsburgh's marathon and half-marathon, including Bill Fuller, corporate executive chef of the Big Burrito restaurant group. Mr. Fuller has been training for the 13.1-mile half-marathon since January, but he's been working out more regularly since he turned 39 two years ago, took stock of his health and decided to make changes.

"I've been going to the gym two to three days a week and maybe running a mile on the treadmill and lifting some weights," he said. In January, other Big Burrito chefs were talking about the marathon, and Mr. Fuller decided that this would be a good goal.

At first it was hard to find time to train. "I was worried about cutting into my family time or my work time," he explained, so he runs at 5 a.m.. As executive chef, Mr. Fuller no longer works late nights or long shifts; many of his days are filled more with paperwork than cooking.

Danielle Cain, executive chef of the Big Burrito restaurant Kaya in the Strip District, also is running the half-marathon. "My husband's a big runner -- he's run a couple of marathons," said Ms. Cain, who juggles her busy restaurant job with taking care of her young daughter. She often runs when her daughter is in school four mornings a week.

Sometimes she takes workout clothes to the restaurant, hoping to hit the gym after she's finished for the night, but at midnight the idea is less appealing. As for time goals, "Really I just want to beat [Sean Ehland and Ryan Burke]," the sous chef and general manager of Soba, another Big Burrito restaurant.

While running is one way to stay fit, Jennifer Iserloh, known as "skinny chef," says yoga and cooking are an ideal match. Ms. Iserloh was raised in Pittsburgh by her grandmother, who was a wonderful cook. Everyone in her family loved to eat, and everyone ate too much. She struggled with her weight into her 20s, until she decided to change careers and become a chef.

Today Ms. Iserloh is a personal chef and media consultant. She worked as the recipe developer for Joy Bauer's cookbook "Food Cures" and Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook "Deceptively Delicious." She's also a frequent contributor to Self magazine.

On her Web site, skinnychef.com, she writes about how to eat well without overdoing it, as well as ways to increase healthful habits like exercise. She recently became a certified yoga instructor.

"What I like about yoga is it's able to combat some of the joint and muscle issues [chefs] have" from standing for long periods and engaging in repetitive, stressful movements such as filleting fish or flipping vegetables in a saute pan for hours, she said. Ms. Iserloh has even designed a yoga routine for chefs that she teaches to friends in the restaurant community.

Getting chefs to do yoga can be like getting football players to take ballet classes. Everyone's heard it's a great idea, but somehow they can't get past the tights -- or in this case, the back bends.

Employees at the Harris Grill in Shadyside can take free yoga classes at two local studios. Unfortunately, manager Scott Ressler doesn't know of anyone in the back-of-house (i.e., the kitchen) who takes advantage of the program, in comparison with about a third of the front-of-house staff.