• Do something different. Have you tried Yoga or Pilates? Did you ever want to learn jazz dance? What about snowboarding? You don't need to belong to a sports club or gym to get fit. There are loads of activities, both indoor and outdoor, that will exercise your body and make you feel great. And if you are a gym member, take a look at their schedule of classes — maybe there's something there you'll want to try. The Crunch gyms are known for their unusual classes, which have names like "Circus Sports," "Urban Rebounding" and "Firefighter Training." Maybe your gym doesn't have anything quite so exotic, but it's always worth checking out what they do have.
• Little bursts of activity are great! Got 10 or 15 minutes? Go for a quick walk around the block. Do some Yoga stretches. Jump rope. If you like to strength train — or have learned to love it — do some chair squats or triceps dips. The great thing about mini-bouts of exercise is that they give you a little burst of energy, especially if you suffer from a mid-afternoon slump. Activities you can't picture yourself doing for a whole hour become tolerable — you may even begin liking them. Try it — take a brisk walk around the block, do a few backwards lunges and then quickly stretch out your legs. In 15 minutes you've done something great for yourself. Do this again a few hours later (except try an upper body exercise instead of the lunge) and you've completed your 30 minute activity requirement for the day. Do this three or four times a week and guess what? You've become an active person! That wasn't a huge, major change, was it? And that's only the beginning of what you can do!
• Try toys. No, this doesn't mean that Abdominizor you saw during the late night TV commercial break. This means items that are fun and can really help you exercise - one of those big, bouncy exercise balls, for example, or a medicine ball you can toss around. How about a jump rope? There are loads of simple fitness toys — used by real fitness professionals — that make working out more enjoyable. Most of them come with instructions to get you started. And you don't need instructions for some items, like the jump rope - you remember how to use that from childhood. Try some real toys too, like a hula hoop, maybe, or any kind of ball. Activity should be recreation — revisit your childhood, forget about adult dignity — how boring! — and play.

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