3. PLAN A ROUTINE

Now we're at the nitty-gritty: picking some exercises and planning a routine. Think of this list as a menu of exercises that you can pick and choose from; feel free to add your own menu items. We're simply here to get your brain (and your body) on the cheap and healthy track to physical fitness.

Remember to stretch for at least five minutes before performing any of these exercises. Yes, even though activities such as power-walking and cleaning seem relatively harmless, stretching still warms up your muscles, allowing you to get the blood flowing more quickly.

  1. Power-Walk. Many people love to go jogging. However, jogging takes a serious toll on your knees, and doesn't necessarily do much more for you than a brisk walk. Thus, we recommend power-walking for exercise. Although power-walking doesn't burn quite as many calories as jogging, most doctors agree that power-walking is better for you in the long run anyway (it exercises more muscle groups).

    Here's how to do it:

    • As you walk, keep your elbows at 90-degree angles, and move them back and forth rapidly with every step.

    • Press from your heels as you walk, and you'll feel the burn in your lower thighs and butt.

    • Try power-walking in areas where you'll have to walk uphill. You'll burn more calories and tone your muscles quicker.

    • If you don't feel that your heart rate is up quite high enough, try alternating jogging and power-walking. You should be sweating and pleasantly red, but you shouldn't feel as if you've just run a marathon. Find the happy medium.

    • If you get a cramp in your stomach, slow down a little and breathe evenly. Most stomach cramps during workout sessions come from the exerciser not breathing properly. So fight the tendency to hold your breath while you work out. Take long, even breaths and the cramps should go away. And walk on!
  2. Jump rope. Don't smirk. Jumping rope isn't only for little girls in pink dresses and pigtails. Jumping rope is a fantastic way to get cardiovascular exercise while staying in the comforts of your home: five minutes of jumping rope has the calorie-burning power of jogging one mile. Of course, we're talking about REAL jumping rope action-going quick and not doing those little "double hops" in between each turn. If you don't know what we're talking about when we say "real" jumping rope, rent Rocky and learn from the master.

  3. Use workout tapes. There are tons of good workout tapes out there, most of which are relatively cheap. The most important tip we can give you is to tell you to avoid celebrity or high-profile tapes (e.g., anything from Cindy Crawford or any other supermodel). These tapes usually get bad reviews from the experts. And yes, this means you should probably avoid those famous Tae Bo tapes as well (Tae Bo is very difficult to do correctly, and when done incorrectly, it can harm your joints). So try to find a tape with a lower-key veteran of the exercise world like Gilad or Denise Austin. You can pick up these tapes for less than ten bucks at most video stores. If you're super cheap, we suggest that you tape a few ESPN shows and use those.

  4. Tone up without those fancy home gyms. We want to let you in a little secret: Those home gyms (Soloflex, Bowflex) are pretty much a waste of money. You can get the same toning effects without fancy machines and without the guilt. Almost any kind of strengthening or toning exercise can be done by using your body weight as natural resistance (for instance, push-ups, squats, sit-ups). Gyms aren't nearly as necessary as you think.

    We're not going to get into the specific exercises in this SYW; there are entire magazines devoted to such things. So we suggest that you pick up a couple issues of an exercise magazine to develop a list of toning exercises that target your "problem" areas. Use heavy soup cans for exercises where weights are needed. You can also pick up a set of cheap rubber bands at a physical therapy office (they usually give them to their patients for free, so you can probably talk them into giving you a set for a couple of bucks). And for your abs, never forget our article "So You Wanna Tone and Flatten Your Abs?"

  5. Make use of your stairs. Free stairmaster. Might as well use 'em. So play some music on the CD player, and start walking up and down the stairs. Push from the heel, not the knee, and alternate between going up every step and skipping a step. And don't hold on to the handrail, cheater. Keep your heart rate up, but stop if you feel dizzy (the stairs are not the best place to collapse in a heap). As you advance, start walking up and down with soup cans.

  6. Dance. Blast the radio and enjoy! Stomp those feet. Flail those arms. Move to the beat. Don't worry-no one's watching. It's cheap, easy, and sweaty. How many other things can you say that about?

  7. Ride your bike or rollerblade. Again, don't forget what we said about safety equipment (be proud of that helmet hair!). Rollerblade to the market to pick up some milk. Bike your way to work and back. You'll save money on bus fare, AND you'll arrive at work with your beta-endorphins pumping.

  8. Take a hike. Get outta here! Again, make sure you have the right shoes. Unfortunately, there may not be places around you to hike, but there's no reason that on a sunny Saturday you couldn't hop in your car and head to a hilly outskirt of the city.

  9. Clean. You know you should have done it last week anyway. Besides, cleaning burns tons of calories. Chase the dust bunnies and burn the fat. Do your loved ones a favor and take a shower afterwards.

Don't forget to peruse all those exercise magazines in a bookstore to get some more ideas for cheap exercises. Once you've decided on the activities that you want to fit into your life, sit down with a piece of paper and plan out your exercise week based on the available times in your schedule. And you're all set! No more procrastinating.