by L. Woodrow Ross

Created on: October 12, 2008   Last Updated: October 20, 2008

Maintaining fitness is like a diet, it is not to be a sporadic thing, but must become a way of life if we expect to see results. Losing a few pounds or toning up occasionally should not be our goal. The goal should be to maintain constant attention to our level of fitness and make it a daily part of our lives.

Why is it that we have time for everything except what it takes to keep ourselves healthy and fit? We are short-changing ourselves if we do not schedule time to achieve and maintain a good level of fitness. Exercise will extend our life and improve quality, making us a better companion to our spouse, better parent to our children and better employee.

Problems with maintaining fitness occurs during the cold-weather months. Unless you happen to thrive on outdoor winter sports, you need to develop an indoor workout routine for the winter months. Variety can ease the boredom that occurs when you exercise indoors.

A good routine should exercise all of the body. Start by laying on your back on an exercise mat and extending your arms over your head and stretching. Morning is the best time, since it will ramp up your metabolism all day, but any time is better than avoiding exercise.

After stretching, begin with crunches. This will work on abdomen muscles. You may start with 10 reps, but move up to at least 20, and later you may want to do multiple sets. Next, do some oblique crunches. Again, start with 10 reps.

Leg lifts are next. Keep your shoulders flat to the mat, lift one leg at a time trying to bring it to your chest. Then, change to the other leg and repeat the exercise. Ten reps is still a good start. Now, lift both legs and bring both knees to the chest.

Turn over on the mat and do 10 push-ups. If you cannot do regular push-ups, let your knees maintain contact and do modified push-ups. As you progress, change to standard push-ups. This will work the triceps, abs, and pecs.

Stand up and do 10 to 20 deep knee bends. Maintain good balance, do not lunge, but maintain control whenn dipping and rising. Go all the way down and all the way up for full benefit.

After knee bends, do 40 to 50 toe lifts. Stand flat footed and raise your body as high as you can on the toes of both feet. The knee bends and toe lifts will work most of the leg muscles.

None of these exercises require equipment and a good routine can be tailored from 15 to 30 minutes. Augment these by walking on a treadmill if one is available.

There are many activities that you can undertake. but this simple routine can adjust to meet your needs. You will be astonished at your progress in a short time if you are dedicated to improving your body condition.

Learn more about this author, L. Woodrow Ross.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.