Alternative Ways to Burn Calories and Build Strength

Try these options when you're bored with your walking and strength-training routine.

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Spice Up Your Workout

Variety is the spice of life, and exercise comes in as many varieties as you could want. Whether it's walking, tai chi, tennis, gardening, or swimming, the key is to find something you enjoy and keep doing it. (Having a few options to choose from so you can vary your routine helps.)

Here are a few fun, inexpensive ideas to try:

Exercise Balls
One of the hottest exercise trends to hit the country in recent years involves nothing more than a brightly colored, oversized plastic ball. Physical therapists have been using these giant balls for years; finally they're available to the rest of us. The balls are used in a variety of exercise moves and routines to improve your balance, coordination, strength, flexibility, and posture, primarily by helping you strengthen your body's core muscles: the abdomen, back, and sides.

The balls trump other exercise routines for numerous reasons, says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., author of Bounce Your Body Beautiful: Six Weeks to a Sexier, Firmer Body. They're portable -- you can even deflate one and bring it with you when you travel; they are attractive, so you don't have to "hide" it in the basement; and they're efficient. For every exercise you do, the rest of your body also gets a workout. They're also inexpensive, starting at around $25. You can buy your ball from sporting goods stores, shop online at sites such as www.balldynamics.com, or call 800-752-2255.

Pilates
If you're looking to simultaneously strengthen your muscles, become more flexible, and improve your posture, look to Pilates. One of the latest fitness trends, Pilates is embraced by movie stars and professional dancers, who value its integration of mind and body and its ability to help them maintain a lean shape. It was developed by a German man named Joseph Pilates in the early 20th century as a way to regain his strength after he spent much of his childhood as an invalid. It focuses on using the body's core muscles to support you as you move through large ranges of motion.

Many Pilates exercises require only an exercise mat, although some utilize large pieces of equipment involving pulleys. (For access to these, you'll need to sign up for a class. Look for a certified Pilates instructor -- many are not certified -- by logging onto www.pilates-studio.com.) The "mind" portion of Pilates comes with the intense concentration on the quality of the highly controlled movements. For a Pilates workout you can do at home, check out these videos:

• Pilates for Dummies, with Michelle Dozios. A good, basic workout for beginners.


• The Method, with Jennifer Kries. This is a series of videos, both for beginners and those who have done Pilates before.


• Stott Pilates -- Advanced Matwork, with Moira Stott-Merrithew, one of the gurus of the Pilates movement. This is for a more advanced participant, although Stott-Merrithew also makes a video for beginners.

Resistance Bands
Remember as a kid how you would stretch a rubber band against your index finger and fling it across the room at your brother? Well, the same concept is at work with exercise resistance bands, only there's no flinging involved, and it's not your index finger that gets the workout but nearly every other muscle in your body. Resistance bands use your own body weight instead of dumbbells to provide resistance.

Generally, you slip a band around your foot or arm and lift or extend the limb, working against the band's resistance. You can also secure the band to a door or bar. The bands are not only portable, they're cheap: You can find them in sporting goods stores for under $15. They come in different lengths and degrees of resistance. The shorter bands are used to strengthen hips, ankles, wrists, and hands, while longer bands are best for legs and arms. Both are usually color coded: Yellow provides the least resistance, followed by green, red, blue, and black. For a good video introduction to using the resistance bands, check out Denise Austin -- Pilates for Every Body. (The makers of the video call it a Pilates workout, but true Pilates does not involve resistance bands.) A number of other toning and strengthening videos incorporate resistance band exercises into their routine.

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