Achieve an Easier and More Effective Workout

Keep on track by practicing these 17 workout ideas

A Seemingly Impossible Task

Even for committed exercisers, motivation often flags, and there are days when it requires a Herculean effort just to put on our workout clothes and walk through the gym doors. If you're lucky, the sights and sounds of exercise are all you need to motivate yourself to get moving. Other times, you still may not have the slightest urge to get started. Here are stealthy ways to get the most out of your workout.

1. Avoid the mirrors. Many fitness locations line exercise rooms with mirrors to allow you to watch your form as you work out. Yet a study of 58 women found that those who exercised in front of a mirror felt less calm and more fatigued after 30 minutes of working out than those who exercised without staring at their reflection. The national exercise chain, Curves, deliberately designs its small gyms without mirrors so women can concentrate on each other and the workout rather than on how they look. Other gyms are beginning to offer "reflection-free" zones. If yours doesn't, mention the idea -- and the study -- to the gym manager.

2. Try using aromatherapy oils known to enhance energy, such as rosemary. Mix them with water and store them in a squirt bottle in your gym bag. Give your gym clothing a few squirts before leaving the dressing room so you can smell the oil as you work out. If you're in the midst of a more meditative, slower-paced workout, such as Pilates or yoga, try lavender oil instead of rosemary.

3. Create your own personal gym-mix tapes, CDs, or digital recordings, and listen to them as you work out. Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse found that people who listen to up-tempo music got significantly more out of their stationary bike workouts. They pedaled faster, produced more power, and their hearts beat faster than when they listened to slow-tempo music or sounds with no tempo. Overall, they worked between 5 and 15 percent harder while listening to the energizing beat. Although the type of music you choose is up to you, pick something with a fast beat that makes you want to break out in dance. You can custom-design your own exercise music to burn to a CD or download to an MP3 player at Internet sites such as www.mywalkingmusic.com or www.workoutmusic.com.

4. Turn off the tube when exercising. It's tempting to try to lose yourself in television programming as you slog away on the treadmill or stationary bike. Yet a 1996 study found women worked out about 5 percent harder when they weren't watching TV than when they were. Although your favorite TV show may take your mind off your workout, it also causes you to lose touch with your effort level. You unconsciously slow down or use poor form as you get caught up in what you are watching. If television sets line the workout area, get on the equipment closest to the monitor tuned to C-Span. Sure you'll glance up at the monitor from time to time, but unless you're a complete political junkie, you probably won't get sucked in.

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My father began teaching business classes at the local prison through a community college. On his first night of class, he started a chapter on banking. During the course of his lecture, the subject of ATMs came up, and he mentioned that, on average, most machines contain only about $1,500 at a given time. Just then a man in the back raised his hand. "I'm not trying to be disrespectful," he told my father, "but the machine I robbed had about $5,000 in it."   

-- Jennifer Johnson