Stephanie Foster

It's spring, and the weather is beautiful in much of the country. If it's not, it probably will be soon.

Have you ever considered biking to work? Or for your errands? With gas prices climbing ever higher (they will hit $4/gallon soon in my area, the way things are going), biking is looking more and more practical for a lot of people.

It's also great exercise.

One of the big reasons people don't like to have a home gym is the expense. Treadmills and other large equipment cost a lot and take up tons of space. Then you feel guilty as you use it as a place to store clothes rather than exercise with it.

This is a mistake that results from trying to make your home gym look like one you might join. There's nothing wrong with wanting that kind of equipment, so long as you are sure you will really get good use out of it.

It's one of the frustrating things about getting older. It gets harder and harder to keep in shape. And the abs often go very quickly.

While working on all muscle groups is important, many people focus quite a bit on their abdominal muscles. It's easy to understand the reason why. Abdominal muscles lose tone easily, especially as you get older, and great abs are one of the preferred signs of being in really good shape.

One of the biggest blocks to getting fit is the mental block. If your mind just isn't cooperating with your goals, you aren't going to get anywhere.

You know you're not in the right frame of mind when you allow too many excuses to keep you from exercising. If you always come up with reasons why you can't get to the gym, take a walk, take the stairs or whatever else you're doing to improve your level of fitness, it's time to figure out why you are doing this to yourself.

So you've decided this is the year. You're going to do it! Get fit and lose that excess weight.

Now you just need to decide how.

Start out by taking a look at where you stand. How is your weight compared to this time last year. Up? Down? About the same? Knowing whether you've been improving, getting worse or standing still can help quite a bit in your planning.