Get outside, and get out of your fitness rut

Dear Dave Patania: All winter, I have been lifting weights, consistently taking aerobics classes and doing the elliptical trainer. However, I am very bored, dread doing the same things and am afraid of not being in shape this spring and summer. Can you give me some ideas?

Dear Reader: Some people don't exercise consistently or hard enough to get results, and therefore fail because true effort wasn't given.

However, there are those like yourself who have proven that they have the discipline to exercise and eat right consistently.

The problem is that after performing the same exercise-eating routine and using the same machines for so long, many people feel imprisoned by the very habits that are supposed to help them achieve their goals.

This is called being stuck in a fitness rut. In your case, you are doing all of your exercise indoors within the confines of walls and manufactured light.

Change your routine by getting outside and enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and even the rain. Instead of pretending to walk or jog up a hill on a treadmill, grab a few friends and walk-jog a couple times a week with them and create different, maybe steeper, routes to challenge one another and have fun.

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