Exercise. We all know we need to do it to keep the weight off or to look amazing. Do you exercise? How does it make you feel? What is the best benefit? What is your favorite exercise? If you do videos, what is your favorites?

I go to an awesome gym and I'm finally up to 6 days a week and do 60 to 90 minutes of cardio. My two machines are the elliptical and treadmill. I need to start working out again with weights, but I hurt my right arm and haven't got back in gear just yet.

I have plantar fasciitis, and when I walk more than 20 minutes it flares up and I can barely walk for a couple days. Strangely, when I hike it doesn't bother me. Maybe it's the solid support my hiking boots give me.

Anyway, I've had to find things other than walking for my exercise. I have an elliptical machine that I use at home that doesn't bother my heel much. I watch movies while I stride. I started out at 20 minutes, and now can do 30 fairly easily. My NSV this week was actually pushing it to 45 minutes one day (but the next I could only do 30). I work out every other day right now, hoping to increase that as time goes on.

I also have a lot of video tapes. They range from very basic moves (Walk Away the Pounds, Fat Burning for Dummies, The Biggest Loser, Richard Simmons) to more dancy programs (Afro-brazilian cardio, bellydancing for fitness, latin rhythm workout, donna richards). I also have some stretch, yoga, and pilates tapes for when I need something different. And a few challenging tapes (Denise Austin Ultimate Fat Burner, one with Karen Voigt that uses weights, and The Firm Basics).

The thing with the videos is that the area in our rec room in front of the TV has to be clear of toys and such... and it seldom is. So I don't do the videos right now. But I have them when I need them.

I do cardio kickboixing 3 times a week and they mix it up. Somedays we are going all out on the bags, other days a circuit and other days just full on cardio. Every other day I do Yoga which I love. My flexibility has gone through the roof as well as my strength in arms and legs.

I'm trying for an hour or more a day, 3-4 times a week.

I stair climb, walk -- especially after climbing because it's much easier to keep my heart rate up -- and I just tried Jillian Michael's 30DS yesterday. I wanted to do it again today but man -- everything is sore!

I try and be flexible in terms of 3 or 4 days, just to accommodate life. And walking and stair climbing together takes between one hour and 1.5.

Can I ask where you do that? I'm not located that far from you and am just curious for when my endurance reaches a better level.

Currently I am on a 12 week bike training schedule for touring (ride time 3 hours/week) . On my days "off" I walk 3-4.5 mi. I try to walk that mile stretch at lunch or during my morning breaks. I miss dancing, I miss yoga. Those and strength training will get incorporated again (mid September for strength). Me and my fella work on 12 week stretches with a week break in between and we just incorporate the new training program into the old one. We started with just walking and I built up to 3 miles a day pretty quickly and before I knew it our weeks were turning into 24 mile weeks for me and 40 mile weeks for him. Our longest single hike was 15 mi but my knee was toast after mile 13.

I love how moving makes me feel, and I do not believe I can lose weight without moving, i love to eat too much and there are food compromises I won't make in my old age.

For Yoga I always have to recommend Sara Ivanhoe for beginners, she keeps things simple and is a sweet girl. As you advance I love Shiva Rea and the Yoga Matrix (you can design your own routine on the DVD), plus Shiva also does Yoga Trance Dance. If you want to feel free, your inter heart drum this is a blast.

I train for triathlons! Swim, Bike, Run it's great cross training and there is nothing better to motivate you then paying for a race and the fear of being able to finish. Before I could run though I started by walking and then videos. I'm fond of the Turbo Jam ones. No time to do those anymore though.

Exercise has changed my life. I don't always love it... I used to hate it but most days it makes my life so much better and I enjoy it for the most part now. Better Mood, Better Energy, Better Weight Loss. Woot.

I have been doing Wii Fit and now EA Sport Active on the Wii and am also doing the Couch to 5K running program on my treadmill. The running is supposed to be every other day so I try to do the Wii stuff on my days "off".

A few weeks ago I was doing Wii stuff every day on top of the C25K but the last week time seems to be flying by and I haven't been...and I miss it (that is something that I never thought I'd say...Missing exercise?!?)

Every little bit helps and I have definitely noticed my strength and stamina increasing. (no longer short of breath coming up the stairs for one!)

I LOOOOVE exercise! My dificulty lies in my eating. I love to challenge myself physically. I walk 90 min almost every day. And I try to do weight lifting at least twice a week. My hubby does the P90X routines (they are amazing) and i do the weight days with him. I started off using the 5 and 8 lb weights and no weight at all for the tricep exercises. Now I use the 8 and 10 lbs and the 5lb for triceps. I also have the Biggest Looser Yoga DVD that I have tried a few times and I want to do more of that. I also have my own gloves and wraps for beating on our punching bag. I loooove that. It takes a lot more energy, cardio , and ab work than i origionally thought but its awesome.

Now I know I am making my abs a bit stronger by doing all these things but my abs were realy weak to begin with. Just going to the store and standing for an hour made my ribs feel broken from ab strain. It was sad. After 4 kids I realy had no abs. I know that a strong core makes everything easier. I used to do crunches when i was younger, i used to have a vice timmy. But i carry my weighht in my belly and i dont bend in th middle very well.

BLA bla bla im rambling. Does anyone know any realy good ab exercises? Ones that i can do? It feels like the one thing missing and i think strong abs would help with everything else.

At the gym I do the elliptical and all of the cable weight machines.
At home I do Yoga Booty Ballet videos and my AM/PM Yoga video, and a balance ball.

I don't have any specific schedule though, I just kinda do any of them whenever. But I really should figure out a schedule to stick to as much as possible.

I've gotta say, I never thought I'd get to the point where I not only looked forward to, but *craved* exercise. In the past month I have finally gotten there, and it's been weird, but really cool. The trouble, of course, is that if I exercise too much, that stalls my weight loss too (it never rains but it pours). So I'm currently working on finding that balance.

I do a 45 minute spin class three days a week, 30 minutes of circuit training (treadmills sprints and weights) twice a week, another day of weights on a spin day (usually Saturday since I have more time then), and 45-60 minutes of yoga on the day I work the evening shift.

That's my 'official' workout schedule. I also try to get up early two-three times a week to do a 30-Day Shred or a Tae Bo Cardio Circuit session before work, and I have been known to do 20 minutes of yoga at night after my regular workout a couple times a week.

I was overtraining for awhile and messed up my shoulder, so again, I'm working on a balance. It's tough finding it, but in the meantime I have noticed MAJOR differences in the way my body looks since I've been doing more yoga. They aren't kidding about the 'long, lean muscles' thing. Funnily enough, I used to HATE yoga, and now I really look forward to it.

(I say all this as though I'm perfectly fine with being stalled in my weight loss, but of course that is so far from true! I am trying to look on the bright side while I wait it out, though. I ALWAYS get stuck right at the threshold of a new decade. Always.)

Probably the most basic ab exercise you can do without worrying about 'bending in the middle' is plank pose. It really makes my core (and my arms!) burn in a pretty short time. The key is holding your stomach in while you keep breathing, of course.

Jillian does a plank twist in level 2 of her 30-Day Shred that really works as well, once you've mastered the plank pose. I wish I could find a video of it, but everything I found on youtube is a side plank twist and that's not the same. What Jillian does is keeps you in plain old plank pose, and then you bring your knee to the opposite elbow underneath you. Repeat on the other side until your arms give out

This one looks pretty good too, if you've got a ball. It might be a little less strenuous starting out if you haven't been doing a lot of yoga. Though just sticking with the yoga will really help your abs. I never believed that until I started doing it regularly, but there's a lot of muscle under all my fat now!

I've been walking on my treadmill at home. Started doing 20 minutes and now I go about 45. I also just recently re-joined my local YMCA. Have been doing the exercise bike and the weight machines. Try to go 3x per week. (My gym bag is packed for after work today as a matter of fact.) I admit that exercising is not my favorite thing to do but I do feel so much better when I'm done. Not just physically either. I feel better about myself as well. My biggest problem is not to push myself too hard too fast. That's when I get hurt or feel sore and scale back. This time I WILL NOT DO THAT!!!!

I luvs my leslie sansone videos. Hip hop abs and Jillian Michaels 30DS make guest appearances in my DVD player, but Leslie gets the top spot. When I use them....

I'm moving next week to a condo with a fitness center in the complex, so I plan to make use of the treadmill as much as possible!