Beach bound?

That translates into eating healthful low-cal meals, doing cardio five days a week along with strength training for three days, and staying focused, said Cynthia Knapen, an Arlington, Texas, personal trainer accredited with the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Her advice: Find a workout you really enjoy and just do it. Running burns mega calories for those who regularly hit the road or treadmill. But it doesn’t help much if you can’t bring yourself to lace up your running shoes. To jump-start an exercise routine, Knapen has come up with two of her favorite moves. They might stir up images of your high school gym class, but the addition of weights for one of them should speed up results. By the time summer arrives, you just might be able to fit into your bikini. Or at least not be too embarrassed to be seen on the beach or at the poolside.

Push-ups

What it works: Entire body. A Knapen favorite.

What to remember: Suck in your stomach and don’t arch your back. Do as many as you can.

There are three ways to do this exercise, depending on how strong you are. Beginners should start on their knees, as shown below. More advanced folks can go to their toes. Showoffs can use a chair to hold their feet.

1. Position yourself facedown with palms flat on the ground and a bit more than shoulder width apart. Arms should be extended.

2. Lower upper body slowly, bending your arms, until your nose touches the ground. Keep your body straight.

3. Push back up to the starting position.

Arm swings What it works: Biceps

What you need: Weights

What to remember: Start by inhaling

1. With feet spread apart, lower yourself into a squat, holding weight with both hands in front of you. Arms are extended but relaxed at the elbow.

2. Squat down as low as possible, lowering weight almost to the floor.

3. Swing arms forward and then up over your head while squeezing your glutes, sucking in your stomach and rising to a standing position.

4. Return to starting position. Repeat 8 to 12 times. Do 2 or 3 sets.

Online help

www.fitness.com

This Web site is packed with free exercises to get you in shape.

Just plug in the body part you want to target, then add where you want to exercise (the gym versus at home) and what kind of activity you prefer (cardio versus weight training). One more click, and suddenly your computer screen turns into a kind of mini-gym, with a fitness pro showing you exercises that work.

There are also low-cal recipes, fitness tips and a body-mass calculator.

Burning calories

To peel off the pounds, running is your best bet. But to get lasting results, it’s better to pick something you’ll stick with. To lose one pound, you must burn 3,500 more calories than you take in as food.

Here’s a sampling of activities and the number of calories burned for a 135-pound person working out for 30 minutes:

Activity: calories burned

Walking 2 mph: 85

Bowling: 93

Water aerobics: 122

Calisthenics (moderate): 138

Skateboarding: 154

Walk/run play with kids: 162

Swimming (moderate): 186 Jogging: 215

Stationary bike (moderate): 215

Aerobics (high impact): 215

Boxing in ring: 369

Running (10 mph): 551

For more activities and to get results based on your weight, go to www.health status.com

Source: www.healthstatus.com