Foolproof your fitness resolution

Not prioritizing exercise
Fitness should be at least as important as doing the laundry, buying corn flakes or watching TV. You have set times for those activities, so why not schedule exercise?

Put it on the calendar along with work and various other appointments and errands. "Give yourself the same priority," says Cotton.

Failing to think outside the box
In the past, we were conditioned — by fitness experts — to think that exercise had to be an intense, heart-pounding, exhausting experience for it to count. That no-pain-no-gain thinking has changed.

Experts now know that half an hour of moderate physical activity (any type of movement, not just what we typically think of as "exercise") on most days of the week is enough to stay healthy (though if you want to lose a lot of weight and really shape up for swimsuit season, you'll need to work harder). In addition, the activity can be broken up into shorter periods.

"Physical activity doesn't have to be continuous exercise," says Franke. "It could just be what I call snippets of activity. A snippet here, a snippet there does add up."

A 5-minute walk counts. Three minutes of climbing the stairs at work counts. Push-ups and sit-ups in front of the TV count.

"Just do something," says Franke. "Get out of the chair."

Forgetting that variety is the spice of life
Do the same exercise over and over and you're bound to get bored and lose interest in fitness altogether, says Parr.

To keep things interesting, he recommends incorporating a few different types of aerobic activity into your regimen, such as step class, spinning and swimming. And when it comes to strength training, consider rotating resistance bands, free weights and machines.

"Try to break it up," Parr says. "Most new people who start a program do the same eight to 10 exercises that they're given [by a trainer or fitness instructor] over and over. It's like a mouse on a wheel."

Mistaking a trip-up for a full wipe-out
Expect that there will be times when you get your fitness routine off track. Maybe it's a busy period at work or you get sick or you have a full plate of family obligations. It happens. But it doesn't have to completely derail your exercise program.

Most exercisers fall off the wagon from time to time, says Cotton.

"And if you fall off," he says, "just get back on."

Smart Fitness appears every other Tuesday.

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