Every year, you set the same goal: this time, I'm going to start exercising. And every year, it doesn't happen. Maybe you get a gym membership, but your schedule is too full to actually go. Or, maybe you're too tired to walk there during your lunch breaks, or you hate that sore feeling after a workout. Now, you have a three-year membership draining $40 out of your savings per month, taunting you with the idea that you could cancel at any time.

What is your activity level like? Are you one of those couch potatoes watching television for hours on end? It is not really all your fault. Some of the blame belongs to the exercise field. Like other businesses, gymnasiums are working to earn dollars. If you have a very high degree of motivation, health fitness clubs are wonderful, full of helpful (and not necessarily helpful) gym equipment. But the majority of us find that these places only want to get large enrollment fees and don't really encourage us to come there often. Both commercial space and gym equipment are costly.

How did super motivated people become this way? Being successful at something, more than anything else, makes you more confident and provides needed motivation. That success can begin at home. If you start with just the things you really need and work a little every day, you can convert you living room, or garage, or your backyard, into a working gym.

But, you say, I've already tried a home gym. I bought gym equipment: a cable and pulley thing that looks like a medieval torture device (with peck deck attachment, whatever that is) and it just turned into a clothes rack, same thing with the exercise bike with the moving handlebars, the great whacking fan for the front wheel, and no rear wheel. Towels do dry really well on it after a shower though.

I'm not talking about fancy fitness equipment though, just the stuff you use. You'll probably want to start with simple stuff like pushups and deep knee bends (find out correct form, though. If your knees hurt, you're doing them wrong). Maybe buy a duffel bag from the military surplus store, and a few 50 lb bags of playground sand at the home store, partitioning it into 5 lb portions in duct-tape wrapped freezer bags. Lift from the ground to overhead. Put it down, and repeat for reps or time. Total cost? Maybe $25 if you get the expensive duffel bag.

Once you believe you've made some advances, buy an inexpensive set of weights and a stand for them so that you can perform knee bends with the dumbbells and also standing presses. Forget the equipment for bench presses, since it's not truly worth the cost. But in any event, be certain to see a physician before beginning (and don't let that step be just another reason for not doing your exercises!).