Just like your car, when you driving your body hard, it needs some maintenance and tune-ups. Many athletes and fitness buffs are very diligent about making sure they swim, bike or run a certain number of miles ever week, but devote little attention to pre- and post-workout stretching, massage, and recovery.

In reality, the body maintenance is as important as the workout itself. Proper care for your body can reduce the incidence of injuries, reduce pain and inflammation and improve performance. Below are some tips to help you establish a preventative maintenance schedule for your body:

1 – Schedule massages regularly. Massage is necessary to keep muscles and the connective tissue that sheaths muscles healthy (long and pliable rather than lumpy and thickened). Massage also often alleviates muscle discomfort. If you can afford it, schedule one twice a month. Otherwise, learn how to do self-massage work with balls and foam rollers.

2 – Stretch major muscles worked after every workout. Stretching releases toxins that build up during exercise, improves circulation, restores length to tissues and incites a relaxation response. Always take nice deep breaths while stretching and hold stretches for 30-60 seconds per muscle stretched. Do not bounce the stretches.

3 – Identify overtight parts of your body and give them extra attention. Stretch these muscles more frequently or even do 2 to four sets of 30-60 seconds for these areas. For example, many people have tight psoas muscles (upper part of front of thighs) from sitting so much. This can tip the pelvis forward and place undue stress on the low back. You can stretch the psoas after work by getting down on your knees and taking a giant step forward with the right foot, resting your hands on the front thigh and then pressing forward with hips in the back, getting that lengthening stretch in the psoas. Then you can change sides. Sitting also tightens the chest muscles, which can be loosened by lying on top of a foam roller with the arms out to sides, palms up at shoulder level and letting gravity passively lengthen the muscles.

4 – Rest. Sleep sufficient hours nightly and take at least one day off from training every week. Never work the same muscle groups in strength training two days in a row.

Your body works very hard for you and you should give something back by nurturing it with some care and recovery.

Sadly, people often talk about being fit as if it’s only for kids. I hear things like “I used to do lots of cycling when I was younger, but…” or “now that I’ve got a career and family, I don’t have time to workout and dally with 10K races anymore.” At a party recently, a man told my husband it was about time for him to give up on wearing a 32 inch waistband pant size. And even though this man has let his waistband expand much wider than is healthy, I remembered my manners and didn’t burst out laughing or say what I was thinking, which was “speak for yourself.”

My husband has lost almost 20 pounds since he turned 50, simply by increasing his aerobic exercise to 200 minutes a week and eating a healthier diet based around fruits, vegetables and grains. Weekends for both of us are filled with activity, rather than overeating and couch potatoing. While I’ve been competing in swim meets, in recent months, my husband ran the Tucson Half Marathon, finished his first sprint triathlon, and biked in El Tour de Tucson.

My point is, both of us have families and busy careers, yet we continue to live active lifestyles. It isn’t something we outgrew when we turned 20, 30, 40 or even 50 (well I’m not 50 yet, but getting pretty close). And we’ve found ways to make our training fun. The good news is, if we can do it, so can you! All it takes for you to succeed is commitment. And its well worth it, too. Just waking up every morning and feeling healthy is all the incentive I need to press onward and upward with my healthy lifestyle plan.

If you ever look at a lean athletic person, turn green with envy over his or her sculpted body and want to convince yourself that this person has no life so you can persist with your sedentary lifestyle in peace, think again. This person could be your new role model. Think how great that person looks and probably feels each and every day and how if he or she can stay in shape, you can get there too. Then get off your duff, start working out, head for the store and buy a whole bunch of vegetables you’ve never eaten before and find a way to turn them into meals and before long, people will ask you how you fit in those jeans or managed to run the whole 13 mile race. And you can simply smile and say “it all started when I read this very interesting fitness blog…”

If you are the first one to correctly guess what I just ate (hint: it was delicious), I will send you a free copy of my DVD, Personal Best Stretch: Move Better Than Ever! Bring it on…

Since exercise, particularly swimming, transformed me from sickly and unhappy to vibrant, healthy and passionate, I feel compelled to share this amazing gift with others.

Some of my best workouts happen on days I almost talked myself out of exercise. Today was one of them. It might frighten you to hear the kind of mental chatter that rattles around inside my head, but perhaps you can relate to it as well. This morning, the workout protagonist (to be referred to as athlete or A) and antagonist (the sleepy sloth or SS) got into instant battle the moment the alarm sounded off. Sleepy sloth whined, “it’s too cold to swim.” And she’s right, actually. Hardly anyone in their right mind would swim outdoors at 6 a.m. when its less than 40 degrees. Athlete argued the water would be warm and once I got in and started moving, I wouldn’t be cold at all. So I got out of bed and donned the swim suit, slippers, and swim parka. Then SS said, “but with these cramps, no way.” Hormones were to blame for this agony. A argued the whole day would go better after the swim – I’d be calm, cheerful, happy, and understanding. So I ended up on the pool deck 10 minutes later and swam the whole Masters workout from beginning to end. I started out feeling sleepy, sluggish and bloated. And by the end of the workout, the cramps had dissipated and I even swam a 39.0 50 breast in the last 10 minutes of workout. Not bad! So I toweled off and ran to my warm car feeling bouncy and happy and like I accomplished something. Even better, I felt fantastic for the entire day simply because I started the day off with energizing exercise.

Failure followed by another try and another one or 10 after that is my idea of winning.

To me, exercise is not a punishment or a tool to lose weight or get faster. It is a gift I give my body to nourish it and say, “Thank you.” The elation, good focus, toned body and fast swimming I experience are my body’s reciprocation of that gift.

I was swimming a series of 6 200 freestyles in my Masters workout this morning and relishing the experience of feeling fit. I wasn’t out of breath, my legs didn’t feel heavy, I didn’t feel my stroke fall apart or physical pain strike at the 150. Instead, I had this incredible feeling of freedom. And power. Every stroke felt long and smooth, every push off the wall powerful, every breath like my lungs had plenty of room and more for the air. The water rushed by my body like a massage, reminding me of my sleekness, my strength, my speed. And instead of thinking “this hurts,” I thought “Wow, it feels so amazing to be in such amazing swimming shape!” And indeed, I did feel amazing and have been feeling that way a lot, as if the water is really my domain.

I wish people struggling to make time or find the motivation for workouts could jump inside my body for just one workout and experience the sheer joy I feel being a fast, efficient swimmer. You don’t have to be a swimmer to enjoy that fantastic fitness feeling. You can be in walking shape, running shape, cycling shape and more. I have been out of shape (in the water and on land) before and I know it feels like the absolute dickens to workout when you are deconditioned and your body is fighting hard against you establishing a new inertia of activity over sedentary living. You have to hang in there long enough to experience that “I’m fit” elation. The fact that I love being fit means I don’t struggle with weight and heart disease and diabetes won’t be a part of my future.

So if you’re not there yet, keep trying because it is a goal worth achieving. To elevate your fitness level to that place where you just might hear that voice of gratitude inside your head saying, “Thanks for making this all possible, for letting me live in this amazing body that can do so much more than I ever imagined.” And then you will know that fitness has become a part of your life that you will never let go. And if you are there, please share your experiences of enlightenment with other readers.

Whenever my fitness classes start to feel stale rather than fresh, I know its time to learn more. Conferences and research get me pumped back up. At fitness conferences, such as Fitness Fest and IDEA, I learn new techniques, exercises, and research relevant to my work as a fitness professional. I run out the door bursting with excitement to put what I’ve learned into practice. I literally can’t wait to teach my next class.

It should be like that with your workouts as well. When enthusiasm flags, you seek a way to bring that excitement back to exercising. If your strength training workouts are putting you to sleep, you hire a trainer to show you exercises that are safe, yet different from what you’ve been doing. If you are tired of going it alone during workouts, you join group exercise classes or a group of individuals that do an activity you enjoy. If you have reached a plateau where you aren’t seeing any improvement, you try cross training with less familiar modalities to kick your body back in high gear.

Here in Tucson, we have groups that meet to do many different activities including swimming (we have at least 4 Masters teams – azlmsc.org for Arizona; see www.usms.org for a list in other parts of the country), hiking, running (Southern Arizona Roadrunners – www.azroadrunners.org), mountain biking (Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists – www.sdmb.org), and road biking (Greater Arizona Bicycling Association – GABA – www.bikegaba.org). For those of you who live in SaddleBrooke, there are groups for you right in your neighborhood. I recently learned that the SaddleBrooke Hiking club even has a daily fitness walk at 6:30 that meets at the HOA 1 basketball court (a newsletter on the group can be picked up in the HOA 1 fitness center). Even residents who don’t feel comfortable walking on uneven surfaces can get out there and walk and meet new people.

If your current group exercise class isn’t meeting your needs, shop around until you find a class you find one that’s fun and meets your fitness objectives. Many people I work with report getting excited about trying a new kind of group exercise format such as Zumba or taking lessons to improve their golf or tennis game.

Knowledge can get you excited about working out, too. It can be empowering to read how taking charge of your fitness can reduce your risk of getting Type 2 diabetes, improve bone and muscle density, energy level, reduce body fat, improve HDL (good cholesterol), reverse the “age” of your muscle cells, and much more. Many fitness enthusiasts attend fitness conferences and read every article out there about health and fitness. If knowledge fuels your fire, go out there and get educated! Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Fitness, American Fitness, and the IDEA Fitness Journal are just some magazines I read often. It is important to use your intellect and reasoning to evaluate the quality of what you are reading. There is a lot of misinformation out there as well. Sometimes discussing what you’ve read with a fitness or medical professional can be helpful. The American College of Sports Medicine is a reputable source, which offers annual recommendations pertaining to cardiovascular and strength training for individuals wanting to maintain fitness and/or lose weight.

Whatever you need to do to bounce out of bed excited to move that body, figure it out and then go for it. Your body and mind will be glad you did.

Are you one of those people that still believe if you do 500 abdominal crunches each day, that flabby middle will evaporate? If so, you are not alone. Many people still believe that over-exercising specific parts of the body will enable “spot” toning or the dissipation of fat from a preferred part of the body.

The harsh reality is that it just isn’t so. Aerobic exercise and strength training help you to burn fat, but your body makes the bottom line decision as to where the weight comes off. Face it ladies, the first place where weight tends to disappear is from the bust line! It’s not fair, but unfortunately the adipose tissue on the abdomen, hips and thighs is usually most unwilling to say a final farewell.

Removing fat from the body is a function of calories in versus calories out, nothing more. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will add fat; if you eat less than you burn, you will lose a pound for every 3500 calorie deficit. The most efficient way to reduce your body fat is to eat a healthy diet, engage in at least 200 minutes of continuous or aerobic activity per week (low-impact or step aerobics, walking, elliptical, cycling or swimming), and follow a regular strength training program. During continuous activity, the body burns fat which facilitates weight loss and increases caloric expenditure at rest. Regular exercise stimulates activity in muscle tissues and reduces the loss of muscle mass during a weight loss program.

People often set unrealistic goals for their bodies, which can be destructive to self-esteem and body image. You will be most content if you learn to make the most of what you have, since each of us was genetically designed to be a bit different. Ladies, forget about the Cosmo cover models; and gentleman, its OK if you have to wear a shirt along with your Calvin Kline jeans. Remember to set your sights on a healthy weight, rather than a perfect body. And exercise regularly, so you will look and feeling the best you possibly can every day.