Here's a real mood-booster for you! Take your indoor strengthening routine out to the park, breathe in the spring air and get a healthy dose of Vitamin D. It's easy to adapt kitchen sink exercises to a park bench outdoors. Add a portable stretch band to round out your workout. Begin your outdoor workout by walking for 15 minutes at a moderate pace in the park. Find some stairs, inclines and declines to vary the route. Then, scout out your bench. For the first six exercise vignettes, stand behind the bench, using the top of the back for support. Use the following video links as an easy guide. For all of them, do 10-15 repetitions.

• Diagonal (Kitchen Counter) push up and flat back stretch
• 4-part plie
• Modified lunge
• Leg lift, side and back
• Calf raise and leg stretches
• Add a stretch band for "Posture Plus" Perform these two posture exercises standing.

Then, to complete the workout, add two more exercises: Squats: Stand in front of the bench, feet parallel, and hip-width apart. Shift your weight back onto your heels, bend your knees and reach back with your hips, lowering yourself toward the bench as if you were going to sit down. Tap the edge of the seat with your hips, but don't sit down. Squeeze your glutes to return to the start position. Crunches: Sit backwards on the bench, threading your legs through the slats of the back rest, feet on the ground. Cross your arms over your chest and sit up tall. Exhale as you roll back, drawing your ribs toward your hips, curving your spine into a "C." Then realign the spine to straighten up. This workout gives you a total of 10 exercises that target the major muscle groups. It will only take about 10-15 minutes to complete one set of 15 reps of each exercise. Peel off the winter layers and prepare to reveal lovely new contours for warm weather. 

Push-ups, sit-ups and squats - timeless bodyweight exercises - provide a mini full-body workout that you can do anywhere, anytime, with no equipment needed. But are you making common mistakes in form that can sabotage your efforts?

Join us live on Sirius XM's Dr. Radio Show this Wednesday, February 20 from 8-9 am. I'll share all the insider tips that I've learned over the past 25 years as a fitness professional and answer questions such as:

• What are the biggest mistakes that people make in performing each exercise?
• Why is spinal alignment the key to getting the most out of these moves?
• How can you work these exercises into your lifestyle, no matter what your fitness level?
• What is the difference between a sit-up and a crunch?

Call in with your questions and comments to 877-NYU-DOCS

Vivacious host Dr. Marina Kurian sets a lively tone in her show and engages her audience with humor and personal insight. I'm always delighted to appear with her! Catch us live this week:

LISTEN LIVE: Dr. Radio Show
DATE: Wednesday, February 20
TIME: 8:00-9:00 am ET
LOCATION: Sirius XM Radio Channel.81
Call in with questions/comments: 877-NYU-DOCS

Are you crunched for time?  Would you like to feel more toned, but don’t have time to hit the gym? Web MD asked my advice for efficient and effective exercises that you can do at home in a few minutes, three times a week.  For the full story on how to sculpt your abs and glutes in just two simple exercises, pick up the September issue of Web MD or click here: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/fitness-challenge-abs-and-glutes

Yes, it's hot and humid, a time to slow down and move at a leisurely pace.  But please don't let your body lapse into an activity coma during the lazy days of summer.  Remember Newton's first Law of Motion:  an object in motion will stay in motion; while an object at rest will stay at rest as long as nothing pushes or pulls on it.  Overcoming inertia is difficult!

Your normal exercise routine keeps you at a certain level of conditioning throughout the year.  Summer presents a welcome change of pace and scenery, as well as the opportunity to do some cross training with outdoor activities like tennis and swimming.  But falling off the wagon completely presents the challenge of major damage control in the fall. 

Here are a few of my own "Laws of Motion":

1)         Establish a Minimum Daily Requirement:  It takes a lot of effort to get into shape, but it doesn't take as much to stay in shape.  Brief doses of exercise done consistently over time have a dramatic effect on your health and fitness levels.  You can maintain the benefits of your hard work with a modicum of training and resume full speed in the fall.

2)         Develop a Maintenance Strategy:  For cardio maintenance, squeeze in the recommended minimum of 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity at least five days of the week.

For muscle maintenance, do the "4 for Life" bodyweight exercises every other day:  2 sets of 15 each of push ups, squats, back extensions and crunches.  And remember to stretch a little every day.

3)         Be an Opportunist:  Find opportunities to move in the course of your day.  One of my clients just finished a summer writing course. Her classes were on several floors of the building and she realized after the fact that she had missed her activity mark by taking the elevator.  She could have offset the hours of sitting in a classroom by using the stairs.

Think of each dose of exercise as a building block of fitness.  See how many 10 or 15-minute doses you can accumulate during the course of the day.  Enjoy your lazy days, but be sure to incorporate some activity to keep your body tuned and toned.

Memorial Day excites all the great childhood feelings of summertime – warm, sunny days, camp, outdoor sports, and vacations.  It's a perfect time to shift gears from your regular fitness routine and enjoy some seasonal pleasures.  Of course, if you've been consistent throughout the winter, you'll be in better shape to maintain your fitness level while on a beach vacation or tackle more rigorous demands of adventure travel. 

Take it outdoors:  hiking, biking, tennis, swimming….Your winter fitness regime prepares you to do some cross-training.  It gives you a foundation of strength and stamina to switch gears and take on a new activity.  Even though training is sports specific – i.e. you condition the body to perform that specific activity – being fit makes it easier to adapt to a new sport.  

Take it with you:  One of my clients asked my help in finding inflatable weights that she could fill with water to use during her travels.  Another asked me for a couple of stretch bands so she could continue her routine when away from home.  My personal preference is to continue with body weight exercises, like squats, push ups and crunches.

4 for Life:  Last week I wrote about four functional fitness exercises that you can do any time, any place, no equipment required.  (You can see them in detail on the "Our Exercise Method" page of this site).  As I mentioned last week, if I were to recommend one exercise for life, it's the squat. 

A few tips will help you perform a proper squat and avoid risk of injury to the knees.  The movement is the same as sitting into a chair – you bend your knees and reach back with your hips.  When I tell a room full of women to imagine they are squatting over a public toilet, everyone goes right into the proper position!  The important points are to keep your weight back on your heels, keep your knees aligned over your feet (not collapsing inward) and keep your knees behind your toes.  You can learn all variations of the squat in my book Strength Training for Women.

Learning to handle your own body weight is the first step to improving the way you move in daily life.  Develop skill in performing four simple movements that will improve your strength, posture and body mechanics. The "4 for Life" are four functional exercises that you can do any time, anywhere, no equipment required.  They are the squat, push-up, back extension and pelvic tilt. 

If I were to recommend one exercise for life, it would be the squat.  It's a very functional movement, the one we need to get up from a seated position, and it creates stability in the large muscles of the legs.  Not to mention that it is one of the best shaping exercises for the bottom line!

The push up targets three muscles of the upper body - the chest, shoulders and triceps - in one move. There are many variations, all of which help firm the triceps in the back of the upper arm and are weight-bearing through the arms and wrists.  The core muscles of the abdominals and back are active in stabilizing the torso.  The level of difficulty is determined by how much weight you shift onto your upper body.

For the core body, the pelvic tilt engages the deep abdominal muscle that acts like a natural corset when it is toned, flattening the belly, narrowing the waist and supporting the low back.  When you combine the abdominal compression with a slight rotation of the hips, you also stretch the low back.

To balance out the core body work and work the opposing muscles, the back extension triggers the muscles that run along the length of the spine, strengthening it and lengthening it.  It's a great exercise for posture because as you go into a very mild back bend, you reverse the forward posture of most of our daily activities - working at a desk, doing housework, driving a car, etc.

The "4 for Life" exercises work the major muscle groups of the legs, upper body and core in an integrated way. Together they create a mini full-body conditioning workout that can be done in a few minutes, anytime, anywhere using just your own body weight.  Even if you never do another exercise, your body will benefit from doing the "4 for Life" regularly.

Next week, we'll explore the mechanics of doing a proper squat.