Let's start off this Monday morning with a few tips for making fitness a little more fun. Because let's be honest -- exercising day in and day out can become monotonous, tedious, downright boring. Employ a few of these Reader's Digest strategies, though, and you might just discover a new bounce in your step.

• Try a pair of walking poles. Don't go it alone on your neighborhood walks -- take some walking poles along. You'll burn far more calories -- like 20-50% more -- because poles recruit the muscles in your upper body. Call it fitness trekking, Nordic walking, or simply walking with poles, and be on your way. Need some instructional tips? Try out these sites: www.exerstrider.com or www.nordicwalking.com.
• Say your ABCs out loud. Use your ABCs to chart your walking pace. You don't want to gasp for air and you don't want to be able to talk non-stop with your walking partner either. When you're by yourself, then, recite the alphabet -- if it's easy, pick up your pace. If you're gasping for air by the time you reach the letter F, then slow it down a notch.
• Take an after-dinner walk every day. Consider it a way to burn some of what you ate for supper. Grab your partner, your kids, a pal and hit the pavement. Play a game while you trek for entertainment. Remember that old license plate game you played as a kid on long family car rides? Give it a go.
• Use your car to clock errands you can do on foot. Check your mileage to and from your typical stops and determine which routes you can walk. Bethany did it. You can too.
• Clip on a pedometer. Start charting your steps in the morning and see how many you take by the end of the day. Aim for 10,000 a day and remember that 1,000 steps equals roughly one-half mile. To step up the fun factor, start logging your steps. It takes about six months for a behavior to become habit and recording your progress might just keep you motivated. And hey, you can even strap a pedometer on your walking stick (see photo above and click here for more on this product). Double the fun.
  
  

Reader's Digest has more fun in store -- jump over here to keep reading.