First he said to lay off the jump rope. I had already abandoned that because the second time I did the workout I hurt my ankle. But if you plan to do a lot of high-impact training, you'll help yourself a lot if you do bike, yoga or swimming instead of another high-impact-type of workout.

Second, Neil begged me not to do exercises for the same muscle over and over. I did four straight leg exercises in this workout, and that's too tough on your legs when you're running a lot of miles.

And third, if you get bored, do a little research to find some new ways of training. There are a lot of well-qualified trainers who can help you tailor your workouts to your fitness goals, which may even change from year to year. But the most important lesson I've learned is that you have to know what you're looking for or you could get hurt.

If you do the wrong workout, you could injure yourself. I have two friends who've been hurt doing workouts that were too difficult.

If you know nothing about working out, my advice is to read about it first. There are a number of fitness magazines that offer a wide variety of information, and at least then you'll have some level of knowledge when you try to find a trainer.

My free workout wasn't a total waste of time. I have incorporated two of the exercises the trainer taught me into the circuit that Neil gave me, and the change makes it a bit more fun.

Variety may be the spice of life, but when it comes to fitness training, too much spice can put you on the sideline.

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Next: How to train for those hills!

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com