How to Properly Store and Not Care About Your Exercise Equipment

By now I'm sure you've all decided on which piece of workout equipment you're going to buy and store in your garage. You know, the one you buy every year in January when the infomercials for getting in shape are more plentiful than unopened fruitcakes

I'm not much of a health club person, so my husband and I bought some cross country skis about 10 years ago - right around the time global warming started to kick in. So far this winter we've dragged the skis to northern Wisconsin and Lake Tahoe searching for something to glide on. They have yet to make it out of their carrying case.

To stay in shape during the snowless gaps, I lift heavy stationary exercise equipment and move it from my livingroom into my garage.

My success with workout machines hasn't exactly been the same as model and fitness guru Christy Brinkly's. Over the past five years I've bought and stored a cross country ski machine, a stair stepper, a stationary bicycle, a treadmill, and a Body By Jake Cardio Cruiser.

My first piece of equipment, the cross country ski machine, I came across quite by accident. It had been placed at the curb at the end of my street and I walked past it several times while walking the dog. The fourth time I passed it I decided maybe this was God's subtle way of telling me my butt was getting too big, so I grabbed hold of it and dragged it back home. It broke a couple of months later so I used the "ski poles" as a coat rack for the rest of the year.

The following January I ordered a plastic stair-stepping contraption from an infomercial that regularly froze up during my workouts. Because it only had a 90-day warranty it would have cost three million dollars to send back. It now makes a good, albeit heavy, step-stool.