Nothing beats waking up in the morning with the thought of going to the gym to lift weights or jog on the treadmill. After a hard days work, the gym is one place you don't even want to think about. Sometimes, even the thought of exercising at home with your own equipment can be less than desirable, which is why many people in San Diego and other cities all over the world turn to personal trainers to stay motivated.

You can become lean, more energetic, and happier by making a few easy decisions in your life. Below are ten tips to get you started.

1. Lift weights. An effective strength-training regimen adds lean muscle mass to your body. Each pound of lean muscle mass burns, on the average, 13 calories a day; that means, if you gain an additional ten pounds of lean muscle, you will burn an extra 130 calories per day.

OK, so sweat isn't particularly the nicest of topics to talk about. People spend vast amounts of money on deodorants to stop themselves from sweating. It's no wonder either because sweating can turn smelly and make our clothes wet and uncomfortable to wear. The thing is though that our bodies need to sweat in order to be able to keep in good health.

You can lose weight quickly. You can shed fat from your belly and under your arms with rigorous but smart exercise. You can get a lean, athletic build. You can even show off your muscles by losing that pesky layer of fat that obscures your tone and definition. It is not a matter of training for hours on end every day. It is a matter of making every minute of your exercise as efficient as possible.

We know cardio is essential to improve the cardiovascular system. This goes without saying. When many people don't realize, is that cardiovascular exercise can be useful for losing weight as well as gaining weight; for increasing endurance as well as increasing power, size, and strength. The difference is in training energy systems. You can train your anaerobic energy system (builds power and strength) while participating in a cardio workout, just as easily as training you can train your aerobic energy system by performing super-high-rep circuit training on the weight machines (boo).

Could it be that nearly everybody (including me)dispensing advice on how much to drink is totally wrong? Apparently a new theory is being proposed that could change the drinking habits of endurance athletes.

During exercise, nobody disputes the fact that significant dehydration impairs performance and can lead to life threatening heat stroke.

The amount of physical exercise you get during the day is one of the key ingredients in enabling you to fall asleep at night and get a good night's rest. The more active you are during the day, the faster you will fall asleep at night and the more well-rested sleep you will get.

By exercising regularly, you'll see an improvement in the quality of your sleep and the cycles and phases of sleep will become smoother and more regular.

Ever since Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons got us moving in the 1980s to their aerobic's videos, workout videos have been a part of most people's exercise routines at one time or another. The selection of videos available today is so varied and vast that no matter what your choice of exercise, you can find a video to assist you. Workout videos are a great component in helping to achieve your fitness goals.

There are two main types of exercise that your personal trainer will likely tell you that you can do, aerobic and anaerobic. The first one, aerobic, means with oxygen. Aerobic type exercise has an important distinction, it burns fat as the main fuel. Anaerobic on the other hand, burns sugar as the main source of fuel. Despite common myths, exercise does not have to be drastic in any way to provide massive benefits.

Psssst.... Lean in. I want to tell you a secret about doing cardio. It's the secret to doing it efficiently and effectively. It's the way to make sure all your time sweating and grunting... trying to burn fat... pays off.

Ready for the key: Get Moving!

The most effective form of cardio is one that allows you to move your body the most.