Last month, we talked about adopting a healthy addiction: exercise. Keep putting time aside for your healthy, high-energy, super-toned-body-creating lifestyle.

And speaking of time, don't you love that Jiffy Lube slogan? "Got no time? That's plenty." It says a lot about our "crazy-busy" lives. But when there is something that absolutely has to be done, we find the time. Your cell phone fritz's out; you go get a new one. You blow out a tire; you spend time getting a new tire. You get sick; you find time to get to the doctor. You get flabby, lose stamina, energy and interest, you find time to exercise. Oh, wait - not so likely, huh? Don't you think it is time to take back your life?

"In Japan they have a word for the overwork/deteriorating health phenomenon. It's 'KAROSHI' and it claims about 10,000 LIVES PER YEAR."

We tend to put ourselves last, or maybe we just put our jobs first. The cell phone keeps us in touch with clients and the boss. The car gets us to work and our visit to the doctor keeps us working. All said and done, the job pays the bills. Sadly, the job, not our health, receives our primary focus.

Poor health will certainly take us out of the work force faster than anything. Approximately 18 percent of Californians surveyed by Dr. Dean Baker, a study author and director of UC Irvine's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, worked more than a 50-hour work week. Long hours are a great predictor of a person's proclivity towards hypertension. In Japan they even have a word for the overwork/deteriorating health phenomenon. It's "karoshi," and it claims about 10,000 lives per year. The average Japanese works 1,950 hours a year. Americans are beating them at 2,000 a year.

Take back your life. Take back your health. Take back your peace of mind. Structure works best for beginners. I want you to start an exercise journal and I want that journal to be in front of your face everyday. Then I want you to find a kind person that you will be responsible to at the end of the week. That person is in charge of looking at your journal and seeing how great you did.

Let's consider what's going to go in the journal and what's not. You are going to need three cardio entries per week and three strength-training entries per week. Don't stop reading. You can do this. You will start at your own level, absolutely not someone else's level. If it has been "forever" since you've done cardio, you are not going to start out running for an hour. Always remember that 10 minutes of walking is better than going to bed thinking, "I should have walked today but I didn't have time to get out there for 45 minutes." The time will add on naturally. It really will. Do not bite off big chunks. Besides walking, your other cardio entries can be cycling, spinning, running, aerobic class, elliptical, rollerblading, swimming or anything else that maintains a steady rhythm. Gardening, painting the house, or just regular old housework, while great exercise, are not cardio (or strength-training). For now, I want you to focus on very specific types of exercise because we are going for very specific r
esults. I want you to feel better and I want your musculature to be balanced, which is going to bring your body into better posture, alignment and health. You'll be much more pain free and you'll feel a big energy boost with balanced musculature.

Which leads us to your strength training. I want you to get set up on a well-rounded circuit program. Join a yoga or Pilates class taught by a qualified professional who can walk you through a balanced program. If you don't want to workout in a gym look into getting some DVDs that can be performed at home or supplement your gym workout with your DVDs. A balanced program will work the front and the back of the legs, the front and the back of the arms and the front and the back of the torso.

At first it will take a lot of thought to put this new program in order. You will have to schedule appointments with yourself to perform these activities. Don't forget to journal daily.

So, what are you going to do for yourself? What time will you take back from the world of "crazy-busy" for your health? If you need an incentive to have a life and not just a job, go to www.timeday.org, a national grass roots organization to encourage adults to have a life. Good luck!


Karena Lineback is the author of "OsteoPilates: Reduce Risk, Increase Bone Density, Look and Feel Great," contributing author to "Cancer Wellness" and the president of Pilates Teck. E-mail her at livebetter@insidescv.com.