After you got your first car, your bike fell to the wayside. Now it’s collecting dust in the back of the garage, if you still have it at all.

Now that the warmer weather is here, drag out your old bike or find yourself a new one so you can return to the fun outdoor activity that kept you fit as kid.

5 benefits of bicycling for fitness include:

1. A change of scenery rather than sitting on a stationery bike at home
2. Fresh air and sunshine with beneficial vitamin D
3. Aerobic activity for better heart health and circulation
4. Impoved overall fitness including well-toned leg muscles
5. Local transportation so you save on gas and protect the environment.

To get started, all you need is a stable bicycle, a helmet and sturdy sneakers. And do a few simple stretches before you ride to limber up your muscles.

Returning to one of your favorite childhood pastimes is an enjoyable way to achieve your fitness goals.

Further, the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports reported that two in five children have signs of circulation or heart problems. With these distressing facts in mind, clearly fitness needs to be a family routine.

Here are some tips to get your children and yourself in better shape:

Children learn what they live. Work out yourself and your kids will follow your lead. Include your children in simple workout routines.

Incorporate exercise into your everyday life. Whether you walk the dog together, romp in the park or take a stroll after dinner, include fitness in your family routine just like eating, sleeping and bathing.

Minimize television and computer time. Keep the television and computer in the family room so you can monitor how long your children are using them. Do not put televisions or computers in your kids’ rooms.

Make fitness fun. Instead of spending family time at the movies or sitting around, plan hikes, bowling, camping, fishing and other activities that promote both fitness and fun.

Get your children involved in physical activities. Dancing, karate and sports teams are great ways to encourage your children to get moving. If you are on a budget, consider budget-priced community activities through the YMCA or other local organization.

By adding fitness to your daily family routine, you can ensure a healthy future for your children and yourself.

Long term stress increases the level of the hormone cortisol in our bodies, causing the body to store excess fat. Most of this extra fat is stored in your belly and hips – exactly where you don’t want it.

Here are 10 simple ways to de-stress for maximum physical and emotional fitness:

1. Eat at least 4-6 small, well-balanced meals each day to properly maintain the sugar levels in your body and ensure you are getting all the essential vitamins and minerals you need.
2. Drink at least six to eight glasses of water every day to flush the toxins out of your system.
3. Exercise for twenty to thirty minutes three to five times each week. Choose a physical activity you enjoy, such as biking, weight lifting or walking, because getting pleasure from your exercise routine will also help minimize stress.
4. Avoid foods with sugar and caffeine that offer a false sense of energy.
5. Avoid alcohol, which has an impact on the sugar levels in your body.
6. Get plenty of sleep every night because when you are tired, you tend to feel more hungry.
7. Engage in activities designed to help you relax, such as yoga or meditation.
8. Watch less television – statistics show that up to ninety percent of people who watch television an hour or more each day fail at their weight loss goals.
9. Avoid crash diets which could increase your stress level and actually cause the production of additional cortisol, alleviating any potential weight loss you may have been able to experience.
10. When you feel really hungry, choose whole-grain, high-fiber foods, like oatmeal and fruit, which keep insulin levels even to control blood sugar and your hunger.

By reducing the stress in your life, you can get rid of excess fat and emotional baggage at the same time!

The good news is that a simple regimen of regular exercise can help you to sleep better — and you’ll enjoy improved overall fitness at the same time.

Half the adults in America sleep less so they can work or play more. However, without the required 7 to 8 hours sleep, people are becoming sleep deprived and unable to enjoy these activities.

Also, sleep-deprived people have higher sugar concentrations in their blood that could contribute to pre-diabetes and a lack of deep sleep inhibits your body’s ability to fight disease.

For most people, working out regularly reduces insomnia and improves sleep quality by producing smoother transitions between the cycles of sleep.

Getting moderate exercise for 20 to 30 minutes 3 to 4 times weekly will give you better sleep and increased energy. You will be able to fall asleep and stay asleep more easily and remain in the deep sleep phase for a longer period of time for maximum benefit.

Additional benefits of regular exercise and sleep include reduced stress, ease of muscular tension, sharper brain power and increased production of endorphins, the substance that gives you a feeling of well-being.

Having an ongoing exercise routine will help you sleep better and feel better everyday.

There are countless reasons for the rage that swells up within us, calling upon our anger management skills to squelch our impatience. Is dieting another issue that makes you frustrated?

Your anxiety about dieting may be holding you back from achieving the healthy, attractive body you really want.

Consider these 4 easy ways to get rid of dieting rage:

1. Enjoy the healthy journey without constantly worrying how many pounds you lost. After all, it’s a lifestyle change you are trying to achieve first, and the pounds will then melt off naturally.

2. Crash diets put you on the fast track to dieting frustration and failure. Slow and steady wins the race and helps you reach your dieting goals without grief.

3. Have someone join you for the dieting experience. Jog with a neighbor, tally calories with your best friend, walk your dog everyday or join an online forum to find a fitness friend.

4. Be patient with yourself and the world around you. Life constantly presents changing circumstances that may cause you to stop and restart your diet. Go with the flow and you will always return to the right path.

If dietary distress is holding you back from losing the weight you want, de-stress so you can enjoy your fitness routine instead of dreading it.

When you plan your finances, you put together a basic budget based on your income versus your expenditures. Dieting works the same way as your finances because what you take in equals calories and the energy you expend burns them.

When you want to take control of your money, you put together a spreadsheet to track your expenses and available cash. To get a handle on your weight, consider keeping a food journal so you know how many calories you are consuming daily and what you are doing to burn them.

Your food journal should include:

1. The number of meals you eat with the calories
2. The time of day you eat
3. A daily tally of calories consumed
4. The number of calories you burn from exercising

Just like getting your finances in order, you can get a handle on your weight loss goals by keeping track of your daily habits.

Once you know the total calories you consume and the total calories you burn, you can determine the bottom line to minimize your daily calories, monitor times during the day when you eat the most and make sure you include fitness in your everyday routine.

The study revealed that women with chronic issues about their body image benefit more from an exercise class where the instructor discusses the health benefits of working out rather than a class where the instructor emphasizes an improved appearance.

The study involved almost 100 women of college age with social physique anxiety, a disorder that makes a person worry constantly about what others think of his or her body.

According to Brian Focht, a co-author of the study and assistant professor of health promotion and health behavior at Ohio State University, “Women who have this disorder usually are interested in exercise to improve their appearance, but an instructor who emphasizes physique during a workout may deter such students from coming back. We want to design the most beneficial exercise programs for different groups of people, and understanding how people respond to different approaches to exercise is key to doing so. We expected the mirrors to have some effect on these women, but that wasn’t the case. It was the instructor’s leadership style that had a direct effect on the students’ attitudes.”

With this in mind, it is not seeing yourself in the mirror that can be the most discouraging — it is your attitude about fitness. If you workout solely for the purposes of looking good, it becomes a frustrating, empty experience. Focusing on the physical and health benefits of working out is inspiring because your attention is directed at feeling your best rather than looking your best.

When you feel healthy and have a positive daily diet and exercise habits, a more attractive figure follows naturally.

Consider these five ways to avoid overeating during these difficult times:

1. Walk away from the situation. By simply changing your surrounding for awhile, you can avoid temptation.

2. Trick your taste buds. If you continually crave something sweet, eat something salty like a pickle. If you’re looking for something salty, go for a spicy flavor such as a hot pepper.

3. Get up and move. Getting physical can keep your mind off food so take a walk or do some stretches to balance the cravings.

4. Avoid food if you are sad or angry. Rather than using food as comfort, sit with your feelings and write them down if you need a release.

5. Give yourself a special treat. Rewarding yourself with an activity that does not include food, such as a bath or massage, is a great way to take you mind off snacking and still feel pampered.

By taking the focus off snacking for awhile, you can avoid overeating for a healthier lifestyle and a better relationship with food.

Aromatherapy has been used for centuries to heal and inspire a variety of moods. From encouraging relaxation and sleep to energizing, different scents give us different thoughts.

Essential oils such as lavender encourage sleep while vanilla makes you feel more relaxed. In fact, these oils have physical effects that cause the body to produce certain neurochemicals that promote relaxation. Energizing scents include citrus, basil and ginger but these fragrances are just a guideline because each person may be emotionally and physically influenced by scents in a different way.

The basis of aromatherapy is relating a certain scent to an activity. When you smell the scent, it will make you want to take positive action by association. For example, a citrus fragrance may give you a chemically-induced boost of energy while reminding you to engage in your favorite form of exercise.

If you want new inspiration to keep up with your fitness routine, aromatherapy may be just what you need!

Instead of wanting instant gratification that may wind up disappointing you, small lifestyle changes can add up to big fitness gains.

Consider these 3 simple ways to achieve your goals throughout 2010:

1. Add a 10 minute workout routine to your mornings everyday before work – set your clock 10 minutes ahead to get fit and boost your energy level and calorie burning all morning long.

2. Replace your afternoon snacks with fruits or vegetables to avoid empty calories, keep your energy going and get essential vitamins.

3. Take 10 minutes after work or your daily routine to have quiet time – meditate, do stretching or simply close your eyes in the dark to rejuvenate.

Try to make these healthy habits become a part of your everyday life over the next few months to help you lose weight and get more fit. Over time, you will naturally get stronger, more fit and boost your overall well-being.