Times are tight, getting tighter. Here are four fast ways for you to save some money without sacrificing your regular exercise routine. The tougher the stuff you have to deal with — layoffs, shaky mortgages, troubled kids, soldiers in war zones — the more you need to take time to chill, to sweat and to focus. Who said, "When times are tough, the tough go walking?" I did.

SHARE A TRAINER. Two or more people sharing one good trainer is a great way to keep your workouts honest, and you can cut your personal cost by 50 to 75 percent. Cutting back on days — from once a week to once a month, let's say — can also save you a bundle. Don't stress over going it alone. You know what to do and how to do it. Take charge! Count your own reps! Change your own weights! It's cost-effective and a terrific confidence builder.

NEGOTIATE WITH THE GYM. If money is so tight you're thinking of quitting the gym, make an appointment to talk to management. Health clubs die without members. Ask if you can "restructure" your payment plan, and if the answer is no, take it in stride and work on plan B. Plan B might involve "accepting what is" and quitting the gym. Healthy lifestyles don't have to cost that much. It's much more about your intention and discipline.

TRAIN VIA VIDEO. My last yoga class cost me $20. Wow! For $20, I could buy a Tias Little, Desiree Rumbaugh or Rodney Yee DVD and do all the Down Dogs I want at home, for free, over and over again. Ditto for Pilates, aerobic dance, kickboxing and buns-of-brass routines. If you like the camaraderie of a class, get a few friends to join you in your living room. Every DVD class saves you $10-$20 a pop.

SWITCH TO A LOWER-COST SPORT. If your sport costs big money — greens fees, tennis clubs, polo anyone? — you're lucky. Accept your new circumstances, and make the switch to a low- or no-cost fitness activity like running, walking, stair-climbing or bicycling. You need to release stress and recharge the batteries more than ever! When the money flows again, you can always switch back.

Knowledge is Power: How to Quit Smoking

Want to quit smoking tobacco? It's difficult, but cigarette smoking is definitely bad for your health.

So are many of the finishes, flooring, furniture and building materials used in ordinary home construction, but cigarette smoking is probably lung enemy No. 1.

I just read about an interesting and very effective new way to quit. No pills, no patches — just go to your doctor and get a lung function test done. Discuss the results after. That's a big part of it. You have to learn about your true "lung age" in a clear and understandable way. With that knowledge may come a greater ability to quit.

In a study published in the online British Medical Journal, significant numbers of smokers who had lung function tests — using a spirometer to measure how fast and how much air a person is able to breathe — were then motivated to quit smoking in greater than expected numbers.

Why did taking the test matter? The researchers speculate that smokers who found out their lung function was "normal" realized they were lucky not to have damaged their lungs and could quit more easily while they were ahead. Others who came to realize their lung function was way down realized that more smoking would only make matters worse, and that helped motivate them to quit.

In both cases, the real gain comes from taking control of your own health. A lung function test is a tool to help you assess the situation as it really is, and from that place of understanding and acceptance, you can more easily decide (or be persuaded) to do the right thing, the hard thing and the healthy thing. (This is what "knowledge is power" means.)

So, if you're a smoker and the pills, patches, chewing gum, hypnosis and chew toys haven't worked, ask your doctor for a lung function test. Discuss the results so the situation is clear to you. Don't judge, just listen. Who knows? All your resistance to change may finally go up in smoke.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! SO WHAT IF IT'S NOT EASY?

"We are all capable of anything." — Gordon Livingston, M.D.

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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