Until I got hooked on tennis in the mid-70's, when I was 27, exercise had never played an important part of my life. I grew up in the 50's when girls weren't expected (or encouraged) to do much more than roller skate or play hopscotch. I did both and also cautiously rode a bike, but that was the extent of my pre-teen sports activities. I attended and dreaded the required gym classes in junior high, so in high school I managed to avoid gym for three years by volunteering to work in the office or library, or to run errands for teachers. Anything was preferable to wearing those ugly gym outfits and showering in public! Throughout my teen years I walked a lot. Walking was my main means of transportation...but I never considered it "exercise." If I wanted to get somewhere, I walked, but so did everyone else -- only the very lucky had cars in high school in the 60's.

In college, four semesters of phys. ed. were required in order to graduate. After making the mistake of signing up for lacrosse my first semester and discovering that it involved a lot of running, I chose bowling, archery and golf for the rest of my phys. ed. credits. No running and no sweating-- that was ideal! From then until I discovered tennis, my only exercise was dancing at parties on the weekends...and walking...I had no car in college either!

A friend dragged me, protesting all the way, to my first tennis lesson in 1976. Unless one more person enrolled, the class was to be canceled and she really wanted to learn to play. During that first, hot, sunny, sweaty hour on the court I discovered a form of exercise that I have never had to force myself to do since. I began playing daily from that first week and entered my first tennis tournament a few months later.

After I'd been playing tennis for a few years I realized that I needed to get more fit if I wanted to improve my tennis game and perform better when I competed (I wanted to win more matches!). I needed to improve my endurance if I wanted to make it through three sets of a tough matche, so I started going to aerobics classes in the early 80's. Although the classes did help my aerobic fitness and improve my ab strength, they didn't do much for my upper body strength. The classes were high-impact with lots of jumping and landing on the balls of my feet, just like tennis. Low-impact modifications weren't even offered back then. When my favorite instructor quit due to physical burnout, I realized that the high impact of aerobics would eventually take its toll on me as well. My knees already hurt at times and I wanted to save them for tennis.

Next, in the late 80's I joined a gym. I began using the Nautilus and Universal machines and a few free weights. I kept my aerobic workouts low-impact by using the cycles and Stairmaster. I began to build some upper body strength and improved my leg strength more than I had with the high-impact aerobics classes. My tennis improved and I was thrilled.

The gym workouts worked well until I moved further from my gym. After that, between the longer travel time and waiting for equipment, I could spend up to 3 hours doing my workout, 3 or 4 times a week. I didn't want to give up any tennis time and I did need to work (at the time I was a self-employed clothing designer), so I made it to the gym for workouts less and less often.

I needed to find a way to work out at home. I started tandem bicycling, which is low impact and great for aerobic endurance and leg strength, but I still needed to maintain and improve my upper body strength to offset the abuse my arm took playing tennis. I bought some dumbbells and books on weight training, but I needed motivation. I wanted someone to plan my workouts and guide me through them. Then I discovered the FIRM's Volume 1 (now called Classic Body Sculpting Basics). Within a month I was sold on the convenience of using exercise videos at home. The results were great motivation too. In four months I lost 15 pounds. As I "firm"ed up, my tennis game improved too. And it was so easy! Pop in a tape, pick up the dumbbells. In an hour I was done and could hop in my own shower.

I found that using free weights instead of gym machines was much better for my tennis game because my back and torso became much stronger. My balance was better and the squats and lunges helped me stay down with the ball and push off faster. I became so enthused about the improvement to my fitness level and my body that I started reading everything I could on fitness and exercise. And I slowly began building my exercise video collection.

How did I become a personal trainer? By accident! In the fall of 1995 I was playing a singles match for my tennis team. As I made a quick change of direction, my new shoe stuck on the newly surfaced court and I tore a ligament in my knee. Ouch! The subsequent surgery and rehabilitation inspired me to learn even more about fitness and exercise. I continued to exercise my upper body with the FIRM Parts: Upper Body video three times a week while I did daily rehab on my knee. I was determined to return to tennis stronger than ever.

I devoted my many months off the court to studying the A.C.E. Personal Trainer Manual with the goal of helping my tennis pals get in better shape and improve their games too. In the fall of 1996 I reached both goals: I returned to playing singles for my team stronger than I'd been before my injury and in November I passed the A.C.E. Personal Trainer exam.

I began to teach strength training to clients in their homes. One beginner complained that she found it hard to do her workouts on her own -- having someone with her was more enjoyable, and helped her to do the exercises correctly. She jokingly suggested that I make a video for her to use on the days she worked out on her own. I told her there were plenty of videos available already -- I used them all time. But when pressed for recommendations, I realized that many videos that I liked and did regularly would need to be modified for her. So I began buying and checking out more strength training videos with the goal of finding some I could recommend. As I analyzed more and more videos I realized that each one had some exercise (and often many exercises) that I wanted to explain more thoroughly or modify somewhat depending on the abilities of the client I had in mind. And so, my website ExerciseVideosReviews.com and monthly newsletter VidBits were created.

I continue to work out at home with videos, but I rarely do them exactly as shown. I often leave segments of 2 or 3 videos cued up and combine them into a personalized workout. I usually add exercises (for upper back, wrists, forearms, ankles and shins) specifically for improving my tennis game and I always do lower back exercises along with abs. To protect my knees, I keep my step low and rarely do high-impact aerobic moves. I consider my low-impact video workouts as cross training for the high-impact running I do on hard tennis courts.

I have developed my own thorough stretch routine that I usually do instead of a video final stretch. I use a different video for every workout and rarely repeat a video in a month, although I do have favorites that I do more often. I challenge myself when I feel energetic and take it easy when I have a tennis match the next day. I keep a calendar by my workout TV and note the video title each time I work out. I keep track of my tennis matches on this calendar too, (I play 2 or 3 times a week now) and can quickly see when I need to do an easy workout or take a day off.

My philosophy is that exercise should be energizing and fun, not grueling and painful. If I get sore, I can't play tennis as well, so I try to work out just hard enough to be challenged, but not hard enough to interfere with playing my sport. Consistency, variety and moderation, the key ingredients of my long-term exercise plan, have served me well for many years of video workouts.