Drive Yourself To Fitness

Heel-toe presses. During long drives on cruise control, lift your heels and push up on the toes, raising your knees a little. Then lower your heels and raise your toes slightly toward the roof of the car. Do three reps on each leg every 30 minutes. For city driving, perform this exercise at stop lights.

Work your pelvic floor. With age, added pounds and inactivity, the pelvic floor muscles grow limp. That increases the risk of both urinary and fecal incontinence and can compromise sexual function. Do Kegel exercises throughout the day to counteract. Without using your derriere, draw up your pelvic muscles "from the ground floor to first floor," Hagan says, "while also drawing in your belly button. They work best together."

Whether you choose to try these exercises or not, safety remains essential. So keep those eyes on the road and your attention on driving as you grip the steering wheel or tighten your glutes. ·

Chat with Sally Squires, author of "Secrets of the Lean Plate Club" (St. Martin's Press), live online today from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. athttp://www.washingtonost.com/leanplateclub, where you can also subscribe to the free Lean Plate Club e-mail newsletter. You can also hear Sally on WTWP radio at 1500 AM and 107.7 FM on the midday show from 10 a.m. to noon this week.