Recently, I admitted all this lifestyle changes stuff I'd been writing about for a long time in this space finally got to me. I couldn't ignore all the extra pounds on my body weighing me down or my desire to "get old" with my wife of 20 years, my kids, my grandkids and all the family (and extended family) I'd accumulated over a half-century of living a second longer. I don't use the bad genes "defense" to deflect the responsibility, or the "I'm too busy to eat properly excuse" any more.

These changes have been easier for me to make thanks to a renewed commitment to exercise. In my case, it's nearly 40-minute sessions of brisk walking on a treadmill at least twice a week. Granted, this is a small commitment and not enough for many purists, but this makes sense for me based on my personal and professional responsibilities and I feel A LOT BETTER for doing it too.

If you're looking for excuses not to exercise, however, you can find them just as easily. Take, for instance, this recent New York Times piece detailing a position paper from the National Athletic Trainers' Association about that counsels athletes on various skin diseases and how to avoid them. Or, the side-story about a wrestler who developed a staph infection after being exposed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.

The aforementioned athlete says he did all the right things that would've prevented any exposure to MRSA, but it happened anyway. And, there are other lesser but annoying problems you'll face at the gym -- think athlete's foot or jock itch -- if you're not careful.

Fortunately, you can sidestep most of these nasties hiding out at the gym by taking some common-sense precautions, like those listed in a recent blog post from Outside magazine. In fact, I had already been following many of these simple suggestions before reading it.

Journal of Athletic Training, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 411-428, July/August 2010 Free Full Text Report

New York Times August 2, 2010