FRUGAL AND FIT GET HEALTHY WITHOUT SPENDING A FORTUNE ON EQUIPMENT OR GYM FEES.

Byline: Laurel House Correspondent

Last year, Americans spent about $4.2 billion on home exercise equipment, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Most bought treadmills, the country's No. 1 choice for the home gym.

Considering the billions of dollars spent on exercise, we are clearly on the right track. But exercise doesn't have to be so costly. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on home exercise equipment, you can spend less than $100 and burn just as many calories.

All you need are a few essentials: a step, jump rope, exercise bands and a pedometer, according to Kathy Kaehler, ``Today'' show fitness contributor, celebrity trainer and author of ``Kathy Kaehler's Celebrity Workouts: How to Get a Hollywood Body in Just 30 Minutes a Day'' (Broadway Books; $22.95).

The products' simplicity, low cost and effectiveness make them enticing, says Ed Howley, past president of the American College of Sports Medicine in Indianapolis. They are part of a larger national movement that embraces boot-camp-style fitness programs that stress traditional or military-style calisthenics.

``We are seeing a movement back to the old-fashioned programs, like push-ups and dips, and things that don't require any equipment at all,'' Howley says.

One of Kaehler's favorite exercise aids is the step. In the '80s, the step was to exercise what the crimping iron was to hair. Though the step has given way to ellipticals and spinning bikes the last few years, it has remained an essential ingredient to Kaehler's exercise programs for a clientele that includes Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Ann Miller, Jami Gertz and Justine Bateman.

``I find it to be the quickest way to pump up the heart rate and burn a lot of calories, while taking up minimal space,'' says Kaehler.

More than making your heart pump, the step quickly produces visible results. ``Women who do step consistently have great legs and glutes,'' says Kaehler, who uses step routines in her new workout video, ``Kathy Kaehler Basics: Workout Class.''

Might as well jump

Pull out that old jump rope and get back into the swing of things. Not only is jump-roping fun to do, but the benefits are immediate and lasting.

During each minute of fast-paced jump roping, a 140-pound person can burn approximately 11 calories, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. It also raises your heart rate, increases stamina, strengthens your core, arms, legs and heart, and develops hand-eye coordination and rhythm.

Kaehler incorporates jump-roping into the routines of most of her celebrity clients. And while you may have mastered the rotating rope in your youth, Kaehler reminds us that it is a skill that needs practice.

``We have all done it - just maybe not for several years. Give yourself the opportunity to get good at it again.''

Kaehler's advice: ``Wear good shoes and try to practice on a hardwood floor, or any other flooring that gives a little. Buy a good rope.''

When you are appropriately equipped, see how many consecutive revolutions you can do. Then, challenge yourself to do a few more.

If you are continually tripping on the rope, Kaehler recommends that you ``concentrate on form. It isn't a big jump - your feet are barely leaving the ground. It is less about arm movement and more about wrist movement. Concentrate on moving from your elbow on down.''

Once you have mastered the basics, challenge yourself and change up your routine by adding scissor steps and knee lifts.

She's with the band

For a well-rounded fitness routine, resistance training must be included. But that doesn't mean you have to lift heavy weights. Used for years by physical therapists, resistance bands are an effective alternative to traditional free weights, especially for range of motion and functional training.

The degree of difficulty is easily adjusted depending on the exercise and your level of strength. Unlike traditional weights, bands put resistance on both up and down motions, creating a more controlled, continuous and efficient movement.

Kaehler notes that ``when using weights, however, the benefits of the down motion can be minimal, as inexperienced exercisers tend to drop the weight down.''

In addition to the workout offered by bands, Kaehler likes them because they are convenient. ``Bands are great because they are lightweight, easily folded and stored away, and you can travel with them.''

Most bands come in packages of three, each color representing a different degree of resistance. Kaehler suggests rotating through all three during a workout routine, choosing a colored band for each exercise that allows you to do eight to 10 repetitions before your muscles fatigue.

Stepping it up

Fitness walking was rated the most popular form of exercise last year, according to a recent study published by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

Not surprising, say Howley and others, considering walking can be done anywhere, anytime and doesn't require much money.

``Walking, in terms of raw cost, is very economical,'' says Howley. ``It doesn't require any equipment except a good pair of walking shoes.''

If you want to add an additional low-cost piece of equipment, he recommends a pedometer, which calculates the number of steps taken, as well as distance walked and sometimes even calories burned.

``A pedometer is a very good motivational device,'' Howley says. ``Even for a person who doesn't do traditional exercise, it records incidental activity. For someone not doing much physical activity, at the end of the day they still have 5,000 steps recorded. It makes it easy to add another 2,000 or 5,000 more.''

Before setting out on a walk, decide on a step goal. Tommy Thompson, the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, recommends every American take at least 10,000 steps per day.

At the end of the day, with 10,000 steps behind you, you will wonder why you spent so much on that unused gym membership.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Affordable fitness

Effective workout gear that won't break your budget

(2) Trainer Kathy Kaehler says that many of the tools needed to stay trim, such as a resistance band, can be obtained inexpensively.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(3) no caption (Campbell's VEGETARIAN VEGETABLE soup can)

(4) no caption (playing cards)