Am I lame because I have a major girl crush on Kelly Ripa? I just adore her energy, every time I turn on Live With Kelly she makes me laugh uncontrollably, and gee -- she's a total babe! Have you seen her arms?!

Ripa is on the March cover of Good Housekeeping, and I couldn't believe that a fit momma like herself used to get super exhausted doing things around the house. Ripa reflected on her life before she started exercising:

"I remember when Joaquin [Ripa's son] was about 7 months old, I was carrying him up the stairs, and was completely winded when I got to the top ... My husband encouraged me and said, 'If you worked out, you'd feel so much better, and it would quiet your mind down.'"

Her hubba hubby had a good point. The mother of three says that she kicked off her new exercise routine with some easy cardio. The good news? It's something that you and I both can totally do, too!

Read on to see how Kelly got her energy back:

Madonna's Super Bowl halftime show was killer. It's obvious she worked really hard on her performance; not one hair was out of place all night. We all know that Madonna's work ethic is off the charts, but until now, we kinda didn't know to what extremes she went to keep her body in tip-top shape. Sure, we've heard about her Tracy Anderson workouts and her very low-cal diet, but this latest info out of Indy is a little, well, interesting. Apparently, Madonna had hydraulic yoga mat installed in her Indianapolis hotel suite that had a platform that went up the ceiling.

I have no idea what that is, but must get one immediately if not sooner.

We knew Michelle Obama had gorgeous sculpted arms of steel, but even that knowledge didn't quite prepare us for her performance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Ellen (who herself is surprisingly buff) challenged her to a push-up contest, and the First Lady wowed the audience by pounding out 25 real push-ups one after the other. And, she would have kept going if Ellen hadn't stopped her!

So what exactly do I mean by "real"?

It's been 25 days since the first of the year when we all vowed to eat right, exercise more, and make 2012 our year to rock a bikini ... or at least appear publicly in a swimsuit of some sort. How are you doing on your resolutions?

Judging from attendance at my gym, I'd say many of us are still going strong. But I know that as the chocolates of Valentine's Day start springing up, and the weeks pass by, we often leave our good intentions in the dust ... covered by a heap of chocolate wrappers. So how to prevent what feels like the inevitable from happening?

Since I work from home most days, the last thing I want to do at the end of the day is work out at home. I need to get out of the house, and that's why I pretty much ran screaming to my nearest affordable neighborhood gym. But even if it isn't a hassle to get there, the CROWDS these days! Oh, those New Year's resolution-ers are everywhere (they seem to be multiplying by the SUV-load every day since the first of the year!), and they're starting to make me re-think my own strategy. Do I have no choice but to return to working on my fitness back at my apartment?

Quite possibly. In fact, most of us might soon be doing that, because it looks like the future of fitness lies no further than our laptops.

It seems like everyone I know has jumped with full force on the exercise bandwagon lately. Whether they're hitting the gym or running marathons or sitting in hundred degree rooms doing yoga and sweating buckets, they are exercising in some way. And, personally, I find it disturbing. What ever happened to good, old fashioned walking? Like, to the refrigerator for a snack?

If you are like me and wondering what everyone else sees in that 10K that you don't, I present to you ten reasons NOT to exercise. Pull up a chair ...

Nothing inspires me to take care of my health like watching my female relatives age. I have their genes, after all, so they're a pretty good indication of what's ahead for me. It's been a rough few years for my mother. She suffers from arthritis. Her knees ache so badly she's had to cut back on her great passion, gardening. Even standing in her front yard raking up the mimosa blossoms has become too much for her. She finally found a holistic practitioner who helped her cope with the pain, but it was just a band-aid. Just last week my mother finally faced the inevitable: She had the first of two knee replacement surgeries.

Those of you who have known knee surgery have seen that it doesn't magically transform your knees. There's months of physical therapy, a recovery that can take forever, and then you still have to do the other knee! My poor mom, I hate that she has to go through this! But -- I'd also hate to go through it myself. Can I prevent the same thing happening to my knees?

I hate going to the gym. It's crowded. It reeks because one-too-many members forgot to put on deodorant. I can't get onto a machine to save my life without waiting for at least 10 minutes while awkwardly staring at my sports watch. The locker room is full of women chatting about their son or daughter's upcoming school dance, and the water fountain has a five minute wait.

Can you tell I'm annoyed?

I haven't always felt this way. I used to adore the gym. I owned that place. The people behind the desk know my name, and I have "gym friends" who high five me when they walk past my treadmill. These angry feelings, they're a recent change.

Want to know whose fault it is? The New Year's resolution-ers.