It's no coincidence that "treadmill" is listed under "tedium" in Roget's Thesaurus; imitating a laboratory rodent is not among life's thrills. No matter what type of exercise you do and no matter how many calories burned, supportive comments or lower dress sizes you're rewarded with, boredom is bound to hit you at some point. When monotony strikes, turn to these suggestions. Hopefully they'll help turn your workout from a snore to a score.

Vary your workouts
Most gym and home exercise machines have a manual mode that allows you to control how tough the workout is. You can use it to design your own workouts based on your mood and energy level. Or if you're already a manual maven, experiment with the various pre-designed programs in the computer's memory. These programs are great because you don't have to decide what to do next.

Read a magazine or listen to a book on tape
Exercise magazines offer lots of encouragement and tend to contain easy-to-skim lists (kinda like this one). When you're drenched in sweat on the stair climber, it's pretty easy to take in concepts like "12 No-Fail Moves for Abs That Impress." Listening to a book on tape is also a great way to take in a trashy novel or learn some highly effective habits without having to turn the pages; they work well for both stationary and outdoor workouts. (One caveat: don't turn up the volume so loud that you lose awareness of your surroundings.)