Sure, some people go to the gym to ogle hot bodies working out. The rest of us, however, don’t come up with lame excuses to avoid exercise and actually go there to get in shape and keep our bodies healthy.

But then again, you can get sick at the gym. Gyms, after all, are a virtual hotbed of germs, bacteria and viruses, what with all the sweat from a myriad of strangers dripping all over the floor, the equipment, and in some cases, all over you, especially if the really sweaty woman working the treadmill beside yours has this habit of whipping her hair around to get it off her face.

But since we’re not all millionaires who can afford a gym of our own, and therefore have to share gym equipment with perfect strangers, the best that we can do is to be vigilant about our gym hygiene. Listed below are some tips:

1. Unless you’ve washed your hands, never touch your face after using gym equipment. The human hands are especially good at carrying germs, and you don’t want any of that coming into contact with all the openings on your face.

2. Wiping down dumbbells, barbells and exercise machines before and after you use it is not only good gym hygiene, but good gym etiquette as well.

3. It would be great if your gym provides alcohol-gel dispensers that kill germs on contact, but if doesn’t, bring your own and use it before touching equipment.

4. Exercise mats are generally drenched in sweat, so it would be wise to wash them down before using. But you can do one better and bring your own mat instead.

5. Unless you’re absolutely certain that your gym’s drinking fountain has been through an effective and safe sanitation process, bring your own bottled drinking water.

6. Don’t just throw or hang the towel that you’ve just wiped your sweat with on any spot inside the gym. Doing that means you either spread your own germs, or your towel would pick up other people’s germs.

7. If you don’t want rashes or boils popping up all over a most inconvenient spot in your anatomy, be sure to sit on your towel when using the sauna.

8. It is advisable to always shower after a workout to wash off the sweat and therefore feel clean and refreshed afterwards.

9. When using the shower, be sure to bring and your own wear flip-flops, since shower stalls, with all the people using them, harbor more germs than you can possibly imagine.

10. If showering after a heavy workout is not your thing, at least get out of those sweat-drenched clothes and change into something fresh before heading home. Some people drive home from the gym wearing their sweat-soaked gym clothes, and that is without a doubt very unsanitary.

I know, I know. Exercise is an indispensable part of losing weight and staying healthy, blah blah blah. But somehow I manage to find the lamest excuses to avoid doing even the simplest of exercises, for reasons not even I fully understand. Friends and family call it plain and simple laziness on my part, and I’m bound to agree. And I’m perfectly aware I’m bound to regret it as well.

Here are 13 of my favorite excuses to avoid exercise, all made on the road to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and the myriad of weight-related illnesses that will surely set in if I keep making them. And I’m certain you’ve used some of these excuses, if not all of them, too.

1. Exercise is boring.

2. I’ve no time for exercise.

3. I lack sleep.

4. Membership in a gym is too expensive.

5. I can’t afford exercise equipment.

6. I’m too old to start working out.

7. There are no gyms near my home.

8. Being chubby runs in the family, so what’s the use?

9. I don’t get moral support from friends and family.

10. I’m not feeling well.

11. I have no one to exercise with.

12. I’ve no idea how to go about exercising.

13. I’m too tired after work to exercise.

Let’s face it: not being able to get it up is a sexually-active man’s worst nightmare. Sure, your partner can offer comforting words like, “it happens”, or “it’s ok, it’s not your fault” every single time your mini-me fizzles out on you in bed, but do they in any way make you feel better? Didn’t think so.

There are, however, ways you can try to avoid being put in that situation, and were not talking about buying a truckload of that little blue pill. Well, at least hold doing that off until you’ve at least tried doing the things listed below.

1. Quit smoking

Smokers, particularly those who have been heavy smokers for a long time, run a greater risk of becoming impotent. Or suffering a stroke. Or a heart attack. Or getting lung cancer. I could go on forever…

2. Cut back on the booze

Better to stop drinking altogether, but if you can’t, it’s fine, as long as you drink in moderation. Imbibing alcohol in copious amounts shocks the nervous system and does damage to blood vessels, leading to impotence.

3. Eat healthy

Eating heart-friendly food is good for sexual potency as well, so veggies and fresh fruits should always be on your diet. Food high in cholesterol and sodium should be avoided as much as possible.

4. Get regular exercise

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that exercise does wonders for the body, even for just a few times a week. Men who exercise at least three to five hours weekly cut their risk of having erection problems by up to 30%.

5. Get laid on a regular basis

Here’s another excuse to have sex regularly: sex is basically some sort of exercise for the penis. The more frequent the erections, the more regular blood flow into the penis becomes. For those without partners, you know what to do.

6. Check your meds

If you’re under medication for any sort of health condition, ask your doctor if some of the meds you’ve been prescribed have any side effects on sexual potency.

7. Manage your stress

Stress is commonly blamed for most cases of impotence, so managing it is essential to overcoming the condition. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but there are ways, and it’s up to you to seek out what works for you.

8. Catch enough zzzzzzz’s

Ideally, eight hours of sleep should do it. Get a whole lot less shut-eye and your body will be stressed out, and all that stress will soon take its toll on your sex life.

9. Do Kegel exercises

Kegel exercises, named after the doctor who devised them, are said to promote better sexual health by working the pubococcygeus (PC) muscle, which you can find by just tensing the muscles in your pelvic floor until you get the one that makes your thing jump. These exercises are reputed to help maintain and control ejaculations and erections, as well as increase blood flow to the penis.

So why not just give them the basic stuff? Sure, they’re not going to lose exactly this number of pounds within this number of weeks the way strict regimens do, but at least the basics can help them keep themselves healthy, and if they’re lucky, lose a pound here and there.

1. Eat slowly

Many studies have suggested that eating slowly translates to eating less, while feeling comfortably full at the same time. One study had a group of subjects consume 646 calories in nine minutes, while another group ate for about 29 minutes and consumed only 579 calories. That makes for a lot of difference in calories when you do the same thing with all your three square meals.

2. Don’t skip meals

Skipping meals is probably the dumbest thing a person trying to lose weight can do. If you skip, say, lunch, there’s a great chance you’ll be incredibly hungry by dinnertime and end up eating more, much more than if you have eaten your lunch.

3. Lay off the soda

Thirsty? Then drink plenty of water. Not soda, not juice, not any fattening sugary drinks, but good ‘ol water, which will always be the best way to keep yourselves hydrated, as well as make you feel full and therefore eat less.

4. Eat your fruits and vegetables

This sounds like something our mothers have been driving into our heads ever since we were kids. And they were right. Vitamins, good fibers, antioxidants and a lot more great stuff can be had from fruits and vegetables, and they’re quite filling too.

5. Indulge every now and then

Don’t go depriving yourselves of your favorite (and obviously fattening) food all the time. Every once in a while, reward yourself for all your weight loss efforts by eating the things you miss the most. Just don’t overdo it and eat, say, a whole box of pizza by yourself. A slice will do.

6. Fresh foods are always better

Nothing could be truer than this. The world is filled with processed foods that have higher sodium and fat content, and we tend to choose them because they’re more convenient. Understandably, we’re just too busy to be preparing fresh foods for ourselves all the time, but it’s best we do that every chance we get.

7. Exercise

This one’s a no-brainer. It’s always best to combine a healthy diet with regular exercise. And you don’t have to go to the gym for that. You can go jogging, walking, biking, dancing and stretching. Or, you can walk to work, take the stairs instead of the elevator, or park your car some distance from your office so you can take the opportunity for a walk. Thirty minutes to an hour of exercise every day and you’ll be fine.