Patricia Gray started exercising five years ago.

"I walked to a friend's house four blocks away and found myself out of breath, so frankly I scared myself and decided I would get fit," she says. "I feel better when I exercise so I make it the top of my priority list."

Gray works out at a local community centre, but many people are tempted to buy equipment to use at home.

Fitness machines in TV infomercials promise to make exercise fun and easy, and delivering everything from a cardio workout to rock hard abs. But Consumer Reports testing shows they don't all deliver.

In abdominal exercises, the Ab Rocket proved slightly less effective than traditional ab exercises

and the $230 Rock-n-Go didn't impress.

"It didn't feel like I was doing any exercise at all while I was using it," says Eugene Chin of the Rock-n-Go.

Kirk Klingner agrees.

"I don't think it is even worth it if it were free. No exercise at all."

Two of the cardiovascular exercisers gave a pretty good workout. The Cardio Twister and Rock 'n Roll Stepper burned about the same number of calories as walking briskly on a flat treadmill. The Bowflex TreadClimber turned out to be better.

"Walking on the TreadClimber at the highest speed burns about the same amount of calories as running on a treadmill at six miles per hour," says Consumer Reports Sue Booth.

But testers really had to concentrate to stay on the belts. And the Bowflex TreadClimber costs close to $3,000.

"It's sometimes a mistake to go gung-ho and buy that big piece of equipment," says personal trainer Tess Tyzuk. She says a better way to get more active is to just make the most of your opportunities.

"(Say) every day I'm going to walk for 15 minutes or instead of taking the elevator at work I take the stairs."

Then you can add in planned exercise -- preferably with another person.

"It helps to really motivate you. If you are having a bad day and you don't feel like going out and your friend calls up and says 'I'm ready and let's go' you are more likely to stick with your program," says Tyzuk.

*But don't set your sights too high when you start exercising -- set smaller goals that you can measure.

The experts say the key to getting and staying in shape is to make it part of your daily life, but step one is just to get started.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen