On a perfect sunny day, it’s easy to get motivated for a brisk walk in the park or even a challenging jog around the neighborhood. But when spring showers make the outdoors a less-enticing place, it’s much harder to find the will to work out.

Don’t give up on getting fit by waiting until there’s a more favorable forecast. Instead, get creative indoors with your rainy day exercise.

One of the most important requirements for a successful at-home indoor workout is some good music, says personal trainer JJ Flizanes, director of Invisible Fitness, a Los Angeles-based coaching and training company.

“It doesn’t have to make you run up and down the halls at level 10,” she says. “Just so you want to start toe-tapping and shaking your body and move.”

Once you get the rhythm right, just start moving. Try walking around the hallways, climbing up and down the steps if it’s not too hard on your joints, or just letting loose and dancing around the house. Swing your arms and add upper body movements to increase your energy output.

Flizanes even suggests working out to exercise videos with their sound turned down and your music turned up. You’ll be much more likely to stick with the routine if you like the tunes.

If you want a little more structure, try setting up a little bit of a boot camp in your living room with several different exercise stations, suggests Nicole Palacios, a personal trainer from Vancouver.

Do jumping jacks in one spot, then do bicep curls with hand weights at another station, step up and down on your bottom stair, then do squats, etc. The more variety you have, the less likely you are to get bored.

Palacios also recommends convincing a pal to come over and exercise with you. “Call a friend who is also sitting at home and it can be very effective,” she says. “You can feed off of each other’s energy and then you’re accountable to that person, so you won’t stop.”

Monitor Your Motion

To stay motivated, it helps to have a tool to keep track of your workout accomplishments. Either take your pulse on a regular basis or consider investing in a heart rate monitor, which will give you feedback so you know you’re working efficiently.

A monitor tracks your heart rate as you’re exercising, allowing you to either increase or decrease the level of your exertion in order to keep your heart working in its ideal range. The monitors, which start at around $50, are available in sporting goods stores. You’ll need to calculate your target heart rate before using a monitor so you know where to start. (Not sure how to do it? Here’s how.)

Even easier and much less costly, invest in a simple pedometer or make a chart for your refrigerator.

“Keep track of the distance like how many times you go up and down the stairs without getting tired or put a pedometer on your shoe and count how many steps you take,” suggests chiropractor Eric Plasker, author of The 100 Year Lifestyle (Adams Media, 2007). “Find inexpensive ways to kind of make it a game and also involve your mind.”

Gadgets and Gizmos

If you need a little more inspiration than music or monitors to get your feet off the ottoman, try playing cards or video games. Seriously.

Some of the latest Nintendo DS games are geared toward adults needing a little push to get physical. Offerings such as “My Weight Loss Coach” ($29.99) and “Quick Yoga Training” ($19.99) require users to actually move more than their thumbs. The yoga game lets players choose poses that focus on stress-relief or balance while the weight-loss game tracks progress toward a target weight, using fitness and nutrition challenges as well as a pedometer.

(The DS is a lightweight handheld gaming console that retails for $129. It requires some dexterity and fine motor skills to use a stylus on the touch screens. If you don’t already own one, chances are your kids or grandkids do!)

The Nintendo Wii Fit also lets you an untraditional indoor workout using a balance board and a Wii gaming system hooked up to your TV. You can choose yoga poses (led by a virtual trainer), balance games such as dodging soccer balls or ski jumping, and cardio exercises like boxing, jogging and twirling hula hoops. (The Wii retails for $249.99 and the Wii Fit game is $89.99.)

If you don’t want to get so high-tech, start shuffling. Pick up some FitDeck cards ($9.95-$14.95, www.fitdeck.com), a series of playing cards targeted toward various fitness levels, types and lifestyles. Each deck offers a stack of individual moves you can do geared, for example, toward seniors or focused on stretching, yoga or stair exercises. You can pull out these decks and deal yourself a rainy day workout.

Other Options

Of course, you’re not stuck in your house if you want to move when the great outdoors isn’t so great. Head to a mall and walk. Swim laps at an indoor pool. Take fitness classes (like the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program at locations nationwide) or use the elliptical machine at the gym. If your joints and balance are up to it, try skating at the roller or ice rink.

The key, says Plasker, is to make your motivation internal rather than external. Don’t let stormy skies keep you from getting the exercise you need.

“Too many people let the weather or outside circumstances become the motivator to get them to move,” he says. “If you find yourself hemming and hawing because of the weather, catch yourself midstream, catch yourself being negative and make yourself move. And smile when you do it!”