What gets you pumped for your fitness routine? For Kari Wuhrer, star of this month's arachnid thriller Eight Legged Freaks, it's not sprinting from menacing spiders but a martial arts combo of jujitsu and Chinese kata (defense and attack moves) that gets her blood flowing. "Doing martial arts helps me feel centered and focused on my form when I lift weights, too,' Wuhrer says. She practices for 45 minutes, five times a week, with Skip Falconer, a sensei (martial arts master) in Los Angeles.

To learn martial arts yourself, check with your gym or Y --- more and more now offer classes. At home, practice this killer warm-up move of Wuhrer's, called a four-side eight count: Stand in a wide squat position with arms straight out at your sides; pushing through heels, pulse legs up and down for eight counts. Then lunge one leg back and raise arms straight in front of you, palms down; pulse legs eight times. Repeat squat; pulse legs eight times. Repeat lunge with opposite leg; pulse legs eight times.

"Your quads will be screaming, but it's great for endurance," Wuhrer says. "Thanks to martial arts, my kicks and punches are more accurate on the set. Plus, my stamina gets a boost, so I'm less tired." And ready to scare away those spiders! --- Gabrielle Studenmund