'Rice-ercise' yourself to a fighting-fit condition

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (background) is dedicated to staying in shape. Picture / Reuters

WASHINGTON - It must be stressful invading a sovereign nation, rattling sabres at others and then jetting off to the Middle East to lecture people about the virtues of democracy. What better way to unwind than a good workout in the gym?

For Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, there is apparently no better way. This week the 51-year-old former National Security Adviser, who warned of the dangers of a "mushroom cloud" if Saddam Hussein were not ousted, revealed the exercise regime that keeps her fighting fit.

Donning workout clothes, Rice invited a US television reporter for a session - working with weights and riding a stationary bike - in a gym located beneath the State Department in central Washington.

"When I'm on the road, I absolutely schedule time to get in my exercise first," she told the reporter from NBC.

"I was very fortunate to have a father who was a really great athlete who introduced me to sports. He stopped exercising and had all sorts of health problems.

"It was a real lesson to me and showed me that you really have to keep exercising your entire life."

Rice revealed that she gets up at 4.30am every day and spends 40-45 minutes walking on a treadmill installed in her flat in the city's famous Watergate complex, close to the Potomac River.

She also has a personal trainer, Tommy Tomlo, a former US Marine, who advises her on a low-impact exercise routine.

Rice, who is also a keen ice skater and an enthusiastic tennis player who sometimes shows off her backhand on the all-weather court of the British Embassy, added: "I'm ... a little bit over 50. I spent a lot of years as a figure skater, banging my legs and knees against the ice, and so I've decided that I'm going to speed-walk and walk hills instead of running."

A State Department spokesman, Adam Ereli, said the news segment had been recorded the day after Rice returned from a trip to the Middle East where she visited Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. He said: "She's an active, active Secretary of State".

NBC's local affiliate has made the most of its scoop - turning the work-out session into a three-part series about the Secretary's health routine.

A breathless piece of advertising puffery for the latest instalment promises: "Rice reveals the one time when her weight got out of control and what she did about it".

- INDEPENDENT