Daily News du lieu suivant : New York, New York • 258

exercise -or die (continued from page 31) age men to adopt our course as a full life program," he says. "The dropout rate has been exceedingly small. Most men who failed to pursue the program had moved out of the area. Better than 50 per cent of our participants have been in the program for longer than six months. Our problem isn't with men dropping out of the program, but those dropping in.

We're running out of room to stage classes, which are growing rapidly." The YMCA has also embarked on an industrial physical fitness program. "If the company is interested, we send a team to their office and test the personnel right on the spot," says Mellaby. "We can run through 10 men an hour." pansion, blood pressure, pulse rate are jotted down. Finally, he's checked for back extension capability, strength of hands and arms and lung capacity. The test itself costs $10, and the results are measured against similar tests three months later.

Mellaby sometimes finds it necessary during the testing to inform an eager physical fitness seeker that he's ineligible for the program. "In the past year, we have screened out about six men," Mellaby says. "When we checked their heart rate after light exercise and saw it soar to over 170, we thought it best to drop them. They could have come to some harm in subsequent exercise sessions." gym facilities, pools, as well as handball, volley ball, karate, judo and boxing. Some health clubs charge as much as $500 for annual membership.

At these deluxe establishments, every luxury is taken for granted. Most clubs, however, are in the $250-a-year class. Part-time memberships are also available. A few New York clubs have restricted memberships as far as numbers are concerned. One emporium refuses to accept more than 350 men.

There seems no question that the major reason for joining is for health's sake. But many clubs cater to coed memberships, and there's mixed bathing in the pool and plenty of flirta- -q 11 -iTT Mill 11M nfi NEWS PHOTOS BY WILLIAM KLEIN AND BOY MORSCH Edward Santos makes sure the whirlpool bath is functioning property for N.Y. Jets' backfield ace Emerson Boozer. Shelton Health Club has special gym facilities for women. Most gals join for vanity, not health, reasons.

Walter Podolak, head physical director at the club, supervises exercises of account executive John Harris. tion in the solarium. It's evident that romance lures more than a few men to the clubs. And then, of course, there's the small, unhealthy fringe element of men who join health clubs just to meet men. Women who seek out health clubs are mainly interested in slimming down and retaining their figures.

Probably the most scientific health regimen in all the city is conducted by the YMCA. Initiated last year by Al Mellaby, its director for health and physical education, the unique cardiovascular program has drawn more than 1 ,000 men. A man wishing to participate in the specialized program must proceed as follows. 1. He has to supply a doctor's certificate stating he can undergo moderate exercises.

The YMCA further recommends that he take an EKG (electrocardiogram). 2. He visits a where a series of tests are conducted. The skin fat is measured on his arms, legs, buttocks, stomach. His chest ex- The cardiovascular course begins with 20 minutes of light, rhythmic warmup exercises.

The men next walk around the sides of the gym, alternately breaking into a run, jog and back to walking. The exercises conclude with a taper-ing-off period of bending and stretching. All told, the session requires 45 minutes to an hour. Mellaby, who possesses a master's degree in physical education from Columbia, drew up the program using the basic principles of Dr. Thomas Cureton.

"I'm convinced that exercise is the hub of the wheel around which other preventative methods reduce heart disease," he says. "We stress exercises that are rhythmical, continuous and non-tensive. We feel that calisthenics and weight lifting have no place in a cardiovascular program." In the year that Mellaby has conducted the Y's fitness course, there has been a dropout rate of less than 20 per "Our goal is to encour- The tests are similar to the ones conducted at theY. According to Mellaby, results from the Y's cardiovascular course have exceeded expectations. "We've had many men enter the program who couldn't get increased life insurance because of high blood pressure," he says.

"After taking the course, they substantially reduced their pressure to pass the insurance requirements. The benefits derived are strictly up to the individual involved. If he's serious about it, there's no question regarding the good that can come out of exercise." The theory that physical exercise can thwart heart attacks seems to have caught on all over America. Jogging clubs, run-for-your-life clubs, clubs are filled almost from the moment they are formed. The urge to just get out and do something physical appears to be an overwhelming impulse today.

Publicity attendant to recent heart trans- PAGE 32 NEW YORK SUNDAY NEWS MARCH 24. 1968.