Daily News from New York, New York • 314

FITNESS QUESTIONS AMD ANSWERS Gravifiron: cSf Tofiieir By KAREN AVENOSO 77w Ettng Fiu is preparing to ptmnce next month unth uniquely inruU'vt symptoms that are fTjxrtt'd to knock many New Yorkers to the around. Dr. Michael Giordano, Assistant Professor of Medicine in Infectitrus Disease at New York HospitaU Cornell Medical College answers some commonly asked questions. has become a hit with hurried yuppies and 98-pound weaklings (sometimes one and the same). The sleek machine uses a hydraulic pressure system to help exercisers lift a proportion of their own body weight which means that even people who can't do a single chinup unassisted aren't stuck on the ground.

And on this plastic-and-metal structure that vaguely resembles a medieval torture rack, the whole upper body gets worked out quickly and efficiently only two or three minutes to tone and strengthen. "It's a great machine for people who have limited time," says Keith Sanueo, a trainer at the New York Daily News Staff Writer For decades, people sweated the low-tech way with 100-pound barbells and triathlons. Then came gimmicks to get us grunting: Lifecycles, StairMasters and, now, the Gravitron. With its flashing lights, Space Age sounds and foot-long list of instructions, the Gravitron looks more intimidating and harder to program than a VCR. But for a quick upper-body workout, health club exercisers have come to swear by it.

Launched six years ago by the StairMaster company, the Gravitron Health and Racquet Club. "It gets all your major muscle groups." During rush hour at his midtown gym, members line up at the Gravitron. A trim, slim woman in a skimpy body-suit hops on, then an aspiring beefcake, then a pear-shaped senior citizen. They rise up, elevator-style, on the plastic platform and begin doing dips and chinups. "I'm not ready for the heavy weights," says hotel receptionist Frank Makarski.

"Those are for the big guys." Marketing consultant Andrew Salzman is back at the gym after a two-year hiatus. "I need all the help I can get," he says. Wendy Protzel, a spry twenty-something who works in health care, steps on after 50 minutes on a Life-cycle. "With weights, it's easy to strain yourself. I'm not afraid of hurting myself on this." Consult a Doctor The Gravitron's blips and flashes may intimidate some.

As may the warnings beneath the message from the inventor: Consult your physician before using; take five minutes to warm up or stretch; stop exercise immediately if you feel faint, experience pain or ham difficulty breathing. But the lengthy instructions are What Is the flii. and how do this year's strain differ from last year's? A. A flu is a generalized infection of the upper respiratory tract that in severe cases can spread to the lower respiratory tract and cause pneumonia or put a patient at risk for developing pneumonia. There are predictions that it will be more virulent than in previous years, meaning that it will cause more severe symptoms and more deaths.

What's tho Iff rones between tho flu and a bad cold? A. A cold is a stuffy nose, nasal congestion and watery eyes. You get these symptoms with a flu, but they are much worse and are compounded by extreme fatigue, severe muscle aches and pains and a high fever. Oily about 10 of people who think they have the flu actually have it. wa hear that the Every year, seems.

fki wM bo the worst aver. Is tMs hype? 4 It f-- fry IMP A. It's not hype, but a prediction of seventy based upon how powerful any strain is known to be. The public health service is predicting a particularly virulent strain this year based on the known power of this strain historically. specific and easy to follow.

The hiss- ing and humming, it turns out, have i little more purpose than to keep! your mind off the pain. The machine offers difficulty levels 1 from 1 to 17, corresponding with the percentage of body weight one wants to lift The only important Gravitron safety tip: Press 'stop' before hopping; off to prevent a humiliating spill on; the gym floor. If the machine hasn't! had time to decompress, the platform' will fly up in the air "Once people learn to use it, wei have problems getting them off," says Sanueo. "It's a popular machine partly because it's fun. You can make it very easy and still get the thrill of a dip." Anna Iannuzzo, an administrator at an Italian news agency, sails back down to Earth, sweating.

Over pulsing disco music, the machine emits a loud mechanical sigh. "I wouldn't call it fun," Iannuzzo says. "It's still hard exercise. But it's si Is a flu shot necessary? A. A flu shot is necessary for people who fail into high-nsk categories, such as the elderly, people with a chronic heart or lung condition, those who are immuno-suppressed because they have HIV-infection, are undergoing chemotherapy or taking steroids.

Health care workers must get a flu shot. JllllllllllMll 1 ll Srft i-a Does a flu shot prevent tho flu? A. You may still get the flu, but the shot reduces the seventy of the illness. TWO LEGS UP: A Gravitron user at the New York Hearth and Racquet wiumms Club works out on the extremely popular machine. not one of the machines I dread." IN Can you catch the flu on tho subway? A.

Most definitely. The flu is highly contagious. When someone with the flu sneezes, tA his germs are contained inside tiny, invisible 2 aerosol droplets that suspend in the air and gft inhaled by anyone nearby. If he wipes his 5 nose and then shakes your hand and you 5 touch your nose, you get the flu. by researchers at the St Louis University Health Sciences Center.

Cancer of the larynx or voice box, which affects 12,000 Americans annually, is often treated surgically. Removal of the voice box creates a number of complications, including the inability to speak without assistance devices and loss of smell. More GPs Can tho flu bo reeled? of graduates are choosing generalist careers, an increase from 14.6 last year. Why not nurses? According to a survey conducted for the American Nurses Association, 86 of Americans are willing to get the everyday kind of health-care services from advanced-practice registered nurses that they now get from doctors. "Only the medical establishment opposes an expanded role for nurses in everyday health care, largely because of turf issues and eco- nomic self-interest," charges association President Virginia Trotter Betts.

Knight-Rkkter Newspapers Bl Jab on campus Next time the collegian in your family calls home for money, suggest he or she get vaccinated against bacterial meningitis. The disease has hit a number of campuses; the University of Connecticut immunized all 12,000 of its students in the spring after three cases were reported. Longevity magazine says. Saving voice boxes Treating cancer of the larynx with a combination of radiation and chemotherapy may be able to save the voice boxes of many patients, according to preliminary findings I 8" I 3 A. Contrary to popular belief.

Influenzas can be treated with Amantadine, a specific anti-viral medication that works well if prescribed within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. But it should not be used to treat the common cold, because its side effects, including disorientation, outweigh the benefits. Or. Giordano was Interviewed by Jennifer Wolff i In increasing numbers, medical school graduates are planning careers in family medicine, general internal medicine and general pediatrics. A survey by the Association of American Medical Colleges shovfedjhat thisear 19.3.