Once upon a time, many years ago, my love affair with fitness began. My passion can be traced back to the mid 60ís, when as a weak and sickly 8 year old I wanted to look like the screen legend Hercules, Steve Reeves.

After seeing a cartoon where one of the mice defeated the cat with judo, I told my father I wanted to do that too.

For those of you that are not old enough to know, all of this took place way before the fitness or kung-fu craze hit America. Friends and relatives felt that it was odd for a child to want to look like that, yet my dad supported me100%.

In the early 70ís I began studying martial arts and Iím still practicing and teaching today.

Then, in 1976, my senior year in high school, my dream became a reality: I began bodybuilding. By 1983 I was competing and promised myself that I would age gracefully and stay fit for life.

Recently, while watching the late news, I was intrigued by a commercial that said, ìIím not going to be one of those old men who sits in lawn chair sand driveways and regrets adventures they never took.î The words of that commercial could be part of my lifeís mission statement. I thank God for instilling in me a love for fitness at a young age.

And yet today, even as America hits the peak of the fitness craze spending millions of dollars on diets, gyms, exercise videos, equipment, supplements, and even drugs and surgery in an effort to achieve that ultimate body, there are now more Americans over weight than ever before. There is also more obesity and Diabetes than ever before.

The answer to these problems lies in your lifestyleóyou must change your sedentary way of life into an active fitness lifestyle.

Weight reduction must be a gradual process. When you cut down on calories too quickly you will eventually hit a plateau and fat loss will dramatically slowdown. You body will begin to believe that you are starving it. Your metabolism will then go into survival mode and slow down. To avoid this occurrence, you must zig zag your calorie intake and eat 6 small meals a day.

Most people go through life yo-yoing, going up and down in weight due to failing one diet and then starting the latest fad diet.

To succeed in losing body fat permanently and obtain optimum fitness you must have a combination of 4 things: cardiovascular training, muscle endurance work, flexibility exercises, and good eating habits.
If you follow the latest diets and do not workout, you will become a ìmini youî with the same amount of fat but just less weight. To lose weight you must burn more calories than fat, and to accelerate fat loss you must build muscle.

You donít need to buy expensive equipment or go to a gym if you donít want to do soóthere are numerous ways to reach your goals and realize your dreams.

Your body alone is the key to optimum fitness; and you can walk, run, stretch, kick, jump, punch, or do calisthenics. You can also participate in my favorite class, fitness kickboxing, which incorporates the 3 fitness modalities and burns more calories than any other workout.

However, first you must believe in yourself, have faith, and then you must write your goals and do it, because faith without works is pointless.

You can begin changing your lifestyle today. Instead of donuts, eat fruits. Instead of taking the elevator, go up the stairs. Get off that lawn chair, do some push ups and never regret not taking on an adventure.
Your body is your gift from God, what you do with it is you gift to him.

In future articles, we will go even more n depth as to in the other important elements necessary in order to get fit and stay fit.

Julia G. Anta is a certified black belt instructor, personal trainer, fitness kickboxing instructor at Doral Park Country Club, Everglades Elemiddle School and Kids Village. For any fitness questions, feel free to contact Julio Anta at 305 599 3649.