Q: What can be done about eliminating the cellulite on the back of my thighs?

The truth about cellulite is that there is no such thing! But tell that to the legion of women spending millions of dollars on creams, wraps, gloves, exercises, and massages guaranteed to smooth away those dimpled formations on their thighs and backsides, and many will call you a liar.

The most up-to-date medical and physiological research reveals that cellulite is just plain fat. Cellulite, however, has become such a common word for such a familiar sight that it would be pointless to try to remove it from the vocabulary of contemporary men and women.

Although there is no such medical term, the condition to which the word refers does exist. Most women do have thick layers of fat directly under the skin on their upper thighs and buttocks. And yes, these thick layers of fat often become dimpled and unattractive. There are scientific ways to attack this problem, but none is quick, easy, or highly advertised. What apparently happens in the case of cellulite is that the ribbons of connective tissue that serve as pouches for large groups of fat cells in a sort of honeycomb arrangement under the skin lose their elasticity and shrink with age. The overlying skin attached to these fibers then contracts. If the size of the encased fat cells does not shrink proportionately, a kind of overall dimpling occurs on the surface of the skin. Another factor contributing to the problem is that most women, after the age of 18, gradually lose muscular size and strength in their hips and thighs. This reduction in muscular size and strength makes the underlying muscle mass flabbier and less supportive. The cure for cellulite, or dimpled fatty deposits, is two-fold:

In other words, the Nautilus Diet program is the ideal way to combat and conquer cellulite!

Q: Of all the people you've worked with on the Nautilus Diet program,who has lost the most weight?

In 1974 1 worked with a 22-year-old man, Sammy Johns, who assembled Nautilus machines in our plant in Lake Helen. He weighed 29 9 pounds at a height of 6 feet. After six months of supervised dieting and exercising, he weighed 18 2 pounds. Thus, Sammy Johns lost an amazing II 7 pounds on the Nautilus Diet program. Of the people involved in the 1985 Gainesville study, Ted Blake had the distinction of losing the most fat. In twenty weeks, Ted lost 673/4 pounds of fat -- or 30.36 percent of his starting body weight of 221 ½ pounds.

Q: I have some fat that I'd like to lose, but most of all, I'd like to make my body larger and stronger. Will your exercise program help me?

Yes, I've worked with numerous athletes -- such as football players, wrestlers, and bodybuilders -- who have had the same goals. But as I said previously, the individuals with the longest muscle bellies have the greatest potential for building muscular size and strength. To demonstrate the value of Nautilus for building larger and stronger muscles, I recently worked with a high school athlete, Eddie Mueller, from Lake Helen, Florida. Eddie had good potential for building muscle. He was tested and trained for ten weeks.

The training program consisted of twelve exercises, each carried to momentary muscular failure. Anytime his guideline number of repetitions was completed in good form, the resistance was increased by 5 percent at the next workout. Eddie trained three days a week; each workout lasted less than thirty minutes. Because he was interested in gaining weight, he was encouraged to consume from 3,000 to 4,000 well-balanced calories each day, which was normal for an athlete of his size. In the accompanying photographs, Eddie's progress can be observed. On the basic Nautilus exercises, his strength increased an average of 46 percent per exercise. At a height of 5 feet 8 inches, his body weight went from 160 to 176 pounds, a gain of 16 pounds, or 1.6 pounds a week. Furthermore, Eddie added 4 inches to his chest measurement, 2 inches to his upper arms, and 4 ½ inches to his thighs. Equally important was the fact that Eddie got leaner. His percent of body fat decreased from 8 percent to 6 percent. In the process Eddie lost 2.2 pounds of fat. Thus, his overall muscle mass gain in ten weeks was 18.2 pounds. A close study of the photographs reveals that Eddie definitely has less fat in the "after" picture. The most important factor in gaining muscular weight is not food but exercise. If the large muscles of your body are stimulated with proper exercise, they will grow even if you consume a low-calorie diet, because they will rob your fat stores of the necessary calories. Gaining muscle mass while losing body fat should be a primary goal in the physical conditioning of any athlete.