Ask Joe Weider

Tip of the Week: Get a checkup ... tomorrow.

This week's tip isn't as much about getting healthy and fit as it is about preventing disease. You might assume that because you are eating right and exercising regularly that you don't have to worry about diseases commonly associated with those who don't take such good care of themselves, but don't be fooled.

While maintaining your health will certainly go a long way toward lessening the chances of things like cancer, heart disease, and liver and kidney problems occurring, there are a number of circumstances beyond our control. Some of us are genetically predisposed to certain conditions — familial polyps or congenital heart disease, for example. Others may come in contact with carcinogenic agents, from secondhand smoke to industrial chemicals on a regular basis.

So I strongly recommend that you consider the last time you had a physical. If it was more than five years ago, schedule another, just to be on the safe side. And if you should get a clean bill of health, celebrate with a nice, long workout.

Q: I know that you got your start in weightlifting, and it's something I also am interested in pursuing. The problem is, I don't see anyone else doing it, except on TV in the Olympics. I can't find anyone at the gym I belong to who can help teach me proper form, and I'm not sure a book is going to be enough. Any suggestions?

Joe: This is a tough question, actually. You see, back when I was getting my start, weightlifting was quite popular — more so than bodybuilding even. So it was an easy matter for me to find mentors and even local competitions in Montreal, where I grew up.

Nowadays, weightlifting is very much a lost art. I know that there are some gyms around the country where weightlifting is still practiced, but they are few and far between. Moreover, I'm not so sure that the act of weightlifting, which is very dynamic, would even be welcomed in some of today's gyms, which I hear even discourage grunting!

My advice to you would be to go to weightlifting.teamusa.org, and see if someone there can help you locate a gym, or at least a coach, in your area.

Good luck in your search!

Q: I'm a 33-year-old woman who recently developed an active interest in working out after taking time off from the gym to have a baby. I've been tearing out pictures from a few of your magazines of the fitness women whom I want to emulate, but when I show the pictures to my husband, he tells me he doesn't find muscles on a woman attractive. Now I'm not talking bodybuilders, just figure and fitness competitors. Can you please set him straight? His name is Peter.

Joe: Indeed, I can! Peter — it sounds to me like your wife's plans aren't unreasonable. If she said she was looking to add 50 pounds of muscle, I could understand your concern. But getting toned and stronger, she's essentially increasing her health and vitality. Muscles are meant to be used, be they by a man or a woman, and when muscles are used they grow.

Of course, your wife will never attain muscles like yours. As a man, you have many times the amount of testosterone that she has, and so she will always be limited in the amount of muscle she can grow. Yet what she can grow, I believe, should be developed to its fullest. Reaching your strength potential is reaching your life potential, and I simply do not see the point of being alive if you aren't going to strive to reach your potential every day in every way.

So, Peter, I ask that you find the beauty in your wife's muscles and don't compare them to your own. And if hers should start to approach your own in terms of development, then maybe that will spur you to build your own enough to stay ahead!

Joe Weider is acclaimed as "the father of modern bodybuilding" and the founder of the world's leading fitness magazines, including Shape, Muscle and Fitness, Men's Fitness, Fit Pregnancy, Hers, Golf for Seniors and others published worldwide in over 20 languages.To find out more about Joe Weider, write to him and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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