serious injuries has become one of America's leading aerobics champions and a national judge for the US National Aerobics Competition.

Now, he is carving out an international career as a specialist trainer and consultant for the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA).

For the last two weeks John Jay Wooldridge has been conducting master classes and workshops at The Olympic Club on Dundonald Street. He has also been teaching club instructors choreography for the Slide, a new fitness aid which joins the Step in the apparently never-ending fight against flab.

Both he and The Olympic Club instructor Helen McGee-Fisher agree that Slide classes (the first to be offered on the Island) will add an exciting new element to the fitness training programme presently offered.

Says Ms McGee-Fisher: "The Slide simulates skiing movements and works the body laterally. It's very good for inner and outer thighs and is a marvellous way to improve co-ordination and balance.'' As a fully certified member of the AFAA, Ms McGee-Fisher is herself reaching new heights -- she has just been invited to teach a master class called A Step in a New Direction for the American Aerobics Association's international convention to be held at Princeton University later this month.

"It is an honour to be chosen,'' she says, "as I will be teaching between five and six hundred people who are already instructors or about to qualify.'' As a fitness advisor to Reebok, Mr. Wooldridge recently gained national attention as one of the cast members in the top-selling exercise video in the US, "Step: The Video''.

His visit to Bermuda confirms the fitness business is still booming. In fact, he is at present working closely with the International Aerobics Federation in an effort to make aerobics an Olympic event. To this end, he is actively involved in a special demonstration being planned for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

His professional presentations and seminars which he conducts overseas as well as all over the US, are aimed at updating instructors on new and improved teaching techniques.

The strength of the philosophy behind aerobics as an effective fitness approach could hardly have hoped for better "living proof that it works'' than that supplied by Mr. Wooldridge.

Ironically, he only turned to aerobics as a substitute exercise after chronic double-stress fractures ended his aspirations in track and field. It did not take him long to realise that by avoiding a sports-specific programme he also avoided the risk of injury.

"I believe cross-training is the best way to develop muscle strength and achieve cardiovascular benefits and overall fitness,'' he says.

Although he took up competition aerobics "just for the fun of it -- it was my last hurrah at the athletic level'', Mr. Wooldridge reached the finals of the National Aerobics Championship before with less than a year's training.

It was then that the path of his career coincided with what had now become an absorbing hobby. Having qualified in graphic design at college, he had since won several awards for his work in design, marketing and promotion. In 1988, he decided to combine both of his talents, when he hooked up with the Excellence in Exercise Association, where his artistic skills and knowledge of aerobics and fitness enabled him to create a new image for the organisation.

He believes his own background made him more sensitive to the individual needs people have -- and probably accounts for his success as a personal trainer.

His fitness programme is designed on both a physiological and psychological or motivational level.

From his base in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mr. Wooldridge has set up his own personal training business where he devises programmes for many celebrities, including pop stars Phil Collins and Bonnie Raitt.

Although he never took formal dance training, Mr. Wooldridge plays classical clarinet and jazz saxophone, and his child and teen years spent as an accomplished figure skater, plays an important part in the way he uses music in his aerobics classes.

And, however out of shape you may be, Mr. Wooldridge insists that "it's never too late'' to do something about it, adding research supports the view that fitness has a lot to do with the aging process.

Ailments such as arthritis, rounded backs and shoulders, or poor circulation are all conditions that tend to develop as people grow older.

Regular exercise of at least 20 minutes three times a week is recommended to help reverse this process and bring about lasting benefits.

"I get a lot of professors and people from Harvard who are in their '70s and I'm always amazed at how quickly their fitness level increases.'' He points out that he tries to devise fitness programmes that include activities that people actually enjoy: "So if you like walking, for example, I would develop a programme that includes walking. If people are enjoying themselves, they are more likely to remain motivated.'' The biggest challenge, he says, was to convince the client that his programme would work: "But when they actually start to see results -- that's exciting!'' Besides acting as a fitness adviser for Reebok, Mr. Wooldridge is also consultant and occasional host to a cable-TV show, "Time Out For Fitness''.

He says the interest for him in this programme is the fact that it reaches a large working-class section of the community, a group that, by and large, is not traditionally "tuned in'' on health and fitness issues.

He also works with the Greater Boston Association of Retarded Citizens and, through the annual aerobic marathon that takes place in 50 different cities throughout the US, supports the City of Hope Foundation for AIDS Research.

GETTING A KICK OUT OF LIFE -- Aerobics champion John Jay Wooldridge photographed at The Olympic Club where he has been conducting master classes.*l