The Collegian : the weekly newspaper of Behrend College. (Erie, PA) 1989-1993, February 01, 1989, Image 8
Page 8 Get Fit Now by Brian Nelson. Collegian Staff Writer Have you ever noticed how quickly your life can change through just a simple twist of fate? If someone would have told me six years ago that I'd be I writing this column, would have told them they were crazy. Back then, my idea of staying in shape was spending a half hour at the Nautilus doing little more than socializing. My eyes got more exercise than the rest of my body from watching women run around the track. My how things can change. Six years_ later, Fm still watching the women, but I also own a health store, work out six days a week, and I'm preparing to enter my first body building competition. You might ask how someone could change that drastically. Well, being as brief as I can, let me tell you how I came to be enlightened. It all began around 1983, when a buddy of mine dragged me, practically kicking and screaming, into some dingy hole in the wall known as Great Lakes Gym. It was there that I was introduced to the fascinating world of free-weights and bodybuilding. Since then, life has not been the same. I started at a beginner's pace, but soon found myself devoting more and more of my free time to working out. I eventually consulted an herbalist, who put me on a vitamin and supplement program, and helped me to construct a proper diet. In the meantime, I read as many books and articles, and talked with as many knowledgeable people as I could. It seemed that I could never learn enough about health and fitness. In a short period of time, I realized I'd stumbled across a lifestyle I knew would be a part of me for the rest of my life. Looking back, many things have changed in those six years. It hasn't always been easy sticking to this strict type of lifestyle. Especially when it seems as though the things you enjoy the most are usually hazardous to your health. But then tell me, what is easy? When I see a lot of my old friends, now sporting huge beer guts, constantly lament about the glory days, and complain about how old they I can hardly believe that I could have been there too. As far as I'm concerned the glory days have only just begun. At the age of 29, I feel great. I look forward to constantly improving myself through health and fitness, rather than gradually deteriorating with age. Aside form bodily deficiencies, mental attitude plays a big role in the age issue. If you think you are old, you're going to be old. It seems senseless that so many people neglect their bodies to such an extent, that they are in fact, becoming old before their time. Life is too much of a precious thing to just waste away. Most of us have cars, right? It stands as simple fact that if we never put maintenance into that car, we'll be lucky if it lasts very long. Our bodies, like the car, are such intricate machines that if we were to neglect even a small part of its maintenance, the body as a whole would eventually break down. Being young and energetic as most of you are, it's hard to imagine ever getting old. That's something that's not going to happen for a long time, Right? Well, that's the way i: should be, but sorry to say, it isn't. Many of us, simply by not taking care of ourselves, will be old before our time. Just think for a minute what type of life ypu would like to be leading, say ten years form now. Would you like to still be full of life and energy, or would you rather be miseiable, viewing life form an easy chair? i hope•you chose the first alternative. Believe it or not, it is attainable. The biggest excuse that I hear from people is that they don't have the time. Baloney. Make time. In reality, all that staying. in shape involves is the following of a few simple steps. You don't need to be a fanatic about it. If you just eat at least three balanced meals a day, get some form of exercise 3 or 4 times a week, and get proper sleep, that's all it takes. I'm sure you can all sacrifice a few hours of TV time. You wouldn't be missing, that much anyway. There are many surprising benefits to be gained through a health and fitness lifestyle. In future articles, I plan to share some of those benefits with you. You've probably all labeled me as just another one of those health freaks. Right? Well, that's OK, but who knows? Maybe through future columns, I can turn you on, like a good friend once did for me, to a happier and much fuller life through health and fitness. ed v . et Inidana CPS -- Indiana University rolled out a new prepaid tuition plan with much fanfare in December, but a month later IU student said the school was unwilling to honor a similar plan it had unveiled 132 years ago. The old plan would get student Scott Raper through IU for free. The new one, like scores of others adopted by colleges around the country, is designed to help parents "buy" credit hours for their young kids at current prices, and then redeem them in five to 20 years. Students would be able to use the credit hours without paying any more money. lU's regents, who adopted the plan in December, said the idea was to help parents beat the rising cost of tuition at state schools. But Raper's family was offered a good deal by the university once before, one the school now may not want to honor. In 1856, IU fund raisers-told potential donors that if they contributed $lOO, tuition would be waived for them, their sons, grandsons, great grandsons, and PMIIIMEME 456 E. Beaver Ave 500 E. College A, 222 W. Beaver Ave The Collegian Wednesday, February 1 Ignores -Cg4tract so on in perpetuity. Sixty-eight people took the offer, including state Rep. Elias Abel, Raper's great-great-great great grandfather. Raper is now trying to benefit from the deal. However, Indiana residents pay about $l,lOO a semester, not $8 as in 1856, and the university is studying how it will handle the family's claim. James Green, 11J's director of news services, said university counsel Cliff K. Travis received copies of wills and documents Jan. 18 that establish a line of succession for the scholarship, and the university will decide whether to honor the 1856 offer soon. "We weren't able to make a decision without them," Green said. " A person needs to show eligibility before it will be honored." Raper's mother, Nancy Raper, said she has known about the scholarship since she was a little girl, but considered the piece of paper as a curiosity until a year ago. Previous generations of Abel's male descendants --- the It z • . • 1 I a ei dSO Foster Avenue Apts 736 E. Foster Ave. . . Jwer 255 E. Beaver Ave, UMW III, i, i j i Ilk(1, -111 1 4111 A - 4 ti I A 4 I 0 1111.%14*! err .... 71 1 0 11011.. ''' Ambassador 421 E. Beaver Ave 814-234-2382 scholarship applied only to males because women were not admitted toile school in 1856 -- didn't go to college. Mrs. Raper said when her mother died' a year ago and her son began making plans to attend Indiana, the significance of the scholarship occurred to her. "It's something that my great great-great grandfather purchased in the belief that his heirs would be taken care of," she said. "He was a supporter of the university, and I'm sure $lOO helped tremendously at that time." IU attorney Travis said similar requests have come up a few times in decades, but have been rejected for in-state students on the basis of a university ruling that, technically, Indiana residents pay "fees," not tuition. Out-of-state residents are eligible for partial scholarships that make up the difference between in-state "fees" and the total charged to out-of- state residents. Now IU officials say they may let Raper, an Indiana resident, use the benefit to cover the difference, too. -.1311 1 4. . r - •• P•sso6dced 'itec:ffisi Armenara Plaza 131 Sowers v ,„,x0 014 0 . 91 0 " ,S%N. , es 0 1 - 9 e . -00• 0° Cen t Se9t° - 000°14% ‘incl e coo e i t got c , s 2039 v , *le ...41 ec e V 0 vs o 0 *le st e n 0 xse ss o - . 0 ,6 Goooec 040- ,90100vx -6,430 e ~10) 0 ,20; 0 ~.e..s9.••„wow- . Goo iOO %pc u• .0 do- 00,09, VOsecPs iOVI '14% 1000 ~.. OP oosVis,roco‘tc° voi ,test ' , 0 0% cAtet t _Al‘` ~005."_,. o,6Ses , 0000ec vsolow...- . 0 p,sscr.A oe c. o.° % os 111° 2CO O CI 522 E. College Ave 217 S. Atherton St 458 E. College Ave 300 S.- Pugh St