CAUTION

1. Don't use steam baths, saunas, or hot showers immediately after exercise. The heat brings blood to your skin, possibly straining your circulation. You should also not squat or hold your breath, which can adversely affect your blood pressure and heartbeat.
   
   
2. Stay away from exercise gimmicks. There's no shortcut to physical fitness. Even massage is of no value in building muscle or losing weight. For a muscle to be strengthened, it must be actively engaged in movement, not merely acted upon, as in massage.
   
   Dream machines that promise exercise without effort are a waste of money. If there is no effort, you are not exercising. Vibrating belts do nothing to build muscle or to take off weight. Nor do other machines in the arsenal of health clubs: barrel rollers, electric exercise bicycles, electric joggers. Passive exercise machines have little or no value. They cannot "break up fat deposits" and "take off inches," as most claim.