PSU Magazine Spring 1987

\ l • • • "Ladies, don't be afraid of a little muscle tone." new fitness program. She got the job and Portland got in shape with "high energy, low impact" ae~·obics. With back-up from eight local instructors, Litvin has taped 13 shows, all in outdoor locations in the Portland area. It was Litvin's first experience in front of a camera and she liked it. "It sparked a little something in me," she confessed . For someone who said she would end up in the teaching and coaching profession, "Work It Out" pointed a new direction. Eventually, Litvin would like to have a nationally syndicated fitness show. And so smitten is she by the cameras and lights that she envisions herself one day hosting a television news magazine show, a world she was exposed to when KATU-TV asked her to create an eight-week series of fitness programs for "Two At Four." Such dreams would have been unthinkable if she had 'just waited by the phone to get called to substitute teach ," as she saw a number of her classmates doing. (See companion story about HPE grads who didn't wait by the phone.) "You have to open up your own opportunities," said Litvin, who learned to be adaptable at a young age. As a promising high hurdler at Clacka– mas High School, she had woi: an . athletic scholarship for the University of Oregon track and fie ld program. But she had to give it up when she injured her knee playing basketball. That disappointment led her to Port– land State in search of a rounded college experience. She immediately found that she "loved the staff here. It felt like home." "Nicest buns in Portland!" "Work It Out" provided a perfect practicum for Litvin, who was named PSU's "Outstanding P.E. Major" in her senior year. And it led to a brief . affiliation with the Princeton Athletic Club in downtown Portland, where, as assistant manager, Litvin helped promote the club and hire the instructors. "Fztness can befun!! It doesn't have to be a chore!" Then , in another career sidetrip, the PSU grad who brought aerobics to our living rooms took her leotards and leg-warmers to sea . As a shipboa~;d. fitness coordinator employed by Fit With Fun," Litvin signed on for cruise duty on the Norwegia.n Caribbean Line, island-hopping m the Caribbean for two-month stretches. By day, Litvin directs the ship's health spa and sports deck, leading sessions in aerobics , gymnastics and weight training. By night, she is a hostess, greeting passengers and . conducting games. When the cruise ship reaches its own private island, Litvin organizes a volleyball tourna– ment for the passengers on solid ground. It is also Litvin's job to emcee events and interview visiting sports figures and celebrities as part of the onboard entertainment. "People at home (have suggested) that with all the hard work it's probably not as fun as it seems," said a deeply– tanned Litvin during one of her weeklong vacations . "But I tell them it's as neat as it seems. It's a little confined and at times it feels like you're in the PSU MAGAZINE PAGE 15 "Listen to those abdominals. They'll talk to you." Navy, but it's a fun job. Maybe I deserve this for awhile." "Climb a mountain offitness with us! We're going to the top!" Back in Oregon, Litvin's tiny voice and muscular body are still coaxing Portlanders into abandoning sofas and attacking flab. '"Work It Out' is definitely one of our most popular shows," says Chris McMurtry, program manager for Rogers Cable TV Gently but enthusiasticall~, ~itvin nudges us into shape, explammg the rationale behind a particular move and - uncannily - correcting us when our bodies are out of alignment or a muscle isn't contracted properly. It's as if she were in the living room with us. "I get frustrated when I watch ot~er programs," said Litvin. "Many exerose instructors just lead, they don't teach. I want it to be educational." There is still a large measure of the teacher and coach in Litvin. "That's how PSU helped me ," she said. . . Litvin recognizes that the pubhc 1s exposed to a good many unqua~ified aerobics instructors. They are h1red "because they're cute, they look li ke they're in shape, and they say they're expert," according to Litvi.n, w~o sees a need for a consistent, nationwide certification system. ''.And I don't mean 'Certification by Bonnie'," she added. "~'ve done our research ... " "Work It Out" follows guidelines set by the American College of Sports Medicine, which recommends 20 minutes of aerobic activity at 60-85% of the maximum heart rate at least