‘Everyone Can Exercise’ : Maria Serrao’s workout show on cable includes challenging routines and caters to people with limitations or injuries.

Label Maria Serrao’s exercise show as “disabled” and she’s likely to challenge you to a bench-press competition.

Serrao is adamant about her maxim “everyone can exercise,” which is also the name of her public-access TV show, filmed twice a month at Century Cable in Santa Monica and seen locally on CableVision. Using her wheelchair as if it were just another piece of exercise equipment, Serrao, 25, takes viewers through challenging aerobic and weight-lifting routines.

A Woodland Hills resident, Serrao also is looking for a producer for a series of three exercise videos she hopes to market later this year. The videos are another chapter in an exercise career that began when she filmed her first cable show in November, 1991. “Everyone Can Exercise” is now seen on nine cable channels in Southern California and five more channels in other parts of the country.

“A positive attitude is the most important message I convey in my show,” Serrao said. “I show people they can exercise in spite of their limitations--including not being able to walk.”

Viewers seldom doubt Serrao’s outlook. At 105 pounds, she can bench press 135 pounds. And at age 20, Serrao did what no other woman had done before--became the first Miss California / USA Beauty Pageant contestant to enter the swimsuit competition sitting down.

Serrao, who lost the use of her legs at age 5 in traffic accident involving a drunk driver, realized as a teen-ager that her physical therapy routine was inadequate. She had begun modeling for Mary Kay Cosmetics and dreamed of acting but knew she needed more activity to keep her weight down. Seven gym memberships later, she was disappointed that trainers hadn’t a clue as to how to modify exercise routines for the disabled.

Then she met Linda Lewis. Lewis, a trainer at LA Workout in Woodland Hills, worked with Serrao to alter routines. “I saw this great opportunity to widen my horizons as a trainer,” said Lewis, who appears with Serrao and other trainers on “Everyone Can Exercise.”

“Maria works out harder than probably 90% of all able-bodied people. She’s been a real inspiration to people with other limitations--people who are overweight, have bad knees or other injuries.”

Serrao, in fact, gears portions of her show to demonstrating how to modify routines when exercising injured limbs. She often features athletes who talk of recovering from injuries--including Steve Wright and Eric Dickerson of the Los Angeles Raiders and Floyd Fields of the San Diego Chargers.

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“A lot of people use injuries as an excuse not to exercise,” said Serrao, who has appeared in roles on “Knot’s Landing,” “General Hospital” and “21 Jump Street.” “People worsen their injuries by doing nothing about them.”

Serrao said her family’s support after her injury contributes greatly to her present outlook. The words “I can’t” were banned from her vocabulary, she said, and within one year of her accident, she was swimming 100 laps a day.

“I did everything my three older brothers did . . . I just had to do them a bit differently,” said Serrao who initially had no feeling below her waist, but now has sensation from her knees up.

The opening shots of Serrao’s public-access show prove her point. A montage shows the striking blonde jet skiing, snow skiing with a specially designed mono ski, playing baseball, chatting with Joan Rivers on her talk show, modeling and working out.

Serrao’s goal is to act in roles that don’t stereotype her as a disabled person. “When I show up for a casting call for a disabled part, they look at me and say, ‘You don’t look disabled.’ That tells me a lot--that the disabled are not supposed to look healthy, work out and have a happy life. That kind of thinking is outdated.”

Where to Go Program: “Everyone Can Exercise” can be seen in the San Fernando Valley on Century Cable Channel 3, and on CableVision channels 57 and 65.