HEALTH : Fit to Be an Exercise Role Model

Tell Maria Serrao she can’t, and she will.

Tell her she shouldn’t, and she’ll find a reason why she should.

Serrao’s tenacity comes as a surprise to many people who expect less from someone in a wheelchair. But it is Serrao’s feisty personality that has helped her defy conventional wisdom about what the disabled are capable of achieving.

Her greatest success occurred four years ago when she began producing and hosting an exercise show on Century Cable’s public access channel. She also has filmed two exercise videos, and she is a national representative for Cybex, an exercise equipment manufacturer.

“I live and eat this stuff 20 hours a day,” she said, laughing.

Although she acknowledges the limitations of her disability, Serrao does not consider herself a spokesperson for the disabled.

“I want to be a spokesperson for anyone who likes to work out,” she said.

Dressed in her workout garb--a leotard, tights and sneakers--this 31-year-old looks every bit the California girl. She even drives a Camaro.

Serrao, a former model, was second runner-up in Northern California’s 1986 Miss Solana County beauty pageant, which is a prelude to the Miss California/U.S.A. competition. She also is an actress and her TV credits include appearances on “General Hospital” and “21 Jump Street.”

“I want people to see me as a person who just happens to be in a wheelchair,” she said.

Ironically, Serrao’s attitude and appearance have sometimes worked against her in seeking acting roles. “I’ve been turned down for acting jobs because they say I don’t look disabled,” she said. “They don’t expect you to be fit. They expect you to look unhealthy.”

A native of Santa Monica, Serrao’s life changed in 1969 when a drunk driver slammed into the car her mother was driving. Her mother was not seriously injured, but Serrao was paralyzed from the waist down.

Over the next 10 years, her recovery was difficult and gradual, guided by the encouragement of her parents, Serrao said. Her late father, in particular, helped push her back to health, she said.

“He used to make me swim 100 laps just about every day,” she said. “Sometimes he would have to bribe me to get me to do it.”

Serrao is now paralyzed only below her knees, and has come a long way since the days when doctors predicted that she would never walk again.

She became involved in health and fitness about five years ago when she was 50 pounds overweight and looking for a way to shed the weight. She could not find a gym that would accommodate her, and when she asked a plastic surgeon to perform liposuction on her, he refused--saying she never would be thin in a wheelchair.

So she did it her way. Serrao, who now weighs 105 pounds, has seen her life consumed by health and fitness.

Up to 2 1/2 hours of Serrao’s day is spent working out, often at home with weights and exercise equipment. Her diet is almost entirely nonfat.

Serrao’s daily workout, which she developed with the help of a professional trainer, consists of riding for an hour on a piece of equipment that she pedals with her arms. She follows that with 20 minutes on a recumbent bike. Three or four times a week she works out with weights, and she does a daily routine of 100 stomach exercises.

She does it all with the enthusiasm of a high school cheerleader.

“She has so much energy, she makes me tired just watching her,” said Steven Eng, production director for Serrao’s workout show on Century Cable.

When Serrao saw that she actually lost weight with her workout, she decided to capture the routine on video and, eventually, market it to those who are disabled, temporarily injured or able-bodied but out of shape.

In 1991, she started her exercise show on Century Cable’s public access channel. The program, called “Everyone Can Exercise,” airs every other week.

Accompanied by fitness trainers, Serrao leads a complete workout regimen, occasionally joined by professional athletes. Football players Steve Wright, who played for the Los Angeles Raiders, and Floyd Fields have been guests.

Based on the number of calls the studio receives, Serrao’s show is one of Century Cable’s most popular programs, Eng said.

In the past year, Serrao’s success has begun to spread.

“Everyone Can Exercise” has been picked up in 22 cable markets in five states, airing as far east as New York City. And, until her contract recently expired, the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas broadcast Serrao’s show for a year on the hotel’s in-house station.

Two other Las Vegas hotels are interested in broadcasting her exercise program, and a new cable network is considering purchasing it, Serrao said.

Last year, Serrao began making videos. Her first, muscle toning and strengthening, went on sale last summer, and her second, an aerobic workout, came out earlier this year. The toning video has sold between 15,000 and 25,000 copies, while only a few thousand of the aerobic workout tapes have been sold.

The sales figures are “fair,” said David Catlin, president of Brentwood Communications in Westlake Village, which produced and markets Serrao’s exercise program.

“We’re in the process of trying to educate the buyers at the major (store) chains that the market for these types of videos is just under 50 million people who are physically challenged--either disabled or injured,” Catlin said.

Whether or not the tapes and the cable show become successes, Serrao said she will continue doing what she’s been doing: Acting and helping people get in shape.

“There are disabled people who are bitter, but that’s not for me,” she said. “Who has time for that?”