Seminar set on nutrition and exercise

Van Nuys, California · Friday, February 11, 1977

Ron Fletcher, director of the Ron Fletcher Studio for Body Contrology in Beverly Hills, will present a unique exercise seminar, "For Women, Especially," on Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. and at 7 p.m. as part of the Broadway Century City's week-long "Women in Action" series.

Featured with him will be Her mien Lee, respected nutritionist, who will discuss "A Weigh of Life," sensible and appealing diets.

Fletcher, a consultant to body contrology studios in New York and London, is a former student, performer and teacher with the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York. He has also worked as a teacher and choreographer for the Utah State University Department of Dance and Kinesiology, where he received an honorary master of sciences degree, and he has been a student and teacher with the Joseph Pilates Body Contrology Institute in New York.

Ms. Lee is a nutritionist with Fletcher's studio and offers eating programs for overweight and underweight persons. She has a bachelor of science degree in nutrition and chemistry from the University of Illinois; a master of science in nutrition and education from Indiana University and she has served on a dietetic internship at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago.

RON FLETCHER

Former dancer demonstrates flexibility and body control.

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The Los Angeles Times /1979 Feb

Exercise

By BETH ANN KRIER Times Staff Writer

"People expect me to be a snob," says Beverly Hills exercise master Ron Fletcher, whose name is so often linked with such star students as Ali Mac-Graw and Candice Bergen that he acknowledges. the association has become a problem as well as a blessing. "When I'm asked to do a talk show, they expect me to bring along one of the 'names. They think we're an entity."

The title of Fletcher's new book subtly reflects that dilemma and seems to be aimed directly at those who know of his clients but not his work. "Every Body Is Beautiful" (Lippincott: $14.95) includes the expected endorsements from Mac Graw and Bergen (and Sandy Duncan and Ben Vereen and Katharine Ross and Holly Harp and Eva Gabor and Valerie Perrine and Jill Clay burgh and other celebrities).

But it also includes chapters on movement for the elderly, the pregnant and the handicapped. There is even a series of photos of one "Fletcherette" with somewhat flabby thighs, midriff bulge and a generous waistline.

As Fletcher explains in the first sentences of the book, "Every body is divinely inspired, superbly designed, awesome in the complex way it's put together and wonderful in the simple, economical way it works. Every body can be vital, strong and. flexible, moving through life with grace and assurance, totally healthy not just some of the time but most of the time. Every body can be improved, inside and outside, because the body potential is hardly ever realized."

Ron Fletcher, author and exerciser, helps a student stretch at his salon. Fletcher is known for his work with stars, not so well known, however, for working with the aging, with the handicapped and with pregnant women.

Fletcher's Contrology program, he stresses, involves far more than flailing around in the name of exercise, a word he avoids. He seeks to engage the mind, body, breath and spirit all at once and admits he has had to ask a few non-engaged students (including a couple of stars) to leave.

"They weren't serious about it. Either they expected a workout program they didn't have to think about or they ignored the work and created a disturbance," he says. "I don't know how to put this nicely but the best students are always the most intelligent and/or performers people who are used to listening and paying attention to directions."

Perhaps the most moving and inspiring descriptions of Fletcher's program, which includes sound eating regimens by staff nutritionist Her mien Lee, come from the physically handicapped students Fletcher asked to contribute to his book.

Alathena Miller, a travel agent who doesn't have the use of her legs from the hips down, notes her fellow agents have dubbed her "Greased Light-ning" since she began working with Fletcher to develop strength in her abdominal and back muscles, improve her circulation and learn to breathe properly. program,

"Sure I know I'm a disabled person, but so what?" she writes. "I treasure my body today and work on it constantly.

I'll continue to work on it until it is buried treasure. Recently I was invited on a travel agents' trip to Pago Pago. I desperately wanted to go on this busman's holiday. Prior to my work with Ron, there was no way I could have gone no way I could have or would have maneuvered from my seat, down the aisle to the bathroom. And a 15-hour flight without eliminating is just too difficult. I was on that plane to Pago Pago. Contrology had given me the confidence and strength to crawl down that aisle to the bathroom.

I also used my new sense of purpose to put aside embarrassment and ask two gentlemen to lift me onto the toilet seat. False modesty fell by the wayside when it was measured against life my living it to the fullest of my potential. I'd crawl up or down any aisle anywhere to do that. I tell this story with the hope that others similarly afflicted will learn to do the same."

How can the handicapped participate in Contrology? Fletcher describes the minimum as "percussive breathing," which he believes cleanses the system of toxins and improves circulation. "It can be mastered by anyone who can inhale and exhale."

Fletcher says the breathing aspect of his program is especially indicated for pregnant women: "A plentiful and constant supply of oxygen is vital to the growing fetus and its developing organs, including the brain and the nervous system.

For the expectant mother he recommends daily participation in a movement program that should continue-with slight modifications as the fetus grows and body chemistry changes as long as the mother can move. And he points out that it is not uncommon for his pregnant students to work out through their ninth month. One of them nearly delivered in his studio, he says, but made it to the hospital in time. The two who contribute their pre-natal exercise experiences to his book describe not only how they were back on the mats within a month of their deliveries but had no stretch mark residuals.

The aging, the third group not generally associated with Fletcher's studio, get the same sort of encouragement Fletcher provides for the handicapped and the pregnant. Here, however, he is his own best example, for though he is nearly 60 he is proud that his doctor tells him his blood pressure reads "like an athlete's in prime condition."

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