TIMONIUM, Md. -- If you're serious about losing weight, you know that exercise will be involved. As we continue weight loss week, we're introducing you to the "3-4-5 Total Body Fitness Program."

WEIGHT LOSS WEEK July 14 - 18, 2003 Monday 'Curves' Tuesday '3-4-5 Total Fitness' Wednesday Dr. Paul Revis' Plan Thursday Starch-Blocker Diet Friday Johns Hopkins Plan How Do You Lose Weight?

WBAL-TV 11 News Health Alert reporter Donna Hamilton reported that the program is the brainchild of Maryland Athletic Club personal trainer Stephen Holt whose degree in mechanical engineering inspired him to look at how the human body works in a whole new way.

Holt looks at exercise and sees exercise differently than most people.

"Most people are used to working out in standard gyms using standard machines that have been around 30 years," Holt said.

Holt's 3-4-5 Total Body Fitness Training System is based on the knowledge gained in the past 10 years about how the human body actually works. He also incorporated his degree in mechanical engineering in the program.

"If you really want to understand how the body works, you have to look at it like a machine. All the rules of physics are still the same," Holt said.

The 3-4-5 comes from three planes of motion, four muscle systems and five patterns of movement -- all of which you can expect to do, standing up, sometimes on one leg.

Video

Push, Pull, Rotate Under 3-4-5 Plan

"There will be a pushing exercise, pulling exercise, something with rotation, something on one leg and something that takes the body up and down," Holt said.

"It's just different isn't it? A whole different way to exercise," Hamilton said.

"It's a different way to look at exercise. The standard exercise works one muscle at a time, we work the whole body at the same time," Holt said.

Most of Holt's clients actually do lose weight on the program, and while some clients look like they've never missed a day of exercise, others have come with their own issues.

"This is the truth, I was gonna go for liposuction, tummy tuck, the works. I said, 'Stephen, this is my last hope,'" 3-4-5 patron Debbie Garden said.

I'm in my "mid 40s, a hysterectomy put me in early menopause. You know you're gonna go downhill, and I started seeing it happen to me," 3-4-5 patron Kay Senft said.

But not anymore. Two years with Holt have Senft in tip-top shape and Garden has noticed a change in her waistline.

Many people want to lose weight, but not everyone finds success. Have you found success? If so, how? What would you suggest?

Be sure to tune in to WBAL-TV 11 News at 5 all this week for the next Weight Loss Week story!

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and WBAL-TV 11 News for the latest health updates.