Treadmill

One of the things that kept me going over the years was imagining a Kathie Lee Gifford interview with Saddam Hussein. ("Wow, you look great! Did you lose weight? C'mon, let's hear it for the Butcher of Baghdad!") Now, in the wake of her stunning on-air announcement yesterday that she's leaving "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" when her contract expires this summer, the possibility of her chatting up the Iraqi strongman ("Is that a new sidearm? It's gorgeous!") seems remote. But a guy can dream, can't he?

Debbie Katz works at a health club surrounded by more than 100 cardiovascular machines. She could hop on a stair climber or elliptical trainer, pedal a recumbent bike or throw a few jabs in a kick-boxing class. But getting a workout in is not that easy. "I just don't have time to do as much as I want to do," says Katz, a membership coordinator at LifeBridge in Pikesville. At the end of the workday, she wants to be in her Owings Mills home with her two teen-age children, not in the gym. Several weeks ago, she decided to bring her workouts home.

They cover endless miles, uphill and down, yet they go nowhere. Treadmill trackers. And they are multiplying because you don't have to learn any new skills to exercise on a treadmill, and the machines are less stressful on joints and muscles than many other fitness gadgets.According to the Fitness Products Council and American Sports Data Inc.:* From 1996 to 1997, sales of treadmills for home use alone boosted sales of fitness equipment by 14 percent, to more than $3 billion.* Treadmills accounted for $1.6 billion in consumer spending in 1997, compared to $725 million in 1996.

The U.S. surgeon general recommends sedentary people try to burn at least 150 calories a day to stay healthy. The amount of exercise it would take for a 150-pound person to meet that requirement would include:Walk on a treadmill: 4 mph, 32 minutesJog slowly on a treadmill: 5 mph, 18 minutesRide a stationary bike with moderate resistance: 10 mph, 22 minutesWork on a stair-climbing machine: moderate pace, 21 minutesWash and wax your car: 45-60 minutesRake leaves:...

Treadmill test endorsement scanted factsYour paper's contribution to the recent media blitz intended to soften the blow of the treadmill emissions test is disappointing, given your perpetuation of bad "facts" on which the blitz relies and on which misinformed individuals and organizations have chosen to support the test.I'll give but two examples:Check the math. We are told (in American Lung Association commercials) that the test will reduce emissions by 71 tons per day. We are also told by officials (as quoted in The Sun on Sept.

From Hagerstown to Grasonville, motorists who ventured into vehicle emissions testing centers yesterday discovered their universe had changed.The good news: No waiting, at least not on the first day of mandatory dynamometer testing. The bad news: Check out those last three words.For the first time, car owners in Baltimore and 13 counties had no choice but to confront the hotly debated treadmill test so touted by environmentalists and dreaded by talk show hosts and car enthusiasts.They watched in glass-enclosed waiting rooms as cheerful strangers took their keys and drove their cars on rollers at speeds equivalent to 55 mph.For some it was an annoyance.

STARTING TOMORROW, most vehicle owners in the state must put their automobiles through a controversial treadmill test (the dynamometer) as part of the required two-year emissions inspection program. Previously, the treadmill test had been voluntary. Yet judging from the half-million motorists who have already experienced the dynamometer, it's no big deal.The chief beneficiaries of this change will be all who breathe in the state. The very young, the elderly and the 600,000 Marylanders with respiratory problems are most vulnerable to auto-caused smog.

After surviving its own treadmill of political debate and performance problems for nearly three years, a stricter vehicle emissions test is about to become mandatory in Maryland.Drivers, here's fair warning: Beginning Wednesday, the first 25,000 notices will start showing up in the mail summoning cars and light trucks to one of 19 state-owned centers for required dynamometer testing.Unlike the traditional tailpipe test, which has been standard in Maryland since 1984, cars will be driven on a treadmill by an attendant.

Two months after the controversial treadmill-style emissions test became mandatory, state officials yesterday tuned up the testing process, promising motorists a smoother ride -- and continuing the $150 limit on emission-related repairs.Among the Motor Vehicle Administration's changes, slated to be in place after Oct. 1, are a lift bar to allow cars a nearly bump-free entrance to the treadmill, a television monitor illustrating the test and a personal "greeter" to explain the exam.Also, those age 70 and over who drive no more than 5,000 miles a year will be exempt from the $12 emissions test -- treadmill or tailpipe -- that must be performed on 2.1 million vehicles every two years.

PREDICTING THE issues that will dominate next year's state elections at this early stage is akin to peering into a crystal ball. It is too soon to know what hot-button items will surface.Gov. Parris N. Glendening hopes that no burning controversies emerge, that he can campaign on a ''Happy Days Are Here Again'' theme, touting his successes, in an era of prosperity, on education, economic development and planning for the future (''Smart Growth'').He also intends to make sure every voter knows he is the true anti-gambling candidate, while the rest of the field is on the fence -- or tacitly in cahoots with casino interests.