FITNESS TEACHERS PUMP UP THE WILL; READERS CREDIT THEIR FAVORITE INSTRUCTORS WITH KEEPING THEM MOTIVATED TO WORK OUT.

Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News Staff Writer

Ah, those well-intentioned New Year's resolutions. Slim down, shape up, stop this or start that.

Remember those heartfelt promises? Come on, it was only a few weeks ago.

If your resolve to work out every day is waning, if the fruitcake you thought you'd never eat looks tempting, here's a few folks who can knock you out of the midwinter doldrums.

More than 200 readers wrote to tell us about their favorite aerobics instructors, personal trainers, yoga gurus and karate senseis.

Across the board, these motivators shared the ability to bring out the best in their students. Not only do they know an ab from an abductor, these motivators encourage, cajole and push - all while showing they truly care.

Candace Murphy

Carol Davis considered herself a successful woman. She raised two children, and founded her own marketing research firm.

But while juggling motherhood, wifehood and a business, ``I neglected my health for so long,'' Davis said.

The 58-year-old Calabasas woman suffered through bouts of osteoarthritic pain in her knees that were so bad she needed a cane to walk.

Three months after signing up for Candace Murphy's water exercise class, the pain is gone.

``I'm so proud of myself because this is the first exercise I've ever done,'' Davis said. ``I can do a quarter-million-dollar project, and the client is pleased, but I don't feel as good as when Candace says, `You got your toe out of the water!' ''

Murphy, 35, is a certified aquatics instructor who teaches water-exercise classes to small groups in a pool in the back yard of her Woodland Hills home. Water exercise provides many of the benefits of land-based workouts - muscle toning, increased flexibility and aerobic conditioning - without the stress on the joints.

``When you're in the water, you're in a whole other world,'' Murphy said. ``It's so fabulous.

``I don't let my students give up. I am always aware of what they're doing and how they're doing it.''

For nearly an hour, Murphy led a class of three doing tummy tucks, leg raises and running in place.

They wore wet suits and rubber shoes, and they cracked up when Murphy had them straddle a woggle - a noodle-shaped plastic foam floatation device.

Candace ``makes us all feel like stars,'' said Patricia Beeman, 56, of Canoga Park.

Call [phone] for information about Candace Murphy's Privacy Plus. Cost: $13 a class; package rates available.

Garba Onadja

Like so many women, Mitra Ahmadian, 34, hated her hips and thighs.

So she started using a camouflage technique that was almost as good as loose-fitting clothes and control top pantyhose.

She'd wrap her sweater around her waist.

But since she started doing martial arts with Garba Onadja - ``Mr. G'' to his students - the Agoura Hills mother of two let the sweater slip away.

``I don't feel embarrassed anymore,'' Ahmadian said. ``I feel that I don't need to be on a diet anymore. He makes me feel good about myself.''

Onadja, 33, is a personal trainer and master of Sajora-Karate, a form of martial arts that blends combat techniques of Zulu warriors, Senegalese wrestlers and Masai and Bororo shepherds.

``Sajora-Karate capitalizes on the students' strengths and minimizes his weaknesses,'' Onadja said.

``Sajora'' has several meanings in the African language, Zarma, including ``survival,'' ``in the jungle,'' and ``nature.''

Sajora-Karate is based on a philosophy of learning to respect not only Mother Nature but an individual's nature.

Students earn titles such as elephant, lion, cheetah, black panther and leopard. The elephant symbolizes memory, wisdom and nonaggressiveness. The lion symbolizes leadership and an imposing, well-developed physique.

Onadja, a member of Niger's Olympic tae kwon do team in 1988, immigrated to Los Angeles six years ago to study business at Los Angeles Pierce College. He opened the studio in Agoura Hills two years ago.

``The common question people ask me is: `How long would it take me to get a result?' '' he said. ``I tell them they will feel better inside first. They will feel more energetic. Then, as they keep going, they will start seeing some definition on the outside.''

Sajora Club is located at 5027 Kanan Road in Agoura Hills. Call [phone] for information. Cost is $50 an hour for personal training, $79 a month for three classes a week of martial arts; package rates available.

Idrea Lippman

Idrea Lippman has an uncanny ability when she steps to the front of her aerobics class - making a packed room of women roar with self-approval while seeing their backsides in the mirror.

``I've got it! I own it! It's mine!'' chanted Lippman and the 60 women who packed a room in Women Only fitness club in Studio City on a recent morning.

Lippman isn't your typical aerobics instructor. She's 44 years old, 200 pounds, a size 18.

Neither is she your typical woman. Her thighs don't look like those of a runway model, but she's not beset with self-loathing.

``I've been a fat person all my life. I am round and pink and I have a magnificent body,'' Lippman said. ``Women have been programmed to think they're never good enough because they're not perfection. I don't expect women to change overnight. But a lot of women have ... learned how to accept themselves for who they are and not get depressed about what they're not.''

Lippman wasn't always so self-assured. Growing up, she volunteered to collect dirty uniforms rather than squeeze into short shorts and a skimpy white T-shirt during gym class.

After the birth of her son 17 years ago, Lippman's weight ballooned to 270 pounds. Feeling sluggish, she started taking classes with Richard Simmons and eventually struck out on her own to teach.

``Large women think if I can do it, they can do it. Thin women think if I can do it, they can do it,'' said Lippman, owner of Great Changes, a plus-size clothing boutique in North Hollywood. ``I accept all women completely. And in return, they accept me.''

The classes are part bawdy humor, part woman-power cheers and part no-nonsense sweat. Low-impact aerobics to fast-driving music is mixed with the Electric Slide and an Ethel Merman tune.

And each class ends with Idrea leading the woman in the refrain: ``Today ... I am ... enough ... the way ... I am.''

Women Only is located at 4070 Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Studio City. Call [phone] for information. Cost: $10 a class for nonmembers.

Pat Saranow

The Macarena gave way to a Polish folk song. Without missing a beat, a couple of dozen senior citizens joined hands, formed a circle and glided around the dance, er, gym floor.

The leader of this group of energetic older folks is Pat Saranow, whose exercise classes at the Robert M. Wilkinson Multi-Purpose Senior Center in Northridge, the West Valley Jewish Community Center in Canoga Park and Oakwood Apartments in Woodland Hills consistently draw more than 50 men and women.

``She is a beautiful woman, not only in looks, but in the way she responds to seniors and their needs,'' said Anne Schulman, 75, of Encino. ``She makes exercise fun.''

At a recent class, Saranow chatted nonstop about the Lakers game, the coming millennium and the health benefits of walking as she led the class in a half-hour of floor exercises and stretching.

Next came upper-body strengthening using elastic bands as an alternative to weights. The last portion of the class was deep knee-bends, leg lifts and more stretching using chairs for balance.

Medical experts say exercise can help slow the aging process by improving cardiovascular fitness and slowing osteoporosis.

``They see they are doing themselves some good and are taking responsibility for their own health and well-being,'' Saranow said of her students. ``They see they can live more comfortably and can be independent longer if they are strong.

``The stereotype of the older, weak, debilitated person is untrue for most,'' Saranow said. ``I hope to keep people as healthy as they can.''

Saranow, 61, who has three children and three grandchildren, began teaching exercise classes designed for senior citizens 20 years ago as part of the Los Angeles Unified School District's adult education division.

``There are a lot of older people who are alone,'' Saranow said. ``Not only does this give them a physiological boost, but a social experience.''

Pat Saranow teaches in three locations. To attend her class at the Oakwood Apartments, 22222 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Mondays, call [phone] for information. For her class at the West Valley Jewish Community Center, 22622 Van Owen St., West Hills from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays, call [phone]. To join the group she teaches at the Robert M. Wilkinson Multi-Purpose Senior Center, 8956 Van Alden Ave., Northridge, from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, call [phone]. All classes are free.

Billy Blanks 

You want to talk about dedication? On New Year's Eve, while most of the world was sipping cocktails in their party dresses and duds, about 50 hard-core athletes congregated in Billy Blanks' World Training Center in Sherman Oaks for a marathon, two-hour workout.

At the stroke of midnight, they donned hats, blew plastic horns and whistles, and then - ``we got right back into the workout,'' said their instructor, Billy Blanks.

Blanks, 42, is a 6-foot-1, 170-pound karate black belt with a shaved head and a no-nonsense attitude about working out. He is the creator of tae bo aerobics, an edgy fitness regime that combines hip-hop and techno music with kickboxing, dance and aerobics moves for a knockout workout.

For a solid hour on most days, his students grunt and grimace, red-faced and sweating, stabbing at the air with clenched fists in a room that gets so hot the windows fog.

Other trainers ``tell people, `Give me two weeks and I'll get you in shape,' '' Blanks said. ``I tell them the truth. When it comes down to it, they have to go to the gym and do the hard work.''

His class has gotten so popular - he has about 2,000 regulars - that the fire marshal threatened to shut him down if he continued to pack more than 50 people into the gym at a time. Clients even show up an hour early to make sure they get a spot.

To solve that problem, Blanks is moving next month to a new location in Sherman Oaks with twice the square footage.

Blanks, a seven-time World Karate champion, came to Los Angeles in 1990 from Erie, Pa., to work as a bodyguard for celebrities and later opened the gym.

As he gained more clients, Blanks assembled a tight-knit staff that includes family and friends: Debi Beebe, a mother of two; Kristin Dollard, 25, who lost 55 pounds training at the gym before she became an instructor; Deon Edwards, 24; Michael Blanks (his brother), 26; Irene Blanks (his sister), 34; Shellie Blanks (his daughter), 24; and John Arthur, 50.

Six days a week, the staff begins training at 5 a.m. for two-plus hours of weight lifting, tae bo or running.

And on Sunday, they rest.

Billy Blanks' World Training Gym, 14328 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks, is open Monday to Saturday. Hours vary. Classes are offered throughout the day. Call [phone] for information. Cost: $10 a class; package rates available.

Meet more who inspire our readers

Here are a few more fitness motivators who inspired lots of fan mail:

Steven Shohoudy, personal trainer at Bally Total Fitness in Chatsworth: ``Steven is such a caring person. He is not only my personal trainer ... (but) my friend and part of my soul,'' said Eleanor Hogains, 32, of Palmdale.

John White, exercise instructor at the Palmdale Senior Center: ``John introduces new routines frequently. Sometimes we think the new steps are impossible. John says, `Don't worry, we'll keep practicing. You'll get it ... you always do

' His belief in us gives us the confidence to overcome doubt,'' said Sylvia Jones, 75, a member of Fit Over Fifty, a group of seniors at the center.

Mike Bell, yoga teacher at Pierce College in Woodland Hills: ``I've been a contractor for 20 years, and my body has stiffened up from the abuse I've given it. I have been amazed at the results yoga has given to me ... Mike Bell ... will come by and give an extra push in the right direction, or from across the room he will call (me) by name and say, `Good job,' '' wrote Roger Taylor, 43, of Winnetka.

Marsha Accomazzo, yoga teacher at Prema Vikara Yoga Center in Northridge and Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City: ``Marsha Accomazzo doesn't motivate her students with pressure and pushing. She leads her class with encouragement and positive reinforcement,'' said Kay Baur of Northridge.

CAPTION(S):

8 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) MAKE ME!

READERS PICK THE VALLEY'S MOST MOTIVATING FITNESS INSTRUCTORS (Garba Onadja)

(2) ONADJA

David Sprague/Daily News

(3) A smiling Candace Murphy leads her class through water aerobics in her Woodland Hills pool.

(4) MURPHY

David R. Crane/Daily News

(5) ``The stereotype of the older, weak, debilitated person is untrue for most,'' said Pat Saranow, leading an aerobics class for seniors in Northridge.

(6) Pat Saranow encourages seniors to stretch for life.

Evan Yee/Daily News

(7) Billy Banks teaches tae bo aerobics, a combination of martial arts, kickboxing and low-impact aerobics, at his Sherman Oaks studio.

(8) Aerobics instructor Idrea Lippman makes her students feel good about their shapes.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News

Box: Meet more who inspire our readers (See Text)