Nice Rack

In the continuing quest for the perfect bod comes another torture -- er, fitness device: Gyrotonic. The Pilates-like exercise machine that's twisted and pulled such celebs as Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler, Andrew McCarthy, and Bernadette Peters is catching on with fitness buffs in specialized studios across the country. ''Gyrotonic is multidimensional,'' says Matt Aversa, managing director and master trainer at the Root Awakening studio in Milford, Pa. ''It takes the body through multiple planes of space...so you're working muscles, bones, ligaments.'' Developed in the 1980s by Romanian dancer Juliu Horvath, the machine -- a series of pulleys and levers -- also looks just a little like a medieval rack. ''That's some people's reaction,'' laughs Aversa. ''But then you get on it, and it actually does the opposite. A contemporary life-giving chamber.''