Thank You Jane Fonda (Jack Lalanne too!)

In the last few months, I have been trying to replace some of my old VHS workouts with DVD versions. Many of the older classic workouts are starting to emerge on DVD. One of the first set of classics to make it's way to the world of DVD is some of the Jane Fonda workouts. Her Personal Trainer Series is available on one DVD as opposed to the 3 VHS tapes that it was originally released on. Two more of her workouts, The Complete Workout and Stress Reduction Program, are also available on one DVD.

If you are not a fan of Jane Fonda's workouts then you may not find this all that exciting. The reason I even thought about this is that I have been replacing my Kathy Smith VHS workouts as they are released on DVD. Kathy is releasing a series of classic workouts also. I just purchased her "Fat Burning Classics" which consists of 3 of her older workouts, Body Basics, Winning Workout and Fat Burning Workout. Fat Burning Workout is one of my personal favorites which is the reason I purchased this one.

I never owned Body Basics so I decided to try this one out last weekend. The workout consists of 20 minutes of low impact aerobics plus some lower body and ab toning done on a mat. The workout was fun to do and brought some memories of my own fitness classes back in the early 80's. Kathy did a lot of stretches that we referred to as "bouncing the stretch". This was quite normal back in the day but as fitness experts started to focus on safety, stretches were done as "static stretches" which was slower and more controlled. The workout was fun and the background exercisers were dressed in the typical 80s style aerobic gear, leg warmers and all. I recognized the style of aerobic music used in videos during that time.

I think my first experience with any type of fitness was watching my mother back in the late 50s and early 60s, doing the exercises on the Jack Lalanne Show. Many of the exercises that were done in the fitness shows and videos are ones that Jack did himself years before. Many of his exercises involved the use of a chair for balance and this is still done today. In fact, one of today's most popular fitness icons got her start on the Jack Lalane show. I am referring to Denise Austin.

Probably the first aerobics video released was Jane Fonda's Workout. It featured aerobic moves and floor work led by Jane as the instructor. This workout came under a lot of scrutiny at the time it was released. Jane has no formal fitness training and many of the moves that she did in the workout were considered unsafe even for those times.

The release of Jane's workout video eventually spawned the release of workouts by instructors who had a fitness education, including Kathy Smith and Denise Austin. Olivie Newton John's video to the song "Physical" also made a huge contribution to the aerobics move back in the 1980s. Many other celebrities followed suit and released workouts of their own. Jane released more workouts with the help of trained fitness professionals which helped to make her workouts more credible and safer.

The whole fitness industry was on a roll. Different aerobic dance classes were emerging all over such as Dance Fit and Jazzercise. Fitness clubs began to multiply offering their own version of aerobics classes. Early morning TV had several aerobics shows for exercise enthusiasts. Some of my favorite shows included Joannie Greggains show and Bodies in Motion with Gilad who had a wonderful low impact form of the popular aerobics.

As more videos and more classes appeared, there became a need to certify people who taught these classes. Several organizations began to offer classes to certify new instructors. Exercise and class design was an important emphasis as well as the need for some basic physiology and exercise safety. Eventually, fitness clubs required that their instructors go through some sort of certification along with CPR and basic first aid.

As more safety was introduced to the classes, many of the exercises that were done in the classes had to either be modified or completely replaced. The full sit up was no longer the exercise of choice for abs and was replaced by the ab crunch. Many of the exercises done with straight legs were modified to bend both legs or one leg to help protect the lower back. Safety is an ongoing process so exercises are constantly evolving.

The typical aerobics classes were starting to become a bit boring and it had also become a realization that the addition of strength training was essential to fitness. Many instructors started using ankle and wrist weights and light dumbbells in their classes. Another fitness group called "The Firm" started a form of exercise called "aerobic weight training". This involved some the traditional aerobic dance moves but included the use of weights and a step in the workouts. Women were now starting to see some definition and feel stronger with the use of weights.

In my class, it was difficult to ask everyone to bring weights so I found that the use of resistance bands had similar results and they were much lighter. The people in my class had a combination of weights and bands for resistance depending on their personal choice.

Moving on to the 90s we had another evolution in fitness. Thanks to another fitness icon, Billy Blanks, cardio kickboxing became the popular class to take. Billy's Tae Bo was criticized for too many repetitions of his moves in the same way that Jane was for her first workout. But Billy had a lot of followers and Billy listened to his critics to make the necessary changes. Again, other instructors followed suit and released kickbox workouts of their own.

The kickbox movement seemed to die down a bit in the late 90s and early 2000s. This was the time when mind body workouts became very popular. Yoga has always been around but it seemed to become very popular at this time. Another form of exercise that has been around for years seemed to become very popular. Pilates was "introduced" to the world by Mari Winsor. Of course, pilates has been around for a very long time and the Stott group from Toronto has offered classes for a long time but to the world this was a new form of exercise. This can be attributed to the emergence of the infomercial which I spoke of at an earlier date.

Today, the fitness industry has so much to offer. Fitness clubs have moved to offering their clients personal trainers rather than fitness instructors. Workouts known as fusion workouts are now available to people. Fusion workouts are a blend of mind body workouts with martial arts inspired workouts. Bootcamp workouts are available which incorporate cardio, strength, plyometric moves (jumping jacks, burpies, etc). There are yoga and pilates blends available and many pilates workouts incorporate the use of weights and resistance bands. Even the Firm group has come up with a series of workouts that do not include a step and include the use of resistance bands in place of their more traditional weights. Turbo Jam offers kickbox workouts blended with dance moves. Personal trainers can come to your house or you can visit them in a gym. You can belong to fitness club or you can set up a home gym. There is a video for just about anything that you choose to do. With all of these options open to us why are we still as unhealthy as we are?

Exercise has always been here. It has changed in the various forms over the years. I remember doing a lot of running in high school and a lot of calisthenics. As the aerobics move, came about we did less running and more dancing. Calisthenics and running were left for the athletes. We moved on to doing aerobics on steps and eventually picking up weights. Soon we were out there kicking and punching. We then went back to the floor for some stretching and to work our core. We also found that balls were not just for throwing and balance was not just for scales. Bootcamp is no longer somewhere that the military goes for basic training. Fusion is no longer a term just used in physics.

We have come full circle in the fitness industry and the huge evolution can be attributed to such fitness icons as Jane Fonda, Denise Austin, Kathy Smith, Billy Blanks, Cathe Friedrich, The Firm, Beachbody, Joseph Pilates, anyone that I am forgetting and yes, Jack Lallane. Thank you all!