Celebrating Jane Fonda and Her First Workout Video
Jane Fonda’s first workout video came out in 1982. (Photo: Getty)
Exactly 33 years ago, Jane Fonda shimmied, grapevined, and shook up the world of fitness (and fashion) with her first workout video. Even before she invaded the VCRs (videocassette recorders for anyone born after 1996) of America with her legwarmers and bodysuits, she was already running her own Beverly Hills fitness studio and had published her first book, Jane Fonda’s Workout Book. The book was #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers list for two years, and was the reason for the creation of a new How-To category. “It was shameful: a fitness book ahead of Philip Roth or Joan Didion, I mean come on,” Fonda once wrote.
Jane Fonda in the ‘60s. (Photo: Getty)
The video was an even bigger hit. The original Jane Fonda’s Workout is, to this day, the top-selling video of all time at 17 million copies. Yahoo Beauty editor Sara Bliss remembers joining her mother and her mother’s friends in their weekly Jane Fonda workout sessions at home. “It was such a big deal because she made working out into something fun and social you could do at home,” she says. “Doing Jane,” as it was called, was a wildfire phenomenon that would be dubbed “viral” these days. “When your voice and image are coming into someone’s living room (or mud hut) every day, via video or on a record, you become part of people’s lives in a personal way, different from movie stars on the big screen,” Fonda reflected in her memoir, My Life So Far.
Jane Fonda as a model and actress. (Photo: Getty)
The process of producing the first video, however, was filled with hesitations and obstacles. She recalls, “I’m an actor, I thought. It would look foolish for me to be exercising on camera.” It was definitely much harder of an endeavor than she anticipated—but her film career was ultimately helpful with creating entertaining videos that charmed and inspired at-home viewers. “First of all, because everything on the video would be reversed for the viewer, every time I wanted them to move right I’d have to say left, and all this while executing the moves correctly and trying not to seem breathless—on a concrete studio floor never designed for aerobics,” she writes. She was also committed to diversity in her videos so that home viewers would feel included: “We had racial diversity and men as well as women, some young, some older, some slim, and some not so slim,” she writes. These days, boutique fitness studios charge $35 for a 45-minute sweat session, but Fonda was bringing the party home at a very affordable price range to Americans who did not want to go to the gym for one reason or another. You didn’t even have to wear a leotard. (Nowadays, Lululemon is de rigueur at the trendiest gyms.)
Jane Fonda still turning heads on the red carpet. (Photo: Getty)
Writer Rebecca Harrington, who wrote about doing the Jane Fonda Workout for a week, explained that the workout was extremely popular in the ‘80s because back then, “most gyms were primarily for men.” There was a “Jane” for every style—this wasn’t a staid aerobics movement. Fonda mixed music from country, Latin, bluegrass, and even Scottish jigs, and she choreographed accordingly. Sometimes, she’d rock fishnets and moto leather jackets in her videos (though we can’t fathom sweating on suede), one of which was set on a roof at night.
“As leg warmers come in and out of fashion, Women know it’s okay to have muscles, and the Fitness Industry is a thriving international business,” she wrote on her blog in 2012. The world has changed drastically since 1982, and while Fonda is no longer making tapes, you can still find her impact in aerobics studios across the country, from Jazzercise to Tracy Anderson Method, and in the women, young and old, who shimmy and shake on their way to changing the world.
Related:
My Magical Week of Working Out With Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda Battles the Friend Zone and Toxic Masculinity in One Speech
