Sick of at
The at-home workout videos many have come to rely upon during social distancing often fit the same mold: pack as much high-intensity, fat "torching" or "blasting" exercise as possible into as little time as possible.
It's effective, and it's short — but often, it's miserable. The videos themselves advertise this as a good thing, with descriptors like "brutal" beckoning in the YouTube titles.
It doesn't have to be this way. While HIIT workouts are a popular way to efficiently build muscle and burn calories, physicians just recommend 30 minutes a day of moderate aerobic exercise to stay healthy.
So on days where you don't feel like torturing yourself with 30 minutes of "killer" intensity, might we suggest an alternative? Try out a leotarded, sparkly, refreshingly hilarious retro fitness video.
Jazzercise back in the day was a colorful affair.Credit: Jazzercise, inc.The workout videos of the '80s and early '90s that we would call "retro" today are mostly about getting your heart pumping, and maybe doing some light strength training while also having fun. The bright leggings, celebrity hosts, and relentless positivity was a way to introduce a new legion of working women to the idea that being active was good for you. More problematically, they were also unabashedly positioned as a way to lose fat and get slim.
"In these relatively early days of the fitness industry, most popular workouts were gentler and easier than what we see today," Danielle Friedman, a journalist currently working on a book about the history of women's fitness, told Mashable. "But as the science of exercise evolved, working out itself has become more of a science, and with that seriousness, it’s been stripped of some of the fun."
Watching retro workout videos today, the concept of "fun" stands out as alien almost as strongly as the neon leotards. One early Jazzercise video is set to a custom funky-meets-jazzy muzak-ish song. While founder Judi Sheppard Missett leads her smiling class in box steps and knee kicks, the refrain sung over and over in the song is "Jazzercise it... having the time of your life!"
"In the early 1980s, most women still didn't work out—for generations they had been told that vigorous exercise was 'unfeminine,'" Friedman said "Fitness gurus needed a way to make working out feel approachable, aspirational, and maybe even a little glamorous, since so many adult women had been raised to believe they weren’t physically gifted or natural athletes. They accomplished this by featuring celebrities, upbeat music, and a laid-back, welcoming vibe that said 'look how much fun we’re having!'"
The idea that an at-home workout could be fun is something some of us — missing the positive camaraderie of the gym or a workout class — might find desperately tantalizing. Yes, "fun" dance workouts like Zumba or hip hop exist on YouTube. But they're still a means to an end, not an experience in and of themself.
Luckily for us, a trove of retro workout videos live on YouTube. For those days when you just want to get your heart pumping, and maybe have a laugh while you're at it, Jane Fonda or Richard Simmons might just be the quarantine teacher you're looking for.
Here are some recommendations for working out, '80s style.
1. Jazzercise
We would be remiss if we didn't start with the VHS workout queen herself: a Judi Sheppard Missett Jazzercise video. Friedman attributes the aerobics "explosion" in part to Sheppard Missett's influence.
Today, led by Sheppard Missett and her daughter, Shanna Missett Nelson, Jazzercise, Inc. is still going strong. In 2019, the brand launched Jazzercise On Demand, a subscription fitness service which features contemporary workout videos — with plenty of lower impact dance, too.
"So much of Jazzercise, the workout, has changed over the years!" Missett Nelson said. "We’ve outlasted 51 years of fitness trends because we've adapted to the times and modernized throughout the decades."
I worked up a sweat doing a 20 minute dance video on contemporary Jazzercise, while also giggling at the silliness of hip thrusting in my living room. Then I compared it to a Jazzercise classic, which is a different, riotous beast of high kicks and "easy does it!" positivity altogether. Both were a refreshing change.
2. Richard Simmons
Simmons is a beloved workout coach for the energy and acceptance he brings to his workouts. A popular series is Simmons' Sweatin' To the Oldiesworkout videos, which feature dancers of all shapes and sizes boppin' to 1960s pop-rock.
Dance along if you can take the suspense of watching whether or not Simmons' colorful short shorts will adequately do their job.
3. Jane Fonda
While Sir Mix-A-Lot might not approve of Jane Fonda's fat-burning methods, Fonda is *the* icon of celebrity home fitness.
Fonda and her larger-than-life fitness image.Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty ImagesHer original 1982 workout tape has sold more than 17 million copies, and she helped launch the home video industry, whole hog, according to Friedman:
Workout videos basically birthed the home video industry. In the years after VHS was introduced in 1977, few people owned VCRs, which were expensive, and most people weren’t yet willing to shell out a lot of money just to be able to rewatch their favorite movie. But when Jane Fonda released her first home workout video in 1982, suddenly, consumers had an incentive to purchase home video hardware.
You can find some of Fonda's original videos on YouTube, as well as some more contemporary videos geared towards older people.
4. Tammilee Webb
The woman known for creating the "buns of steel" routine certainly puts hers on display. Come to this grainy workout video for the aerobics and glute squeezes. Stay for the thong leotards.
5. Fabio Fitness
The most confusing thing about Fabio videos are why there appears to be a decoupaged poster of the romance novel model turned I Can't Believe It's Not Butter commercial actor in the background of his own fitness video.
Fabio and an unidentified (lucky) woman.Credit: Catherine McGann/Getty ImagesFabio's routines are more about weight training than aerobics. But at least a few minutes of copying Fabio's moves are, um, worth the watch.
6. Rita Moreno
Moreno had plenty of practice for her aerobics routines.Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty ImagesThe iconic West Side Storyactress was another celebrity to get in on the '80s aerobics home fitness video trend. Her positive presence and stellar moves make Rita Moreno: Now You Can! videos a standout.
"Exercise lifts the blues, it's therapeutic — and this I guarantee!" she begins her video.
Thanks Rita!!
7. Debbie Reynolds
Reynolds starts her video with a devastating burn low-key aimed at Jazzercise, Jane Fonda, and the rest of the VHS celeb cohort. She says she never expected to make a workout video, but she basically didn't like anyone else's, so she had to make one herself. Debbie, we love to see it.
Debbie stayin' fit!Credit: JOHN T. BARR/AFP via Getty ImagesThere is truly no cure for the quarantine blues like dancing along with a burgundy leotard-clad Debbie Reynolds while she's boosting your self confidence with positive aphorisms. Plus, the video contains this beautiful moment of deep friendship.
Find your best leotard and get movin'.
(责任编辑:资讯)
-
50 Years Later: The Revolutionary 8008 Microprocessor
Guest author Ken Shirriff is a Silicon Valley-based computer enthusiast who enjoys reverse-engineeri ...[详细] -
平安人寿青岛分公司:举办“奋进新征程,喜迎二十大”学习强国达人赛
为激励全体党员干部奋发有为,共同推动公司加快发展,早日实现战略转型,以实际行动迎接党的二十大胜利召开,值此平安成立34周年之际,平安人寿青岛分公司于司庆月期间组织全体党员、入党发展人员开展&ldquo ...[详细] -
助力健康中国战略,34周年司庆之际平安人寿开展慢病帮扶公益行动
日前,响应“健康中国”战略,中国红十字基金会发起中国红项目。值中国平安34周年司庆之际,平安人寿作为该公益项目的重要参与方,将走进社区开展慢病帮扶公益行动,用切实行动回馈社会。 ...[详细] -
“这个荣誉是属于中国,属于青岛的。”刚刚从世锦赛赛场载誉归来的韩广美对记者说。11月16日,2019世界综合格斗(MMA)锦标赛于巴林顺利落下帷幕,来自鑫江国际搏击俱乐部的韩广 ...[详细]
-
Alcaraz, Sinner survive US Open wobbles
NEW YORK:Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz survived US Open first round wobbles on Tuesday to stay on ...[详细] -
盖钧镒院士:发展南方大豆种业,推进“一带一路”国际合作_南方+_南方plus我国曾经是大豆出口国,大豆产量曾居世界第一,但随着美洲诸国大豆产量跃升,1996年之后,我国逐渐成为世界上最大的大豆进口国。 ...[详细]
-
銆€銆€涓浗灞变笢缃?鎰熺煡灞变笢6鏈?鏃ヨ 鏃ュ墠锛屽競鍗楀尯鎺ㄥ嚭“娓镐笘鐣屾渶缇庢捣婀撅紝浣忔椂灏氱編涓藉競鍗?rdquo;淇冩秷璐逛笓椤硅鍔紝鍔╁姏娑堣垂鍗囩骇銆傝浜虹溂 ...[详细]
-
夜太美!高州根子镇柏桥村换上“限定款”年味夜市皮肤了_南方+_南方plus2月1日晚,位于广东省高州市根子镇柏桥村的夜市开张了。夜幕还未降临,各商户已经准备就绪,向来往游客敞开热情的怀抱,等待着游客们 ...[详细]
-
“笋货”上市采购旺!清远西牛麻竹笋迎秋季尝鲜热_南方+_南方plus西牛麻竹笋,尝鲜正当时!进入八月以来,清远英德的西牛麻竹笋加工企业正加足马力迎接上市旺季。素有“蔬中第一珍”之誉的西牛麻竹笋正次第拔 ...[详细]
-
中国山东网-感知山东6月10日讯 超硬磨具被誉为先进制造领域不可或缺的“工业牙齿”。航空航天、国防军工以及光伏与电子信息等领域里的各种高难材料加工难题,在它面前都能迎刃而解。然 ...[详细]