The Jane Fonda Workout & Me
or How I Learned to Love the Unhinged Aerobics Craze of the 80s
First—
Sorry for the inadvertent break in November. I have somehow managed to stay just as busy in quarantine as I was out of quarantine (a fact which has caused my therapist to mention several times, “you’re my busiest client during this pandemic” and has given me literal pause lol), and unfortunately that remains the case in December. I have just as much going on in these weeks leading up to the holidays as I normally do but with exactly none of the fun, festive parties, movie-going, or after-work drinks with friends.
(sigh) Late Capitalism blows. And so does America’s complete botching of our pandemic response.
But that brings me to my next point: I’m also doing significantly less to almost no running around the City every day. Without walking several miles every day for most of this year (along with bike riding etc), the sedentary nature of the pandemic has really affected my body. I am grateful to have stayed healthy all year, but I would be lying if I said I was happy about how sluggish I’ve felt—how winded I am now schlepping on/off the subway to doctors appointments in the City, how soft around the edges I feel. I am not as physically sharp as I was in my twenties, which is a natural part of aging, but I’m only 32 and a relatively active person, and it’s been tough not to take this change in my body like some kind of weird failure even though it’s not whatsoever. But years spent in dance classes, auditions, and as a performer in general has told me my body should look a certain way—it’s hard to shake that even in a traumatic global pandemic. And yes, I am aware how fucked up that is. Trust that I have discussed it with my therapist, and I believe it’s a conversation that needs to happen on a much larger level.
If anything, the pandemic has forced me to reckon with how much I used all that busyness—like running from thing to thing all over the City—as a way to avoid other things like feelings. I can say with absolute certainty that many of the times I have been at my thinnest in recent years, I have been deeply unhappy in other ways. I am personally very happy now, and untangling that from my body is something I continue working on.
Still, I feel better when I’m moving—that’s been true my whole life—so I’ve spent the better part of this year figuring out how to do that when I’m supposed to stay in my little apartment in my little Queens neighborhood. I’m an avid bike rider, but as it gets colder, bike riding holds less appeal. I tried an app my therapist recommended that counts down each workout, and I liked that okay for awhile—pairing it with Lady Gaga’s Chromatica album, which I’ve listened to repeatedly this year—but then I grew bored with that too.
And that’s when my two best girlfriends—people I’d normally be having the aforementioned holiday drinks with—asked, “What about the Jane Fonda Workout?” during one of our many frenzied group text sessions.
I love Jane Fonda. I never fully understood the ire surrounding her when I was growing up in the conservative Midwest—that is, until I moved to New York after college, became even more liberal, expanded my circle, and realized Jane was right about basically everything she had ever politically advocated for, and the ONE thing people still shit on her for she apologized for multiple times.
And yet when I recently searched for “Jane Fonda mugshot ornaments” on Zazzle, stupid “Hanoi Jane” or “Traitor Jane” stuff still appears. I don’t know what I expected when I’m fairly certain the Venn diagram of Confederate supporters, Trump supporters, and people still calling Jane Fonda “Hanoi Jane” is just a perfect circle.
ANYWAY.
My love for Jane has only grown exponentially over the last 5-10 years as I’ve learned more about how consistent she’s been in her values her whole life and her willingness to keep learning and using her privilege for good. She and my grandma are around the same age and both Sagittarians, so I like to think of her as kind of my spiritual grandma. I still regret not going to Washington D.C. last year with my best friend Carrie for one of Jane’s Fire Drill Fridays where she was getting arrested every week. lol maybe that’s what I’ll do when the vaccine arrives.
The point is by the time Jane Fonda was putting together her culture-defining, best-selling workout video in 1982, she already had an impressive record as an activist supporting women, BIPOC, and the environment in various ways. The o.g. Jane Fonda Workout was conceived as a way to fund her Campaign for Economic Democracy—an organization she founded with then-husband Tom Hayden. The CED was fighting for rent control, solar power, women’s rights, and labor rights (among other things) in California where Hayden and Fonda were based. By 1986, Fonda had started moving away from the CED in order to fund other causes like abortion rights and the fight against apartheid in South Africa, but still the revenue from her workouts, gyms, and exercise books were responsible for a significant amount of funding for progressive political causes at home and abroad.
Knowing Jane bamboozled a bunch of yuppie Boomer women during the Reagan era into donating to super progressive political causes through her workout tapes never ceases to make me laugh. What an icon.
In the early 1980s, VCRs were still semi-expensive, and most of the available video tapes were either Hollywood classics or porn (for more on this, please see the PTA classic, Boogie Nights). While “home video” was around in the mid-70s, it would take another decade before the technology became cheap enough to be widely used, prompting a boom in video rental stores like Blockbuster (RIP!). Home video was untapped territory—not only because of the high cost of the equipment but because studios were fearful people would stop going to the movies if they could just stay home and watch a video tape (sound familiar?).
There are conflicting stories about how the Jane Fonda Workout was conceived by Fonda and the late Stuart Karl, an early home video impresario, but the point is the pair completely revolutionized not just the fitness industry—which was targeted mostly at men—but the home video industry as well. While there were a few successful exercise tapes already in existence, the Jane Fonda Workout became the top-selling VHS tape for six straight years and also helped spike sales in VCRs. Gyms, which were still primarily spaces for men, started offering more aerobics classes inspired by Jane’s tape, which opened doors for women. For those who still felt uncomfortable in male-dominated gyms, the Jane Fonda Workout offered a safe, home alternative. From 1982-1995, Jane Fonda sold 17 million videos and spawned a number of celebrity imitators including Cher and Debbie Reynolds (and yes, I plan on doing both of theirs).
It turns out I am the target audience for Jane’s workouts: someone who hates the gym, needs the convenience of working out at home, loves dance class-inspired workouts, and enjoys watching a class full of very fit gay men and female dancers from the 1980s in high-cut leotards and leg warmers yelling “woo!” while Jane leads us all through fast-paced moves you could probably only do reeeeeally well on heavy amounts of cocaine (which I assume everyone was doing in the 1980s).
In my favorite video, Jane Fonda’s Low-Impact Aerobic Workout from 1986, there’s even a cheesy “hoedown” section where one unruly student makes progressively louder animal noises, briefly—if charmingly—throwing Jane off. “I’m sorry,” she says to the camera with an awkward chuckle before returning to her usual instructions.
It would be tempting to say Jane’s videos were/are only so massively successful because of her celebrity status, but I don’t think that’s the whole truth. Certainly Jane was the biggest name to release a workout video during the fitness craze of the 80s, but only attributing her success to her established celebrity diminishes her genuine talents as an instructor. You can be comfortable in front of a camera but not know how to effortlessly lead people through complicated routines—Jane Fonda can do both. Not only does she clearly communicate each movement and what comes next, she provides the right mix of encouragement, modifications, and corrections. She knows anatomy and how exercises and muscles work together rather than using a lot of weird fitness buzzwords. Sometimes, she makes tiny mistakes. In spite of her celebrity and the fact she literally ends the beginner section of her o.g. workout by putting her legs completely over her head as a “cool down” (LMAO yeah right, Jane!!!), she comes off as a regular fitness instructor and relatable person.
I’ve taken a lot of dance classes over the years with many different teachers and tried a lot of workout videos on the internet and even my phone, and I say this in all sincerity: Jane Fonda is one of the best instructors I’ve ever had.
When I’m doing her workout, it makes logical sense both in my brain and body, and I feel it working the muscles it’s supposed to be targeting. Even better, the people in her videos actually appear to be having real fun—not just faux acting for the camera while they do the movements almost by rote. Because Jane and her students are having fun, I also wind up having fun even when I’m yelling that my legs cannot make the angles Jane suggests during her leg exercises. There’s a lot of variety in each video too, so it’s made it easy for me to never be bored—not that I could ever be bored exercising with people who wear outfits like this:
Or this:
Other celebrities have tried to copy Jane’s success and have largely failed to reach the same level. Why? I suspect it has more to do with Jane’s teaching skills and the way her workouts are built than name recognition. She took the time to really learn and develop the movements in her workouts, and as a result she is confident in demonstrating them. You can see it in her body and sense it the way she conducts class. Nothing is scripted—she’s just teaching a class the way she did at her Beverly Hills studio (which wound up attracting 2000+ people a week). And this confidence, consistency in movement, and knowledge of the body is what sets her apart from her famous copycats who are peddling someone else’s routines. It’s why she became a trusted fitness expert and Cher—though also dressed in see-through lycra and shaking her groove thing to 80s synth—did not.
The seeds of Jane’s abilities as a teacher come directly from her activism work. Growing up with privilege, Jane took it upon herself to become educated on issues affecting people without such privilege. It was never about embracing activism to help her image as a celebrity but rather understanding what the issues were because it was the right thing to do and then using her celebrity to spotlight other activists and causes. In the same way, Jane prioritized learning about the body and fitness from experts. A lifelong ballet student, she broke her ankle while shooting The China Syndrome, which forced her to find alternate methods of staying in shape. The more she learned from people like teacher/future business partner Leni Cazden, the more she was able to assimilate and share that knowledge with others in accessible ways using her celebrity.
Jane’s natural curiosity and humble approach to learning not only lend themselves to teaching but are why she has remained so consistent in her values and at the forefront of political activism. In both areas, she has never centered herself but others, which is what makes for a good teacher or activist.
And while Jane made a lot of money from her fitness empire, it all went to good causes—not Jane Fonda herself. By leveraging her name, she has been able to help others. She always re-centers the conversation around the people/cause in need of attention whether it’s fighting climate change or those of us wanting to make healthy changes in our lives/bodies .
Jane Fonda: a truly Good White Woman.
While I personally do not recommend making this pose on a giant rock/cliff in what appears to be Griffith Park or Runyon Canyon in Los Angeles, I do personally recommend Jane’s workouts because I feel them working even if I haven’t started seeing noticeable changes yet in how my body looks (which is less important to me at this point). I genuinely look forward to doing her workouts, which is not something I’ve ever said about doing ab exercises or weird pelvic thrusts. And in a time where there doesn’t seem to be a lot to look forward to—even with vaccines on the horizon—that has to count for something.
A lot has happened this year that has humbled me in various ways. You can either let it stop you in your tracks or you can throw on your tennis shoes and leg warmers and get to work. But, as Jane always reminds us in her videos, “Don’t forget to breathe!”
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See you next time! Happy Holidays!
-Em