I did the Jane Fonda Workout
It’s incredible how convenient it is to stream a great quality workout video on YouTube. There’s countless amounts of follow along fitness content on the internet, and so many worthwhile fitness influencers to choose from (perhaps a topic for a future post). But even with all this content right at our fingertips, the most popular workout videos of all time were originally released as a series of VHS tapes back in the 1980s. It’s not so unfathomable when you consider that those tapes were made by intergenerational icon, actress and activist Jane Fonda.
Fonda released a series of widely popular follow along exercise films between 1982 and 1995. They have sold over seventeen million copies to date. Altogether, she produced twenty-two different workout sessions during that span of time.
The production and music are what you’d expect from something made in the 1980s. Fonda’s background as an actress and her training in ballet really shine through. She is charismatic in her direction and motivating tone, and the pace and range of the movements account for a total body workout.
I was delighted to see that the original 1982 film has been digitized, and decided that I better give it a whirl if I am going to be writing about it. The video starts out with some flexibility exercises and deep stretching. This section includes some really deep stretching, which my muscles and joints surely appreciated.
The next part of the workout is a mobility focused warmup. This got my heart rate going at a nice steady pace, which is ideal because the main circuit of cardio, core and bodyweight exercises is somewhat of a burner! By the time I got to the core section (the most taxing part in my opinion), I had already worked up a nice sweat.
The film concludes with a cool down session of light stretches and yoga poses, giving me time to catch my breath and feel rather euphoric about how I just spent the past hour of my life.
My verdict is that if you’re looking for a wide variety of low-impact aerobic exercises to flex and condition your body, you’ll be more than satisfied with the Jane Fonda Workout. You’ll work hard, burn lots of calories and feel limber and efficacious.
Although Fonda wasn’t the first fitness celebrity to reach a wide audience through mass media (see: “An Ode to the Original Fitness Influencer”), she might be able to stake a claim for being the most influential. How many fitness trainers can say that they started a fitness film empire, and made leotards and leg warmers all the rage across popular culture?
The most obvious goal of Fonda’s films was to get ordinary people to feel good and become more active among the rigors of daily life. They were marketed primarily towards women as a way to exercise at home.
There was also an underlying mission to raise political awareness through the lens and popularity of physical fitness programming. Fonda has been a consistent force and voice among celebrity activists. In the 1960s her fundraising for the Black Panthers and antiwar protest efforts resulted in her surveillance by the FBI, CIA and NSA. She even received the ire of President Richard Nixon, who vociferated “what’s the matter with Jane Fonda.”
Proceeds from Jane Fonda’s workout films supported the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), which Fonda had co-founded in 1984 with activist and politician, Tom Hayden. After breaking off from Hayden, Fonda co-founded the Hollywood Women's Political Committee (HWPC). Like the CED, The organization was politically aligned with the New Left movement, and advocated for abortion rights, nuclear disarmament and initiatives to curb climate change. A mantra Fonda repeats during her exercise sessions is "Feel the Burn." During the 2020 Democratic primary, Fonda implored potential voters to "Feel the Bern," by endorsing Bernie Sanders for president.
Whether she is engaging in social activism, acting or activating her core, Jane Fonda has dedicated her life to helping and empowering others in such a dynamic manner. At eighty-six years old, she’s going full speed ahead. And like most octogenarians do, she joined TikTok…Fonda’s first post on the app was a video of herself doing some classic Jane Fonda Workout movements.
After performing some reps, she shifts gears and calls on us to put our strength and energy towards environmental activism by joining a campaign she started with Greenpeace called Fire Drill Fridays: “You know what? There are too many workouts happening right now on television and on computers. What I would really like you to do is work out with me for the planet. There’s a climate crisis that’s a real emergency, and so whether you’re on your couch or your yoga mat, will you join me for the virtual Fire Drill Fridays? The future needs you.”
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While I would gently contest the sentiment that there are too many workouts happening online and in the media (I say, the more the mightier!), Fonda is absolutely correct with her overall initiative. We absolutely need to cherish the world like we do our bodies. It too needs conditioning, strengthening and toning.