Alright, let’s talk about them fitness folks from the 80s, you know, the ones always jumpin’ around on TV. Don’t rightly remember all their names, but some of ‘em stuck in my head like a burr in a dog’s fur.
Jane Fonda, yeah, that’s one. She was a big deal, movies and all that, then she started tellin’ everyone how to wiggle their butts and such to get in shape. Before them VCR things, you had to catch her on TV, imagine that! Now you can watch her anytime, rewindin’ and playin’ it back, kinda like magic if you ask me.
- She made them workout tapes, and everybody and their mama wanted one.
- Jumpin’ jacks, leg lifts, all that jazz. Made folks sweat, that’s for sure.
Then there was this Suzanne Somers. Pretty lady, she was. Don’t rightly remember what all she did for fitness, but she was on TV a lot, talkin’ about health and whatnot. Always smilin’, she was. Made you wanna smile right back, even if your knees were achin’.
And oh, that Olivia Newton-John! That “Physical” song, everybody was singin’ it, even me, though I didn’t know half the words. That video, though, all them muscly fellas, shiny and oiled up. My grandkids woulda called it cringy, whatever that means. But back then, it was somethin’ else. Made you wanna get up and move, even if you just ended up waddlin’ around the kitchen.
Richard Simmons! Now there was a character. Short shorts, sparkly shirts, hair all over the place. He was loud and funny and made you wanna sweat, even if you felt silly doin’ it. Heard he passed away recently. Sad, that is. He was one of a kind, that’s for sure. He’d jump and shout and make you laugh till your sides hurt, and then he’d make you jump and shout some more. Kept folks movin’, that’s what he did.
The 80s, that was a time when everybody went fitness crazy. They called it a craze, like a chicken runnin’ around with its head cut off. Suddenly, everyone wanted to be thin and jump around. Guess it was a good thing, though. Got folks off the couch, that’s for sure. Before that, we were all just workin’ hard and eatin’ what we could. Exercise? That was for the young ‘uns, chasin’ chickens and such.
This fitness thing, it opened doors to all sorts of new ways to get your sweat on. Music and exercisin’, they put ‘em together. Now they call it…choreography, or somethin’ like that. Fancy name for dancin’ and movin’, if you ask me. But hey, whatever gets you movin’, right?
Them fitness stars from the 80s, they changed things. Made it cool to sweat, made it fun to work out. And a lot of them still lookin’ good today, years later. Must be doin’ somethin’ right, I reckon. Me? I get my exercise from gardenin’ and chasin’ after the grandkids. But them folks on TV, they inspired a whole generation to get movin’. And that’s a good thing, no matter how you look at it.
They were everywhere, them fitness icons. On TV, in magazines, even sellin’ their own workout gear. It was a whole new world, I tell ya. And they made it seem like anyone could do it, even old folks like me, though I stuck to my gardenin’ mostly. Too much jumpin’ around ain’t good for these old bones.
So yeah, that’s what I remember about them fitness folks from the 80s. A bunch of energetic people who made the world wanna sweat. Some are gone now, but their memory lives on, just like a good ol’ country song that sticks in your head.
Tags: [80s fitness, Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons, Suzanne Somers, Olivia Newton-John, workout, exercise, fitness icons, fitness personalities, 1980s health]