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Funny Fitness Fads of the Past

funny fitness fads

Jane Fonda Workouts

I love that this always inspires me to look for humorous things to share for the weekend. I thought taking a look back at funny fitness fads would be good for a giggle. Which fads did you try?

Jane Fonda workout
How many leg lifts can you do?

Jane Fonda workouts were the first workout videos I ever did. Wow, I am old! Look how young she was?

Buns of Steel

Buns of Steel
My buns never quite made it to steel.

I had this one along with Abs of Steel. I think I even had Abs of Steel on an audio cassette. How many of you don’t even know what an audio cassette is?

Roller skating
I never looked quite this good.

Roller Skating

I used to love watching the amazing disco skaters in Central Park. I was never quite that good, but certainly had some fun at the roller rinks with my friends.

Thigh Master

thigh master
Yup, I had one. Admit it, you did too.

I think I had more than one of these. Not sure if I ever had the original, but I definitely had the knock-offs. I think you can still find this type of apparatus even today. Wacky!

Ab Roller

ab roller
This one actually worked!

This is one that actually worked and really helped minimize stress on your neck. I think some physical therapists still have these around. I bet there are even a few lying around in health clubs across the country. Still looks pretty funny, huh?

Tae Bo

Tae Bo
Ah, the Tae Bo craze!

Another trend that I tried. I actually injured my groin really badly with Tae Bo. The good part about that injury is I learned how to do proper kickboxing moves firing the right muscles. I did love Billy’s enthusiasm!

Shake weight
I even reviewed this one.

Did you try this one? I was even approached by the company to review it on my old blog. Funny enough, it was one of my top posts in terms of search engine results too. Even though it looked super silly, it did provide a decent arm workout. Not sure what happened to mine.

What fitness fads did you try in the past? What do you think will be the fads that we will reflect back on in the future?

Aerial Yoga

inverted yoga

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  1. mel says:

    Oh good ole Jane Fonda! And the thigh master- whoever says they never owned it, is lying! This is so funny- you really hit all the fads!!!

  2. Charity says:

    Ever try the Elle McPherson workout videotape? Funny…I STILL don’t look anything like her. πŸ™‚

    • The one thing I liked about the Cindy Crawford workouts, which I forgot to mention here, is that she still looked human. She had thicker thighs and a bigger butt like most women in this world. Never tried the Elle one. My husband would have LOVED that one. She is probably still his biggest crush.

  3. Where’s the AB belt?!?! LOL!!! The shake weight, that’s always a good one πŸ˜‰

  4. gosh. what a flash back. i had so many crazy vhs workout videos. never did half of them but owned a ton of them.

  5. Jadey Sam says:

    I have tried boot camp, zumba , tae bo. I just don’t have the discipline to continue what I started πŸ˜›

  6. evilcyber says:

    If you “never looked quite that good” as in the rollerskates pic, did you at least have the pigtails? πŸ˜‰

  7. hahah. Funny thing. All of these would actually work if people stuck with them! You might be interested in my husbands gym. Uses 20 minute PST sessions!

  8. MegG says:

    My track team used to do Tae Boe when weather was really bad or when we were having a fun day. I have really fond memories of it!

  9. Dawn says:

    Remember Richard Simmons, Sweating to the Oldies! Ha!

    Dawn

    • Jenn says:

      I almost added him to the list too. I probably could have gone on and one. I had a fun photo of Olivia Newton John from “let’s get physical” too.

  10. I was a major Tae Bo lover when I was in high school! Definitely had some good laughs with this post!

    Also, I wanted to add Jazzercise to your list…just because when you hear the name, you think of big hair and one piece leotards with leg warmers! I am a current Jazzercise instructor and I promise that it has come a long way!

  11. I actually had the Buns of Steel tape and I had a love hate relationship with the instructor. LOL that was intense.

  12. Jenna Wood says:

    My grandpa still has a shake weight!

  13. Currently stabbing myself in the brain with an ice-pick so I never have to think about any of these again….

  14. Tamara says:

    Ha! I remember doing the original Jane Fonda workout in my bedroom with girlfriends back in the early 80’s. Had to play the LP on my record player…
    Thanks for the memories!

  15. HaHa- I totally had an ab roller! This was funny to look back! Thanks!

  16. Coco says:

    I did Jane Fonda and Tae Bo. I had roller skates asa kid, but got Roller Blades after college. I didn’t fall for much fad equipment, but I do have a variety of freeweights, bands, tubes, fitballs, etc. Whatever keeps you moving!

  17. Krissy H says:

    Ha buns of steel and Billy Blanks lol. I also had Claudia Shieffers ab work out.. it hurts my abs just thinking about it!

    • Jenn says:

      I didn’t know that Claudia Shieffers had a workout out, but that reminds me that I did do the Cindy Crawford ones.

  18. Kimberly Turner says:

    I had the Tae Bo tapes….yep! VHS tapes in college. I loved it and actually found a DVD version recently that I got super excited about. I had great results with it and really enjoy Billy. He doesn’t make me want to drop kick him like I do with Tony and Shaun T when I do P90X and Insanity! lol

    • Jenn says:

      Hmm, I was the other way around. I kind of wanted to kick Billy, but I love Shaun and Tony. I had the pleasure of meeting both in person. Shaun is so nice and Tony is hysterical.

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