Remembering Jane Fonda’s Original Workout

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Long before barre, boxing, or Barry’s Bootcamp were de rigueur in the fitness world, Jane Fonda was the go-to for defined delts and a toned tush. The OG celebrity trainer—and seriously, a legit celebrity—Fonda changed the game dramatically with her Original Workout video. Launched in 1982 following the publication of her bestselling fitness book (which itself spawned a whole new genre, “self-help”) the video built upon the popularity of Fonda’s Beverly Hills workout studio.

Opened in 1979, the space itself was a novelty for the time. “Back then, if women went to a health club, there’d be a gym for men and nothing for women,” Fonda remarked in 2014. “We weren’t supposed to be strong and fit.” The two-time Oscar-winning actress and longtime dancer clearly knew better.

Approached with the idea of making a home video based upon the routines in her book, Fonda reluctantly agreed, figuring few would see it given how costly and scarce VCRs were at the time. Still, the actress thought she might raise additional money for her then-husband Tom Hayden’s political organization, The California Campaign for Economic Democracy, which technically owned the studio. Fonda partnered with Sidney Galanty, who directed the ads for Hayden’s U.S. Senate campaign and who would ultimately direct over a dozen of her workout videos. She then enlisted her studio instructors and clients to participate in her VHS debut, which famously featured Fonda in a high-cut, striped leotard and scrunched purple leg warmers (a nod to her love of ballet). “We rehearsed a few days, made some mistakes, did our own hair and makeup, had one camera and figured it was no big deal,” she recalled in a later blog post.

This was just the beginning of Fonda’s fitness empire. Word-of-mouth spread as VCRs became cheaper and more ubiquitous. 23 videos and half a dozen DVDs followed. Fellow bold-faced names like Cher, Suzanne Somers, Heather Locklear, and LaToya Jackson would follow Fonda’s lead with their own spins on the genre.

Given her penchant for trailblazing, it’s not surprising that Fonda has again proven her ability to set trends. With at-home and on-demand fitness apps gaining an increasingly larger share of the market today—think Daily Burn or Peloton Digital—Fonda’s foray was prescient. Of course, her ability to make viewers sweat is timeless, and 37 years later, new generations are increasingly primed to “feel the burn.”

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