December 22, 2021

"The history of personal fitness is strewn with objects that once gleamed with promise and now seem redundant, even ridiculous."

"Take the Peloton — please! (As so many are imploring on Craigslist.) And while you’re at it, the step aerobic bench and its modular risers that lurk under the bed, ascended only by dust bunnies. As a bonus we’ll throw in those aptly named 'resistance bands' lying idle in the junk drawer. Are we mocking them or are they mocking us?"

From "ThighMasters, Jazzercise, Yoga and Other Chapters in the History of Women and Exercise" (NYT)(reviewing "Let’s Get Physical/How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World").

Remember Bonnie Prudden? This daytime TV fare from the 1960s is so drearily depressing it's surreal:

27 comments:

Amadeus 48 said...

Ahh--Bonnie Pruden. I remember my mother in front of the TV with Bonnie holding forth and showing how it was done.

A visit to her Wikipedia page shows that Bonnie offered a range of equipment to help you on your way and then collect dust in the basement or garage.

She almost made it to age 98.

gilbar said...

at least step aerobic benches and 'resistance bands' never ate your dog (or CHILD)
unlike Pelotons

Pelotons are DEATHTRAPS! and i'm Not just saying that because i have family at competitors
i'm saying that, because Pelotons are DEATHTRAPS

typingtalker said...

"Resistance Bands" -- I thought those were groups of 1960s anti-war musicians -- Country Joe and the Fish for example.

Wilbur said...

Jack LaLanne was the big TV exercise guy in the 60s. Even as a kid, we were amused by his slippers and pants, the cheesy organ music and the weird way he would pronounce "two" - it sounded like "teeeuu" - as he counted out his reps. And of course, his dog, Happy.

But his infomercial sold me a juice extractor back in the 90s that I used for a lot of years. He did a lot of good things in his life.

Howard said...

Winter is a great time to break out the Reebok classic step and the old school Gin Miller videos.

Our swim team is finally getting back into our pool at the local college. It's been shut down since March 2020.

Having a group of fit workout friends is the easiest way to stay lean and mean. It's especially motivating when half of them are younger women. Nothing triggers the natural secretion of testosterone like a hot chick swimming fast in a speedo.

Enlighten-NewJersey said...

The snippet didn’t seem drearily depressing to me. Bonnie showed great form in a matter of fact and calm manner. The set was a bit sparse and the film was in black and white, but very watchable and instructive.

Bilwick said...

I remember Bonnie Prudden. She had a nice body. I'd have preferred she exercised naked--or at least in scantier attire--but I don't see what is so depressing about the clip you show.

Yancey Ward said...

Ms. Pruden died at age 97.

mikee said...

Jack LaLanne was my mother's television exercise guru in the 1960s. His show ran from 1951 to 1985. He lived to 2011, dying at age 96. He said things during workouts like, "Anything is possible and you can make it happen!" From such simple exercise and fitness shows grew today's empires of Pelotons, Bowflexes, free weights and all the rest.



Koot Katmandu said...

I kind of like the music in the video. I also do not remember black yoga pants from way back when.

chickelit said...

She’s doing classic inversion poses. I do them myself.

Joe Smith said...

How women discovered exercise?

Jack LaLanne would beg to differ...

Mr Wibble said...

Pelatons come and go, but iron endures.

Sebastian said...

"Her book is very much “pro” exercise, but for the right reasons: not slimming down but mood management, community, spirituality in the corporal"

And a few decades hence this will be cited as the odd and depressing BS propagated by prog media.

For now, I call BS on the notion that gyms are populated by women focused on "slimming down."

John Holland said...

"Ready for the miserable?" Jesus Christ on a bicycle. And that music sounds like something they'd use on a daytime soap to play under the scene where the tragic female lead tries to OD on sleeping pills.

We didn't get Bonnie up in Canada. In my hometown of Hamilton we had the very perky Ed Allen, who was never miserable, and worked out to bouncy samba music, and lived to 93.

The most complicated workout equipment Ed used on TV was a kitchen chair and a towel.

Be more like Ed.

Indigo Red said...

My mother was into Jack LaLanne. Every weekday morning, Jack would lead an exercise hour. Mom would eat breakfast, watch, and later complain about how much the exercise hurt.

Nice said...

Aerobics! The 20-minute Workout, Bess Motta (1983) has changed my life. The videos are on Youtube. It's the easiest thing in the world, and it actually works. I modify it a little bit to be low-impact, but other than that, there's no goals or demands. You don't have to drive anywhere, and it's only 20 min, which I'm finding the time for, even with all the holiday busy/crazy-ness.

I'd been doing my regular Walk/Jog/Hike in early morning for about 5 years now, with very little success in terms of weight loss. It wasn't until, about a year ago, that I added in the 20-min Workout, in the afternoons, which seemed to be the missing link, and the pounds have (slowly) come off. I'm not sure how much it adds to the 10,000 steps, which I try for, but those aerobics certainly burn fat. I love that part of my day, actually: 20 Minute Workout, followed by late afternoon tea = renewed energy in through the evening.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Bonnie Pruden published a book on pain relief decades ago. 'Pain Erasure the Bonnie Pruden Way' clearly illustrates techniques to use on pressure points on the body to stop pain. Still online, many of these pressure points are demonstrated. The topic is 'Myotherapy'. I discussed some of these with a Korean Physiatrist who treated my wife years ago for Migraine. He was the first in the state to use Botox to erase her migraine headaches resultant from a closed head injury. Brilliant man, a Korean War orphan brought to USA by an American soldier, had amazing skillsets.

Conrad said...

I'm assuming the genesis of this article is the WH's minimization of the supply chain crisis as a matter of having to wait a little longer to get one's treadmill. IOW, pieces of exercise equipment, like many things in our lives, are frivolous luxury items that everyone should do without. Learn to live with less because, under Dem leadership, less you shall have.

Mikey NTH said...

I remember Jack LaLane.

Ozymandias said...

The Ur TV workout figure was Jack LaLanne, c. 1951.

Ozymandias said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4A3mdG5zbQ&list=PL0UagYDEJEpna4HSlUcHPgUJ3OWOORBNP

cubanbob said...

Never heard of her. However anyone that could do what she did in the clip is in remarkable shape.

Gerda Sprinchorn said...

It looks like Bonnie broke into the Brady's house.

I wonder what happened when Mike and Carol and the rest of the bunch came home. Would probably make for an above-average episode of the Brady Bunch. Toss in a guest appearance by Andy and Barney of Mayberry, and you've got comedy gold.

Lurker21 said...


Thighmaster made a mistake picking Suzanne Somers for their spokeswoman.

It would have been better to have gone with Xenia Onatopp, the Bond villain who could crush men's heads with her powerful thighs.

rcocean said...

I was reading some old newspaper or mag article about Jack Lalanne, it showed him swimming and towing a string of boats in SF bay.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

This woman disses "resistance bands" way to easily. They were instrumental in my PT after a broken arm. Very useful, not at all negligible. She's stereotyping them as "women's exercise" (what, men never use them?) b/c she has no idea what people actually employ them for.