The Comeback Trail

To many, she’ll always be “Hanoi Jane” (just check the vitriolic comments in this article from England’s Telegraph web site), but for millions of exercise enthusiasts around the world, 72-year-old actress Jane Fonda is the person who brought the then-burgeoning fitness craze into their homes with her 1982 aerobics video, Jane Fonda’s Workout.

Now Fonda is planning a return to the mats with a workout DVD targeting older people who are out of shape. From her blog:

I’m excited because things are falling into place for my 2 new exercise DVDs (used to be videos). We will film them mid March. Lionsgate will distribute. They have 8 of the top 10 exercise programs. But mine will target an audience that has been left out: MY age group and the boomers. I want to get to people who have stopped working out, or never did, or… I can’t wait. They won’t be released, though till beginning of 2011.

Fonda’s site features a 23-minute clip from one of her old videos (Jane, two words: embed code). Personally, I find Fonda’s cheerful demeanor as she leads the aerobics session to be in pleasant contrast to the grim, drill-instructor approach of contemporary trainer/sadists such as Jillian Michaels, who would consider it her professional responsibility to beat the smiles out of the two women training with Jane. “Oh, you think this is fun, do you? See how much fun it is three hours from now when you’re still doing it!”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, she gets results. But as I’ve said before, you can get results without being an abusive psycho. I doubt anyone who has watched Tony Horton (P90X) train people on one of his DVDs would say he’s taking it easy on people. And if you checked the video posted on her site, you’ll notice that Fonda and her workout partners aren’t exactly soft and pudgy. In fact, I prefer their bodies to the hard, hollow-cheeked looks of Jillian Michaels and Madonna any day.

– Chris Nerney