How the rise of aerobics in the 1980s moved from fitness science to home workouts

The rise of aerobics in the 1980s was the spread of exercise usually performed to music, amid increasing awareness of the need for increased exercise due to widespread weakness and inactivity.

2 articles, 1 book · about 7 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   Jane Fonda Changed Fitness Forever - JSTOR Daily · JSTOR Daily · 2 min read

   Jane Fonda published her first workout video in 1982, and cultural historian Melanie Woitas says she "changed the way of exercising substantially." According to Woitas, there had never been an aerobics video before Fonda came around. Jane Fonda brought aerobics workouts home to women who weren't going to the gym. Her videos included warm-ups and cool-downs, making the workouts practical.

2. Read
   

   the rise of aerobics in the 1980s · Wikipedia · 5 min read

   Step aerobics uses a low elevated platform whose height can be tailored to individual needs by inserting risers. A few American exercise instructors developed it independently in the mid-1980s, especially Gin Miller and Connie Collins Williams in Atlanta, and Cathe Friedrich in New Jersey.

3. Book
   

   The Aerobics Program for Total Well-Being · Bookshop.org

   The Aerobics Program for Total Well-Being by Kenneth H. Cooper describes a 1980s program combining exercise, nutrition and emotional health. It extends the work of the doctor whose earlier Aerobics books had sold more than 12 million copies.

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