Then came aerobics, here demonstrated by Jane Fonda. I remember this particular exercise well since it always seemed reminiscent of a male dog and a fire hydrant. Everyone I knew was trying aerobics with its pulsing music and, for the first time, exercise clothes. Leg warmers! I have no idea how anyone came up with the idea of wearing leg warmers to do aerobics, but they were a symbol that you took exercise SERIOUSLY.
After floor aerobics came step aerobics. Here you alternated stepping up and down on a little several inch high block. This new approach demanded that you buy a step, of course. Commercial firms were starting to see the market in exercise and were promoting “aids” that we needed to do aerobics. They hadn’t yet figure out that there were billions to be made in exercise clothing.
My knees were no more happy with step aerobics than they had been with jogging. In fact at forty I paid my first visit to a new specialty “sports medicine.” I learned that my knees didn’t track in a straight line thus causing me pain. I was given exercises and told that I would need to do them the rest of my life. Of course, once I stopped doing step aerobics my knees were fine and I quit doing them.
I never got involved with Jazzercise or Zumba, two aerobic fads that followed the Jane Fonda era. Nor did I ever take to Richard Simmons with his campy workouts. But tomorrow’s post details the next “thing” I tried.
Saved By Words 
Sounds like we have the same knees! Mine track to the outside instead of straight up. it has caused me a lifetime of problems and kept me from trying a lot of exercises and sports.
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Mine go in.
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Yep. I danced around in aerobic classes and to Kathy Smith videos in my home. I never bought in to the special clothes, preferring instead shorts and tee shirts.
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Me too.
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No exercise wear but leg warmers bring back toe socks and that weirdy ttickly fashion..
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Ah yes. I had those.
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Ah, yes, leg warmers. I was a young teenager at this time and we all had leg warmers and brightly coloured aerobics outfits. What a great memory.
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I still can’t fathom who thought leg warmers were needed. Glad to take you back. My daughter had leg warmers too.
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I can remember the aerobics craze starting here. They had instructors on TV shows, and it seemed that what you wore to the class was just as important as the workout. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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It still seems like that to me in many gyms. It’s all about the spandex. And the strutting in the spandex.
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With my build, spandex is never going to happen! 🙂
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Leg warmers, head bands, toe socks, fashion named embroidered towels. Many cared more about the apparel than the workout.
For a smile, you should look at Tim Hawkins song on Youtube. Yoga Pants
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Thanks. That song was hilarious.
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I remember these exercise videos that used to come on early in the morning 😆
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Trying to catch you before work. I never got up with that much time to spare.
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Same here! I’m not a morning person.
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I actually always started teaching at 8. I adjusted somehow though I don’t think I could do it again.
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In college, I always had a Monday morning class at 8am. I felt like all the powers of evil were conspiring against me 😭
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My students felt the same way. I always encouraged them to drink coffee during our classes.
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I don’t think I got into coffee until much later in life. The SDA faith views caffeine as a drug, which it rightly is, so it wasn’t allowed when I was younger.
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I started in high school. I guess the Mormons feel the same way about coffee and coke.
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Coffee and coke are also off the SDA lost actually, so that sounds about right! Their lifestyle is very close to kosher.
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