Jane Fonda’s Workout Record: Lou Waxman on Fitness, Fame, and the Original Influencer
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Many people out there aren’t fonda Hanoi Jane, but Lou is the type of guy where the hotness can trump any flaws in morals or character. Give Lou some Jane Fonda in Cat Ballou, Barbarella, or Klute and he can overlook anything. Fonda was a cultural barometer. Take her marriages. From 1965 to 1973, she was with Roger Vadim and made Barbarella in 1968, making her an icon of the Sixties look and a true sex symbol. From 1973 to 1990, she married Tom Hayden and she made a trip to Vietnam in 1972, making her an icon of the type of Left described in essays by Tom Wolfe. From 1991 to 2001, she was married to Ted Turner, an icon of the go-go free market 1980s, which once again Fonda defined with her workout videos, which are a symptom of the neoliberalism and self-accountability that sought to dismantle the Welfare State of the New Deal Era.
Lest we forget Jane Fonda can act; she was a seven-time Oscar nominee, winning twice for Klute and Coming Home. Her other nominations were for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Julia, The China Syndrome, On Golden Pond, and The Morning After. That spans three decades, a longevity not seen in Hollywood for leading ladies, which always wants them to be younger, more beautiful, and less talented. Who is in the same league as Jane Fonda from her era? Meryl Steep. That might be it. Fonda made great choices in her roles. You did not get the sense she was chasing a paycheck. That said Fonda was a huge box office draw. Fun with Dick and Jane, California Suite, The Electric Horseman, and 9 to 5 all made lots of money, but they do not seem like the type of cash grabs related to IP that are so prevalent today. Fonda made great choices because she was choosey. She often focused on issue films. She had principles. She turned down some iconic roles, like the lead roles in Rosemary’s Baby and Bonnie and Clyde. The thing about turning down legendary roles is that you must be offered them in the first place. Lou can see Fonda in both those movies and pulling it off.
Blah, blah, blah, Lou, you know that all you really think about when you think of Jane Fonda are the workout videos. Guilty as charged. Lou wrote about it in the blog on Perfect. Aerobics are a key component of Lou’s youth. So, it makes sense that Jane Fonda occupies quite a bit of real estate in Lou’s head. At The Vogue, Jane Fonda’s Workout Record can be had for $5. That is about the price of a draft of Utica Club from Black Moon Public House. Lou passed on the beer and took home the album, because deep down he is health conscious. Look at the music on this album: “Can You Feel It” by The Jacksons, “In Your Letter” by REO Speedwagon, “Stomp” by Brothers Johnson, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Linda Clifford, “Night (Feel Like Getting Down)” by Billy Ocean, “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” by Jimmy Buffett, and “Harbor Lights” by Boz Scaggs. This is a two-LP set with the same songs on both discs but with Beginner and Advanced instruction by Fonda. Lou is not going to listen to a second of this album, he is merely going to read the cover. “The whole philosophy behind this album is a holistic approach to physical and mental well-being. From the up-tempo ‘Stomp’ by the Brothers Johnson t, to Boz Scaggs’ soothing ‘Harbor Lights,’ there’s music here to provide a variety of dance and exercise experiences to fill not only physical, but also emotional needs.” “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” by Jimmy Buffet is for your buttock needs. Billy Ocean is for your legs and hips.
Fuck her marriages and her acting and her activism. Fuck all that. Fonda’s most revolutionary act was reinventing the home workout and creating the modern fitness influencer. Sure, there was Charles Atlas and Jack LaLanne and all that shit, but Fonda brought the look and sound of it up to date. All the fitness celebutards on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram came from Jane Fonda. Before there was Suzanne Somers, Heather Locklear, Victoria Principal, Alyssa Milano, and Cher, there was Jane Fonda. And that is just the actresses who went fitness. The Susan Powters and Jillian Michaels of the world owe Fonda too. And that is just the women. The men learned quite a bit from Fonda as well. Sweating to the Oldies, dude.
From Fonda on the Workout Record: “So be in harmony with your age. Learn to understand and respect you body. It’s your temple. And remember, discipline is liberation.” Fonda is 88 and she still has it. Lou often wonders what Fonda was doing on the Norm Macdonald podcast several years ago, but she seemed to be having a good time, she was a good sport and she looked good. May Jane Fonda live forever.
“Discipline is liberation.” Lou did not know that Jane was into Foucault. Of course, there is a sexual undercurrent to all this. These videos “fill not only physical, but also emotional needs.” For those of a certain age, all these videos filled sexual needs as well. In the 1980s, Fonda was as much of a sex symbol as she was in Barbarella. And the outfits from both eras are priceless.
But when Lou needs to fill his emotional needs there is only one workout video that he needs. And sorry it is not by Jane Fonda. Or Suzanne Somers. Or Alyssa Milano. The true queen of the workout video was Traci Lords. Oh yes, she made a workout video, and Lou may own it and it may be buried in the woods behind his house in an underground bunker with AK-47s, cases and cases of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, a can opener, several kegs of beer, and, most importantly, a working VCR. This is all Lou needs to wait out the coming apocalypse, and he doesn’t really need the guns and Dinty Moore. Just the video, the VCR, and, of course, the beer.
Suggested Sites and Sounds:
Barbarella: Far Out: The best of Barbarella
Candy Darling in Klute: Candy Darling in Klute (1971)
Jane Fonda Workout: Jane Fonda's Original Workout: Follow Along With Classic Step Aerobics | Tonic
A Pale Imitator: Heather Locklear Presents Your Personal Workout.
Dinty Moore: Dinty Moore Beef Stew Animated Commercial (1973)
— Lou Waxman