Fitness
Exercise Icons Of The ’70s Who Were So Ahead Of Their Time – Health Digest
The 1970s are known for being the golden era of fitness. “There was the birth of exercise science,” Danielle Friedman recalled about the decade during a January 2025 episode of NPR’s news and politics podcast, “All Things Considered.” But that’s not all, according to the journalist; there was also a move toward self-improvement. “The 1970s — the writer Tom Wolfe famously dubbed it the Me Decade,” she explained. “After the kind of activism of the ’60s, Americans and baby boomers in particular were turning toward themselves, were sort of, in many cases, shifting away from trying to save the world to trying to improve themselves.”
Naturally, many exercise aficionados led the charge, pioneering the movement with fitness regimens that were far ahead of their time. From Arnold Schwarzenegger’s affinity for bodybuilding to Farrah Fawcett’s love of jogging to Jane Fonda’s ballet barre workouts and even Judi Sheppard Missett’s creation of Jazzercise, these exercise icons blazed a path and put some of the world’s most popular workouts on the map!
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love of bodybuilding proved to be contagious
While it’s clear that Arnold Schwarzenegger is no stranger to controversy and scandal, it’s hard to deny that he was on to something way back in the 1970s with his intense weightlifting regimen. As you may recall, Schwarzenegger practically became a celebrity overnight with the release of “Pumping Iron,” a 1977 bodybuilding documentary that followed him and his rival, Lou Ferrigno, as they prepared to compete in the Mr. Olympia competition. Spoiler alert: Schwarzenegger comes out victorious in the end. But, perhaps even more noteworthy, was the way he drew many other people to weightlifting, too.
Fast forward many years later, and we now know that strength training can improve 13 health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even depression and anxiety. And, according to a study using mice and published in The FASEB Journal in May 2021, weight lifting every day may also shrink fat cells.
Farrah Fawcett made jogging cool
While it may be hard to believe, there was a time long ago when people were judged, ridiculed, and even bullied for jogging. No, really. “Cars would go by, windows would roll down and either taunts or empty beer cans would come flying out,” the 1968 Boston Marathon winner, Amby Burfoot, recalled during an interview with The New York Times in January 2025. “There was no respect,” Burfott added.
Thankfully, that all changed once the famous “Charlie’s Angels” actress Farrah Fawcett came on the scene and made jogging cool. Per Vogue, Fawcett’s daily exercise routine wasn’t complete without a one-mile jog, followed by time in the sauna and jacuzzi. “The only way I can release my day’s tensions is not with a drink or a visit to some Beverly Hills shrink, but with something so taxing to my muscles that I fall asleep from body exhaustion instead of a mental wipeout,” she was quoted as saying. “You’d be surprised; after you push your body to its fullest, your daily problems hardly have time to affect you,” she added.
And as it turns out, Fawcett was on to something. According to a study conducted by Professor Larry Tucker of the Department of Exercise Sciences at Brigham Young and published in 2017 in Preventive Medicine, routine running habits can help slow down the aging process.
Jane Fonda was doing ballet barre workouts way before they were mainstream
Dare we say Jane Fonda was the OG ballet barre workout enthusiast?! Fonda first started working on her famous ballet-inspired workout routines way back in the 1970s. “People respond differently to various types of movement, to different workout speeds, even to different kinds of music. I like ballet and what it does for me — the slowness, the rigor, the sense of creativity while I move,” she told Vogue in 1979. Later, Fonda went on to open her very own gym and release workout videos. And, well, the rest is simply history. “I remember thinking, Oh, God, wouldn’t it be great if I could sell 25,000 [tapes]? Three million tapes later, we created an industry,” she declared during a 1987 interview for “Good Morning America” (via Analog Indulgence).
Today, ballet barre classes are still all the rage. “Barre requires you to keep your core engaged at all times. So that means while you are working your arms, legs, and booty, your abs are working as well,” Bergen Wheeler, the national director of Core Fusion talent development and senior teacher at Exhale Spa, explained during a 2017 interview with Self about what happens when you do barre workouts every day.
Judi Sheppard Missett created a fitness program and an entire community
We would be absolutely remiss not to discuss famous Jazzercise creator Judi Sheppard Missett while talking about 1970s exercise icons who were light-years ahead of their time. According to Sheppard Misset, she first came up with the idea for the workout in 1969. “I had been at Northwestern University, working professionally as a dancer, and teaching dance class, and lo and behold, I came up with an idea that I thought would be great, and 50 years later, here we are. That idea was Jazzercise, and we pioneered a whole industry, the fitness industry,” Sheppard Misett recalled in a video on the company’s YouTube account.
Sadly, Jazzercise is one of many fitness trends that have completely disappeared. But that certainly doesn’t negate the wonderful health benefits of the workout routine. Emily Jones says she lost a whopping 90 pounds doing Jazzercise while gaining so much more. “I was kind of apprehensive, because with the history of Jazzercise, you tend to think of leg warmers, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that,” Jones told “TODAY” in March 2021. But Jones claimed that after just one session, she was hooked. “I walked in and I was like yeah, this is it, I love it,” she recalled. In fact, she loved it so much that she decided to become a Jazzercise instructor herself. “It’s so fulfilling. We’re not clique-y and ‘all about me,’ but it’s just genuinely our own little family (at our location),” Jones explained about the community aspect. “I’ve taught a woman in her 80s, and she’s brought me cookies and held my children.”
If you’ve been faithfully logging your 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week, you’re getting the recommended weekly about of cardio. But a new study1 suggests that for women in midlife, that standard benchmark may not be moving the needle on cardiovascular fitness as much as we’ve assumed. Here’s what you need to know.
EL MONTE, Calif. (KABC) — A boutique fitness gym in the San Gabriel Valley is focused on women’s empowerment, offering everything from dance fitness to pilates, yoga, zumba and circuit training. It’s called “Beastin Beauties” in El Monte.
“ Boutique fitness spaces here, it doesn’t exist here, so I needed to have this for the people in my community here, where I grew up,” said owner Jay Armada.
Members love working on their health and fitness alongside other women.
“You walk in and you feel like you’re able to let loose and inhibit it in a way that you don’t find in other places,” said member Esmeralda Cabral.
“It takes away the stresses of being in a space where you may feel judgment from others. And there’s a certain level of comfort as a woman that you wanna be able, especially if you’re starting a health journey or you’re reigniting it, you wanna have the comfort of being around under supportive women,” said member Ruby Rose Yepez, who also teaches yoga at the studio.
Women empowerment has been the theme all along, from Jay’s humble beginnings…
“ I want people to feel what I felt when I was going through my own journey. I had lost ninety-three pounds in a whole year and I just wanted everyone to feel that,” said Armada.
…to a huge setback in 2020 when the gym’s previous location burned down in a fire.
“ I thought I didn’t wanna do it anymore. Maybe it was a sign from God that you should just quit. But my community held me up and they just really made me believe in it again,” said Armada.
Now, her business is thriving, and she was just named the city’s Woman of the Year!
“ Community and connection here in this space is super, super important. Jay is not just about bringing people here for health. She brings people here to build the connections so that they feel that they’re part of a community,” said Yepez.
“You build a connection without even really trying. You’re all experiencing the same moments together. There’s always just so much fun happening,” said Cabral.
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Having worked in wellness for over 50 years, what Sue Harmsworth doesn’t know about health and wellbeing isn’t worth knowing. The brand founder, who launched the beloved spa brand ESPA in 1992, has dedicated her whole life to the pursuit of wellness and looking at her now, at 80 years old, she’s clearly been doing something right.
Sue, who splits her time between Farnham, Surrey and Tenerife, has a strict daily routine that helps her stay on top form, and is quick to point out: “Stress, whichever name you put to it – mental stress, anxiety, illness – is at the core of societal problems today.
“We know now that prevention and lifestyle are the most important issues in keeping us healthy. In my view, integrative health and wellness is the way forward, and whether you call it spa, wellness, wellbeing, longevity, health span or something else, it always comes back to the core principles of good nutrition, exercise, good sleep, mindfulness and meditation.”
That said, Sue isn’t immune to the perils of ageing, sharing: “My weakness is joints, so I have to look after my knees and shoulders. That aside, I do think that exercise is a massive part of the reason I feel so good at my age – if I don’t do something active every day, that’s when I feel an ache or pain.”
Here, Sue shares her rigorous wellness routine – as well as the habits she actively avoids. Take notes!
1. Morning stretches
“I start every day with 15 minutes of stretching – bridges, cat cow, child pose, knee rolling, tabletop and so on.”
2. Pool time
“My beloved pool routine includes 40 minutes in the pool – running, jumping, doing weights, squats and lunges, and riding on my aqua bike.”
© Hester Barnes Photography & Film3. Two personal training sessions per week
“Where possible, I do two PT sessions a week. I am also lucky to have a Technogym Kinesis (an all-in-one machine with built-in elastic bands, dumbbells, and more) in my gym at home, and I do rope exercises for my shoulders most days.”
© Hester Barnes Photography & Film4. Water therapy
“I tend to take cool showers and warm baths and use them as therapy. I rely on the shower in the morning for circulation and energy, while the bath (with Epsom salts and oils) helps my sleep process of winding down, because I have no tech in there.”
5. Contrast therapy
“I believe in contrast thermal therapy – always ending with cold. The practice has been around for centuries but is claimed as “new”. I sauna twice a week – hot, cold, hot, cold – always finishing with cold!”
© Hester Barnes Photography & Film6. Body brushing
“I have skin brushed for decade. It’s a form of exfoliation but also helps with circulation, always towards the heart.”
7. Microbiome care
“I have always been aware of the importance of the three microbiomes – oral microbiome, gut health and the microbiome and the skin microbiome. To support mine, I see a hygienist every four months, do swishing with coconut oil, use my electric toothbrush to clean my tongue as well as gums and teeth, and use a water pick as well.”
8. One main meal – and no snacking
“In my eighties, I have to be careful with food. I try to only have one main meal a day, and I try to follow the Original Mayr Clinic principles of no raw after 4, no snacking at all, two fasting days, 16/8, and two vegetarian days.
© Hester Barnes Photography & Film“The quality of the ingredients and nutrient value is more important now and I avoid processed foods and try to cook from scratch and source high-quality produce.”
9. Minimal alcohol
“For the last three years have come off alcohol other than for really important celebrations and then one glass of a great pink Champagne is enough!”
10. Avoiding surgery
“As we age, we want to avoid surgeries as it gets harder to recover, but it’s so important that stay mobile. One issue that has blighted my health is a series of problems with my joints, leading to a hip resurfacing procedure in my mid-50s, followed by joint replacement surgery in both shoulders five years ago which required a lengthy recovery period.
“A few years ago, in my late seventies, I began experiencing pain and discomfort in my knees. I’ve followed a wide-ranging exercise regime my whole life and suddenly I wasn’t able to lift weights to support my muscle strength or do my daily exercises in the swimming pool.
© Hester Barnes Photography & Film“I was struggling to even get up from a chair. It all happened very suddenly and as I was approaching 80, for the first time ever, I started to wonder how I was going to do everything. I felt really panicked.
“I was lucky enough to be treated with a single and non-invasive hydrogel injection called Arthrosamid® with Dr George Bownes, Musculoskeletal, Sports and Exercise Medicine at Citius Health. A year on, I have absolutely no pain in my knees now. I’, able to enjoy all that life has to offer both professionally, pursing projects I’m passionate about including improving access to touch therapies for cancer patients and personally spending time with my children and grandchildren.”
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