Column: Reconnecting with an old-school Jane Fonda

The time had come, I decided, to do a little weight lifting.

And I do mean little.

I’ve had a set of three-pound weights for years, and have used them occasionally. But now I wanted to get serious about my arm flab. I walk at least 20 to 30 minutes every day, a form of exercise I enjoy. On workdays, I walk on my lunch break. In my free time, I usually walk with my husband, Paul, in scenic locations if possible. That way we get both a physical and mental recharge.

Though I believe walking helps keep me fit, it does nothing for my arms. The problem was, I couldn’t figure out how to work a routine into my schedule. As a school librarian, I’m already getting up at 5 a.m. When I get home, I am in no mood to lift weights.

I decided to move the weights from the upstairs bedroom to the downstairs family room. Since it adjoins the kitchen, I could conceivably get in a few lateral curls while the pasta water boiled at suppertime.

My time spent weight lifting did quadruple. It went from zero minutes per week to four.

I despaired for a moment, thinking of this. Then I remembered a time when I regularly did some basic weight lifting. It was in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. I had a videocassette of “Jane Fonda’s Complete Workout” that really worked for me.

The program consisted of three parts: an aerobic routine, a weight-lifting practice, and a second aerobic routine. Viewers could do the whole 90-minute workout, or any of the sections combined, such as an aerobic routine and the weight lifting.

It was the flexibility of the program that I liked. If I was home on a snow day, for example, I might do the whole thing. Other times, I’d just do the 15-minute weight-lifting segment.

I’d done it so often, in fact, that when I lifted my small weights on my own, I used the techniques I’d learned from Jane. I had muscle memory.

I had watched the video in our bedroom, on a small television with a built-in VCR. One day, the TV died with the video in it. I was disconsolate. I wasn’t watching the video all that often by then, but it had become an old friend.

Now, in 2019, I was pretty sure I could run down “Jane Fonda’s Complete Workout.” It turned out to be easier than I thought. It was right there on Amazon Prime. As a member, I didn’t even have to pay for it.

I still had to figure out when I was going to do the weight lifting. But having the workout on my computer, in the family room, with the weights nearby…surely I could find 15 minutes a few times a week.

I’m still working on getting myself into the habit. I know it can be done, because I’ve done it with walking. If I miss a day, I am unhappy. I am already planning what to do when I have a colonoscopy soon. I can eat breakfast at 9 a.m. the day before the procedure, and that will be my last solid food for about 28 hours. So I am going to eat and walk before I become weak and disoriented (from the anesthesia).

Anyway, just playing the video—hmm, what do you call it when you stream it? Well, it was fun to watch the introduction and then scroll across the bottom of the screen to the weight-lifting segment. It was like no time had passed at all. I remembered all the members of the “class,” as well as their classic 1980s workout gear and big hairstyles. 

Another good feature of the workout is that my classmates were of different ages and abilities. Slower, easier options were offered within the same routine.

I hadn’t needed them back then, but I might need them now.

I’d taken an aerobics class in the early 1980s when they first became popular. I hated it, even though I was a thin 20-something at the time. A decade later, and a bit heavier, I had found a home in “Jane Fonda’s Complete Workout.”

Though it was instantly familiar in 2019, I knew full well that at least 20 years had passed since that TV had gone to the landfill with the video trapped inside. On the negative side, I was no longer middle-aged. On the positive, I now weigh less than I did back then. It’s just my arms that need a workout!

Videocassettes are now obsolete, of course. DVDs are viable, but I find most of my viewing nowadays is through streaming. When it comes time to squeeze a workout into my crowded schedule, it certainly is simple to click on “Jane Fonda’s Complete Workout.” I just keep it open in a tab. No rewinding necessary!

And I can smile when Jane says we shouldn’t be looking at the television when we do some of the moves.

Jane, I promise I won’t.