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Jane Fonda's Workout Book
1981 Simon and Schuster NY. Paperback. ISBN: 0671508952.
- GenresNonfiction
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
4 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Jane Fonda
86 books299 followersJane Fonda is a two-time Academy Award-winning actress (Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home), author, activist, and fitness guru. Her career has spanned over 50 years, accumulating a body of film work that includes over 45 films and crucial work on behalf of political causes such as women’s rights, Native Americans, and the environment. She is a seven-time Golden Globe® winner, Honorary Palme d’Or honoree, 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award winner, and the 2019 recipient of the Stanley Kubrick Excellence in Film Award as part of BAFTA’s Britannia Awards. Fonda is currently in production for the seventh and final season of Grace & Frankie, which will be Netflix’s longest running original series. It is for her work on the series that she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2017. She was last seen on the big screen in Paramount’s comedy, Book Club in which she starred alongside Diane Keaton, Mary Steenburgen, and Candice Bergen. Fonda also premiered Jane Fonda in Five Acts, a documentary for HBO chronicling her life and activism, at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special in 2019. Jane celebrated her 80th birthday by raising $1 million for each of her nonprofits, Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential and The Women’s Media Center. Currently, Jane is leading the charge on Fire Drill Fridays, a national movement to protest government inaction on climate change. Her latest book, “What Can I Do? My Path From Climate Despair To Action,” details her personal journey with the movement and provides solutions for communities to combat the climate crisis, will be released on September 8 via Penguin Press.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 3, 2019
Oh-My-God! Knew about the book and her success with the 'burn' but my introduction to Fonda World has primarily been through gossip magazines (affairs, marriages, divorces, relations with father, Hanoi this and that, her religious bent etc. - ala People Magazine and Larry King) in the 90s. 'Klute' and 'The China Syndrome' were great films.
My favorite exercise and self-care book has always been a small-number 'Transformation - The Complete Beauty Book' by Bebe Mukherjee (an Indian author; published by Rupa and Co, 1992 ) but I've never been disciplined about it.
So when I was at an old book store a few weeks ago getting To Kill A Mocking Bird and a P.D. James book, I got this on a fluke as a 'trophy' even though I need some serious weight-losing too! I've been on this yo-yo of being very thin a couple of years (105 pounds was the leanest number, especially the years I had a stressful job) and then going very fat the next couple (190 pounds was the fattest I was) and from being healthy thin 4 years ago to right now being between 145-150 pounds.
Generally speaking let's just say that there's no fad I haven't read about but in the good old days, I didn't follow anything other than reducing sugars and making exercise a routine (jogging while watching a TV show for an hour).
But I'm not 20 or 30 anymore so it's harder to get thin because metabolism is slow and motivation even lower but the fact is that as Fonda emphasizes in the book - for me, exercise has never been a priority, or self-service has never been a top goal - and it has to be to get healthy thin - and there has to be a sustained commitment to it.
Well I opened the book today because I've been feeling puffed, heavy and have this paunch that is ridiculous, so something had to change. I opened the book, went on reading (it's written in a nice manner - surprise for me - I thought it would be a nonsense celebrity book, it's not. Instead of being a patronizing condescending know-it-all, Fonda actually is gentle and forceful in advice but never 'Gwyneth Paltrow' if you know what I mean!).
Of course her warmup is meant to get every muscle in the body moving, and it did - tiring me out, so much so that I went straight to cooling down exercises!!!! This is what happens when you sit on the couch in front of a computer finishing one book and another, having a sabbatical only for a job and a cup of tea a few months!
The good part is that since I've exercised before and have always been flexible, the body remembers it all and will catch up soon enough. The aim of course is not to do what Fonda is doing on the cover - rather it's to get thin in a healthy manner (have a flat stomach, legs that don't look and feel like logs of wood and a single chin!).Let's see what dividends hard work brings!
(Addendum: 26th Aug.: It would have been good if Ms. Fonda had also written that all of the exercises between 'warm up' and 'cool down' are for toning a body that had already lost weight - and NOT FOR THOSE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT - because guess what? I have pain in my ribs, abdomen, 'tire' all around because I swung my arms as Ms. Fonda suggested - I don't know why i forgot the lesson from other exercise books - first lose weight, then try to 'fix' spots and Fonda's book, though good, is for fixing spots, not losing weight)
My favorite exercise and self-care book has always been a small-number 'Transformation - The Complete Beauty Book' by Bebe Mukherjee (an Indian author; published by Rupa and Co, 1992 ) but I've never been disciplined about it.
So when I was at an old book store a few weeks ago getting To Kill A Mocking Bird and a P.D. James book, I got this on a fluke as a 'trophy' even though I need some serious weight-losing too! I've been on this yo-yo of being very thin a couple of years (105 pounds was the leanest number, especially the years I had a stressful job) and then going very fat the next couple (190 pounds was the fattest I was) and from being healthy thin 4 years ago to right now being between 145-150 pounds.
Generally speaking let's just say that there's no fad I haven't read about but in the good old days, I didn't follow anything other than reducing sugars and making exercise a routine (jogging while watching a TV show for an hour).
But I'm not 20 or 30 anymore so it's harder to get thin because metabolism is slow and motivation even lower but the fact is that as Fonda emphasizes in the book - for me, exercise has never been a priority, or self-service has never been a top goal - and it has to be to get healthy thin - and there has to be a sustained commitment to it.
Well I opened the book today because I've been feeling puffed, heavy and have this paunch that is ridiculous, so something had to change. I opened the book, went on reading (it's written in a nice manner - surprise for me - I thought it would be a nonsense celebrity book, it's not. Instead of being a patronizing condescending know-it-all, Fonda actually is gentle and forceful in advice but never 'Gwyneth Paltrow' if you know what I mean!).
Of course her warmup is meant to get every muscle in the body moving, and it did - tiring me out, so much so that I went straight to cooling down exercises!!!! This is what happens when you sit on the couch in front of a computer finishing one book and another, having a sabbatical only for a job and a cup of tea a few months!
The good part is that since I've exercised before and have always been flexible, the body remembers it all and will catch up soon enough. The aim of course is not to do what Fonda is doing on the cover - rather it's to get thin in a healthy manner (have a flat stomach, legs that don't look and feel like logs of wood and a single chin!).Let's see what dividends hard work brings!
(Addendum: 26th Aug.: It would have been good if Ms. Fonda had also written that all of the exercises between 'warm up' and 'cool down' are for toning a body that had already lost weight - and NOT FOR THOSE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT - because guess what? I have pain in my ribs, abdomen, 'tire' all around because I swung my arms as Ms. Fonda suggested - I don't know why i forgot the lesson from other exercise books - first lose weight, then try to 'fix' spots and Fonda's book, though good, is for fixing spots, not losing weight)
January 25, 2016
Even though Jackie Sorensen started Aerobic Dance, it was Jane Fonda who made it a national craze and set off a chain reaction that would lead to universities adding Exercise Science degrees to their curriculum, research on Aerobics and Dance Fitness and an array of accredited national certifications for Aerobics and Group Fitness and would go on to inspire new ways to workout such as Step Aerobics, Spinning, Hip Hop, Water Aerobics, Zumba and more.
Even though parts of the book are outdated from an exercise and nutrition science standpoint, much of it is still viable today such as the importance of warming up and cooling down, stretching, and eating a nutritious, balanced diet. I discovered Jane's Workout back in 1983 when I was in college and it inspired me to change my major from mathematics to exercise science 2 years later. And ironically, many of the exercises in the book that were determined to be contraindicated in the late 80s/early 90s are popular now in yoga and Pilates classes. Everything old is new again.
Even though parts of the book are outdated from an exercise and nutrition science standpoint, much of it is still viable today such as the importance of warming up and cooling down, stretching, and eating a nutritious, balanced diet. I discovered Jane's Workout back in 1983 when I was in college and it inspired me to change my major from mathematics to exercise science 2 years later. And ironically, many of the exercises in the book that were determined to be contraindicated in the late 80s/early 90s are popular now in yoga and Pilates classes. Everything old is new again.
December 29, 2014
I think this book was in half the homes I babysat for as a teen, so I remember being bored enough after kiddy bedtime to read it.
June 28, 2011
This is, by far, the best book I've ever placed on my coffee table.
January 31, 2019
Jane Fonda is such an inspiration. I love her desire to learn and evolve.
September 30, 2023
Legwarming
July 3, 2007
Many many years ago when her exercise program was all the rage.
May 29, 2008
Sweet legwarmers!
June 6, 2016
Read between July and December 1986.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews