Jane Fonda, the Original Fitness Influencer, Also Hates Working Out

Jane Fonda looked out into a crowd of people gathered in Brooklyn by H&M Move, the Swedish everything store’s line of activewear, to partake in one of her vintage workouts and offered some advice to those who would like to get moving but don’t know where to start. It was presented, as the most memorable advice usually is, in fable form: “My last husband, Ted Turner—he was my favorite. He had a cousin or something like that—a very old man who lived in Mississippi—and for, like, a hundred years [he] had walked the two blocks in this direction, and he told Ted he’s getting bored. And Ted said, ‘Well, turn around and walk the other way.’”

On Wednesday, influencers of various kinds and members of the press gathered to don the line of workout apparel, and mark the opening of H&M Move’s studio in Williamsburg. JaQuel Knight, choreographer and he of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” fame, led a reinterpretation of one of Fonda’s classes. On Knight’s cue, hundreds were bending and leaping and crunching through the workout that made Fonda a pioneer in the big business that we now call “fitness influencing.” Nobody was bored. 

“[Fonda] just taught me to never give up, and don’t stop,” Knight said of his partner on the campaign. “Don’t quit. You know, stay strong, and whatever you believe in, go after it and make it happen. Regardless of how long it takes, just continue to persevere.”

Fonda might be the queen of never giving up. Per the Workout lore, she discovered the moves when she needed to stay in shape ahead of a role for which she’d have to wear a bikini. By 1982, she’d released a VHS tape called Jane Fonda’s Workout, launching an at-home fitness boom, with its attendant signature aesthetic of leotards and leg warmers. 

40 or so years later, Fonda can’t do the Workout anymore at full speed, as she told Vanity Fair during a brief conversation post-sweat session, but she still moves regularly at 85. The actor has a trainer who specializes in bodies over 50, and she simply uses lighter weights and workout bands. It’s also been a long time since she’s had to train for a film like she did back then; Fonda simply stays fit, she said. There was no special or additional exercise that she did to ramp things up ahead of, say, 80 for Brady. Just the usual. 

For those who are a little less regular with their workouts, Fonda offered VF some tips: “Do a little bit outside your comfort zone, but not too much. And find something that you enjoy—because if you don’t enjoy it, you’re probably not gonna keep it up.”

Fonda added, “Now, why do I do it and why did I used to do it all the time is because when it was over, I felt so good. I hated doing it. I never liked working out, but I feel so good afterwards that I just do it.”

Yes, the original fitness influencer hates working out. But she’ll be the first to detail exactly how it pays off.

“Let me just talk from the perspective of someone who’s 85,” she told H&M’s crowd. “Every day I thank God that I worked out when I was younger. You’ve got to stay strong. You have to be able, when you’re driving your car, to look over your shoulder to see where you’re backing up. You know, this goes away after a while unless you [move]. I have a grandson who’s 3.5 years old, and I can still pick him up. I mean, I have to bend my knees and it takes a long time to get him up there, but I can still pick him up. You want to be able to stay strong just to live a safe life. You want to be able to carry your own bags. You want to be able to make love.”