Ever wondered how the fitness fads of yesteryear have sculpted the way we sweat today? Step into your time machine with me, Dana Jones, your guide on this episode of the Pain Free Athlete Podcast, as we sprint through decades of fitness evolution. Imagine twirling a hula hoop with the same fervor as '58, or feeling the burn with Jane Fonda. We're not just reminiscing; we're understanding the roots of our modern fitness obsession, from Jazzercise's enduring beat to the tech-laden gyms of today. You might even discover that your go-to workout routine has a pedigree dating back further than you think!
Join the community and chime in as we discuss not only the past but the present resurgence of tried-and-true fitness fundamentals. The barbell renaissance, ushered in by CrossFit, has reimagined the image of the athlete, blending strength with finesse. Share your thoughts and your favorite piece of gym equipment – because this podcast isn't just about the evolution of fitness; it's about you, your journey, and how we all fit into this ever-changing landscape. Lace-up for an episode that promises to elevate your heartbeat and maybe even inspire your next workout.
The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.
Ever wondered how the fitness fads of yesteryear have sculpted the way we sweat today? Step into your time machine with me, Dana Jones, your guide on this episode of the Pain Free Athlete Podcast, as we sprint through decades of fitness evolution. Imagine twirling a hula hoop with the same fervor as '58, or feeling the burn with Jane Fonda. We're not just reminiscing; we're understanding the roots of our modern fitness obsession, from Jazzercise's enduring beat to the tech-laden gyms of today. You might even discover that your go-to workout routine has a pedigree dating back further than you think!
Join the community and chime in as we discuss not only the past but the present resurgence of tried-and-true fitness fundamentals. The barbell renaissance, ushered in by CrossFit, has reimagined the image of the athlete, blending strength with finesse. Share your thoughts and your favorite piece of gym equipment – because this podcast isn't just about the evolution of fitness; it's about you, your journey, and how we all fit into this ever-changing landscape. Lace-up for an episode that promises to elevate your heartbeat and maybe even inspire your next workout.
The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.
I'm your host, dana Jones. I am a certified personal trainer and I'm here to help you achieve your fitness goals without pain. In each episode, I'll share tips and strategies that will help you stay safe and pain free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness and pain management. So if you're ready to learn how to stay active and pain free, then subscribe to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast today.
Dana:
Welcome to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones, and today's topic is going to be about I don't know fitness trends and equipment. So when I first started, I thought I'm going to do this about my favorite fitness equipment, and then I went down the deep hole of the internet, at the interweb, and started looking at the history of fitness and what are the different trends, because there's so many things that are so interesting to me that I couldn't help myself, and so I think you'll be entertained by what I'm going to share with you. So if you have, or someone who has participated in any type of physical activity in the last 25 years or so, probably I'm lying, because it's probably older than that you have considered either buying equipment or trying something, or going to a gym and trying something differently. And so I started to look around and I wanted to know, like, what are the popular trends? And so I found one article that talked about the popular trends from 1956 to current day. And I was totally entertained because in 1956, the fitness trend was roller derby and I was like, yeah, that's kind of cool and I think it was more about watching it than it was about doing it. But you know, we'll see, as I'm just going to roll through the list.
Dana:
In 1957 was the Universal Gym Machine, which is kind of funny because I remember in high school we used to call it the Universal and every once in a while I'll catch myself kind of dating myself by calling it the Universal. 1958 was who hooping, and of course that made its trend back with now weighted who hoops, that kind of kick your ass. 1959 was the Jacqueline show. We got a chance to watch this little dude who was shredded to pieces do crazy, you know, strength feats and he was definitely somebody who I guess he started like with the smoothies and all that kind of stuff. He was really about the whole package of an athlete having the fitness, nutrition and everything so that you could be as the best person that you can be Speaking of in 1962 was the fitness program, aka the president's presidential fitness.
Dana:
I can't remember they. They call it a workout, but it was something else. Anyway, jfk was the first person to start it and this is what you have to do when you're, I think, in middle school. It's like fifth grade is one and then another one is either seventh or eighth grade, where you have to do your presidential fitness test and you get the little medallion or whatever you get now. So that was in 1962.
Dana:
1964 is the birth of body weight exercises, back then known as calisthenics. 1965 was the first stationary bike. 66 was the sauna suit, because you can sweat away those calories. 67 was the vibrating belts to trim your waist. Trim your waist, and I always remember like seeing the ladies because I was always ladies. I don't think I've ever seen a video where a man was on it, but you know they're standing there with a big belt around their waist and getting. You know they're feeling shook out of their face while they're doing it.
Dana:
1969 was the birth of stretch classes. 1970 was electronic stim machines. So you know the little pads that you put on and then you have the controller in your hand and you get to. You know, I guess, build muscle by turning it up really high and causing the muscle to tense and release. 1972 was nautilus equipment. Of course if you were ever a gym member you remember nautilus equipment because it was everywhere and there was always a machine that was broken, which was kind of funny.
Dana:
1976, speedbag training was the thing. Of course it coincided with Rocky coming out, because of course everybody saw the body and you thought, oh, if I do that speedbag bag workout, I came and say it, then I'm going to be looking just like Sylvester Stallone. 1977, bodybuilding became a thing and of course that coincides with the movie Pumping Iron. 1978, treadmills they were originally created as stress test machines for doctors offices and then of course they, just like everything else, get packaged out for general distribution and now they've kind of become a staple. 1979, roller Skating makes its full circle right. 20 years later comes back 1980, gravity Boots.
Dana:
1981, fitness videos hit the scene Jane Fonda, jacqueline, denise, austin. 1984 is Jazzercise, and those suckers are still going. So go for you, good for you, the Jazzercise people. 1985, personal Training. I did not know this. This is the first time that people are actually paying a coach or another individual to coach them on how to use weights, how to work out, which I find interesting because we were kind of at a recession at that time. So it seems I don't know fervolous to pay somebody else to train you when you're waiting online for gas and all the other things that were happening during the 80s. 1986 is the Bowflex, 87, bones of Steel. Remember that sweat into the oldies, richard Simmons.
Dana:
1990 Thy Master Right. Suzanne Summers, right was the Thy Master. 93 was the Nordic Track. This was the original Nordic Track, which totally sucked if you ever used one, where you had a thin little slice of wood and you had the cables and you had to kind of go back and forth and if you screwed up you fell off it and you got hurt. 1984 was the Abroler. 85, or sorry, 94. 95 was the 8-minute abs. 98 was the elliptical machine Everybody's favorite. 99 was Ty Bow right, billy Blanks and the whole Ty Bow thing.
Dana:
2000 was the evolution of Pilates in the United States, because we know that Pilates is really old as well. As 2001 was the kettlebell. Same thing, right. Other countries were totally using it, but it just became popular in the United States during that time. 2003 was P90X. 2004, yoga became popular in the United States again, kind of funny, because you know we're talking. Thousands of years people have been doing that kind of stuff. 2005 was the bar workout, which I will do anything not to do a bar workout, because that is extremely painful Little, teeny, tiny movements, very dance-like. So for those of you who are ballerinas, god bless you, because that stuff hurts.
Dana:
2006 was TRX, and then we start hitting technology. 2008 is we Fit. Then we bounce back to the videos with. 2009 was Insanity. I have friends that were doing that and I thought they were insane for participating in it. My favorite 2010 the shake weight still makes me giggle. 2011, kickboxing makes another round. Then 2012, we hit Zumba land right, which lasted a good amount of time, and people are still doing Zumba. And it's how many? 14 years later, or 12 years yeah, 12 years, I can do math. 2013, the spin class becomes a thing. 2014, the Pelton. 2016, hot yoga. 2017, crossfit 2018 hit. And then from then on, we have the Mirror, apple Fitness Plus, fitbit all that kind of good stuff.
Dana:
As I was doing my research, I also came across an article from July 2023 which was saying that the equipment you choose is like your fitness horoscope and so they go through little things and I thought it was kind of entertaining, if anything, to kind of look at that and they, you know. So each thing has a category. So if you're a stair stepper kind of person and I didn't even have that on my list, I wonder when the stair stepper started. Anyway, if you're a stair stepper kind of person, you um, are really tough. I guess it would be the easiest way to say it. I do it, you know like. I do it for a couple minutes and I'm like I am fantastic for probably the first two minutes and then after that I'm grabbing onto the rails and I'm dying, right.
Dana:
But they consider the crucible of the cardio machines. Barbells are about simplicity, right, and because that's it right, you want to keep it simple and do your thing. Dumbbells I think it's funny because they said you know these are the. If these are your favorite tools to work within the gym, you're probably falling to one or two of these categories. Is that you saw pumping iron and it made a strong, strong impact on your fitness career. You absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, be asked to wait for the only squat rack, you have fun, mom energy, or you believe in unilateral training and that that will fix your fitness woes. And I was a little offended because I'm like, well, I don't know what category I fit into, probably the pumping iron, because I thought that was kind of cool.
Dana:
Kettlebells if you use Kettlebells you're a purist and basically because a kettlebell does everything you can get your cardio out of it, you can get your coordination, you know balance kind of stuff done. You know you get used to throwing things right, all the things that are happened as part of a kettlebell. It's considered the jack of all trades of equipment. If you are a cable person, you are what is it? You pitch your tent on the cable machine for the better part of an hour, so you don't like a lot of change. I think that's kind of funny, because anybody goes to the gym knows that getting on the cable machine is really difficult because they're just people that just hang on them forever and you're like dude, go away. So I can just do my set and move on. But it's kind of funny.
Dana:
Treadmills those are the safe and very straightforward and that's the type of person that you are. On that you are. I don't know what my problem is today. I'm having a hard time talking. You may be working on boosting your step count or you are wanting to have a more active lifestyle by doing the treadmill Exercise machines. This is considered like the bread and butter, you know. You don't want to learn some kind of fancy technique, you just want to get on there. Look at the little you know sticker on the side of the machine, do your thing and get off whatever effort you need to Calisthenics, you are again kind of a purist because you don't want to mess with any funny machines or anything like that.
Dana:
You reject modern modernity. I don't know how to say that word. I guess you reject being modern. How's that? You embrace tradition, right? Calisthenics are the old thing, old school kind of stuff, and those are the. They call it the paleo diet of physical fitness.
Dana:
I think it's funny because I was also reading an article this morning and the army is making their shift away from calisthenics and they're definitely moving toward weight workouts. So there's dead lifts now as part of the physical fitness test that we have to take. There's a lot of different exercises, because when I was in the military you did push-ups, sit-ups and you ran and that was it. And now the military is starting to embrace the CrossFit type workouts and they really wanna. You know you have to. As a soldier, you have to be prepared to carry heavy load and I think moving weights and doing farmers' carries and all the things that they have to do, those are probably good things and it probably reduces a lot of energy. So, anyway, that was my fun little trek down fitness lane and a little bit of history.
Dana:
And you know my feeling, of course, as always, is that you're gonna do whatever you need to do for you, and that's the catch, right, is that if you're doing something that is uncomfortable or makes you feel unsafe, right. You know, sometimes for women, going to the gym and trying to lift barbells is a difficult thing. One, you can't always get on the machine and two, you know you need somebody to spot you and it always feels weird to have somebody spot you, especially if you don't know them. So you know, I think you have to choose whatever you're gonna do. I know, for me, I enjoy going to the gym because there's certain equipment pieces of equipment that I don't have access to and I have zero interest in purchasing them for my house.
Dana:
I do sometimes like to walk backwards on the treadmill. Sometimes I walk on the treadmill, I will do the elliptical. They have those rope climbing machines now which are kind of cool but man, they hurt, they kick your butt too, like I was doing that the other day and I was like I can do 10 minutes and I was like I can do three minutes and let's go, and that's all I did was three minutes, because that's what you have to do. You know the rower. There's all different things that are big, that are not something that I'm going to have at my house. With that, I have a lot of equipment at my house Well, more weights, right, and I have the easy stuff. I just purchased a hyper back extension machine which just kind of holds you still while you do your exercises, and I love it. I love the idea of it because it allows me to do some exercises that I wanna do and really don't wanna go to the gym just for that one thing, and so I get to use that now and I have here for my training clients.
Dana:
I have kettlebells, I have dumbbells I do not have barbells because they take up a tremendous amount of space and then I have a couple of other little things around there some bands, things that you're easy to travel with, and really it just comes down to what you want to have in terms of equipment at your house. What are the things that you feel you have space for, because not everybody has the same size facility at their house, right? Some people have extra room, some people don't, and it's really just about you and find your groove. If you wanna go ahead and try something different, I did Zumba for a while and it was fun, and after a while it started to get boring, and then I moved on to something different, and I like to always try new fitness trends just to keep myself sharp, and I also wanna know what my clients are interested in and different things that are going on in the fitness community, because I am watching these trends go and there's a resurgence.
Dana:
Right, you know, for a long time, people didn't touch barbells because it was all about body weight. Right? P90x changed everything and now we're getting back to it because CrossFit came along, and now we're seeing all these people who are absolutely jacked and are phenomenal athletes that are doing this, and so this is something that we are interested in. Anyway, that's all I got for you. I'd love to hear what's your favorite piece of equipment. So don't forget to leave like a comment and I will catch you next time. I'll see you guys next time.