The Fitness Follies
It's true: The stars do sweat. Jane Fonda does. Richard Simmons does. Even Debbie Reynolds does. Unlike the rest of us, though, they do it for money, on fitness-oriented videotapes. Fonda's trend-setting Workout is the No. 2 videotape, having grossed more than $29 million (at $59.95 each) since 1982. Debbie followed with her tape; so have Simmons, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Fonda herself with two more. In all of them, the celebs smile as they stretch muscles. They try to look fashionable in their designer gym togs, panting and grunting; they try to prove that choreography makes calisthenics painless. Wrong. Exercise is good for you, but it hurts. There are other problems with this video-fitness fad. Your TV room can start to smell like a locker room. Downstairs neighbors may not take kindly to those jumping jacks. And it's not easy to work out and watch TV at the same time—it can give you a stiff neck. But then the stars have exercises to cure that too. Here's how the new releases in the field shape up:
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