Before gyms had juice bars and the word wellness existed, Americans were doing some genuinely strange things in the name of physical fitness. The 1960s and 1970s produced a remarkable catalog of exercise fads, some ahead of their time, some scientifically questionable, and a few so thoroughly ridiculous that it is hard to believe they were sold in catalogs alongside actual food.
Some of it worked. Most of it did not.
If you were alive for any of it, you remember every single one.
The vibrating belt machine
The defining fitness fad of the 1960s required absolutely no effort on the part of the user. You looped a wide canvas belt around whichever part of your body concerned you most, switched it on, and stood there while it vibrated. The marketing promised that the mechanical motion would break down fat and tone muscles. Scientists eventually confirmed what most users already suspected: it did neither. The machines disappeared from living rooms by the end of the decade.
The 5BX plan
The 5BX program was developed for the Royal Canadian Air Force. This program consisted of five basic exercises completed in 11 minutes and required no equipment. It sold close to 23 million copies through the 1960s and 1970s and was used by people who had no interest in gyms. The calisthenics principle on which it was built is still taught in every military fitness program today.
The Trim Twist board
The Twist was a dance craze. Someone decided it should also be a workout. The Trim Twist was a small rotating board you stood on and swiveled back and forth, the idea being that the twisting motion would whittle the waist and tone the core. It was not wrong as a concept. As a product, it was a glorified spinning top. The fad faded quickly.
The Jazzercise studio
Judi Sheppard Missett created Jazzercise in 1969 as a dance class that happened to be exercise, and it quietly became one of the most durable fitness businesses in American history. By the 1970s, it had franchised across the country, mostly through military wives who trained as instructors. It looked like dancing. It was an early franchise model for the fitness industry that Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons later followed.
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The Schwinn Exerciser stationary bike
Schwinn released the first home stationary bike in 1965, and it sold remarkably well. It was not glamorous. There was no screen, no class, no instructor. You pedaled in your basement in silence. The concept endured well enough that it eventually became Peloton.
Jogging as a revolutionary act
Before the 1970s, adults running on public roads was genuinely unusual. People stared. Doctors occasionally warned against it. Then, a combination of the 1972 Boston Marathon opening to women, research on cardiovascular health, and a 1977 People magazine cover featuring Farrah Fawcett and Lee Majors running turned running into a mainstream activity for the first time. The jogging boom that followed transformed American cities and eventually led to the development of the entire running shoe industry.
Wrap up
Most of these fads shared one thing: they reflected a culture just beginning to understand that the body needed maintenance. Some of the methods were embarrassing. The instinct was right.
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