ABSTRACT
Name recognition is everything in this game. A whole library of exercise videos exists from the “ultimate” fitness package to concentration on just one body part. The videos that sell the best feature a celebrity instructor. Movie star and political activist Jane Fonda is at the top of the pyramid. “Jane Fonda's Workout” started the fad in 1982; other videos have followed and all have been best-sellers, e.g., “Jane Fonda's Prime Time Workout,” “Jane Fonda's Challenge,” “Jane Fonda's Pregnancy, Birth, Recovery,” and “Jane Fonda's Low Impact Aerobic Workout.” Over time, she has improved her videos in accordance with new knowledge gained from sports medicine. Her warm-up and warm-down periods are much longer and she avoids “ballistic-type movements” (bouncing). One of the biggest worries of exercise video makers has been how to monitor the participant who huffs and puffs at home alone. If the participant gets hurt, then word-of-mouth will stymie the sale of videos or prompt a change to another program. Heaven forbid anyone having a major health problem while trying to keep up with the relentless instructor. Such anxiety has resulted in slowing down the videos and giving verbal cues that the next exercise is not for beginners.
