Complete Workout Book: Aerobics Warm Up Part 1

A two-parter this week! "The Complete Workout Book" by Ann Carpenter was another one that reappeared in a number of versions under a number of titles in a number of covers for a number of reasons (of which the main one was milking the content for all it was worth). And it's a real feast of 1980s fitness fashions, so I'll definitely be returning to it in the future. This week, though, I'm posting the complete warm-up from the Aerobics section. One star is easy, two stars medium, three stars advanced.

Isometrics 1967

From "Sixteen", a 1967 book full of advice for 16-year-old girls. Like, to keep in shape, stand in a doorway for six seconds a day.

Exercises To Improve Posture, 1975

From a Marshall Cavendish collection published in various permutations under various titles from the mid-70s to the mid-80s (I think it started life as a partwork called "Come Alive" in 1973) - the edition I scanned this series from is titled "The Complete Head To Toe Exercise Book" and is a 1985 reprint of a 1975 collection. Very summery...

Woman Book Of Successful Slimming, 1966

From the Woman Book of Successful Slimming, 1965. Simple and stylish.

Hello world!

Welcome to RetroFitness blog, the blog that looks back at 20th century fitness fads, fashions, failures, fancies and freaks. Since I'm British and British stuff is mostly what I have access to, it'll be somewhat British-biased, but other stuff may creep in.

I just want to stress at this point that if you attempt any of the exercises or routines posted here, you do so entirely at your own risk. Old books often include exercises which would be deemed inadvisable today. You probably won't come to any harm if you're sensible but if you do, don't come running to me for sympathy. If you CAN still run, that is.

OK... stand by your beds and await further posts. Or go away and come back later. I'm not going to know what you get up to, am I?