The Jane Fonda Workout

In the 80s a lot of former 60s lefties embraced the capitalist tide and moved from the commune into the marketplace. Perhaps no one typified this trend more than Jane Fonda.

The former "Hanoi Jane" of the 60s anti-war movement decided it was time to feel the burn and, in 1982, put her celebrity behind a series of aerobics tapes that became a sensation. Her initial tape "The Jane Fonda Workout" went on to sell a whopping 17 million copies and remains the highest selling exercise video of all-time. It seemed there wasn't an upwardly mobile yuppie female in any major metropolitan area of the US in the mid-80s that didn't own a copy.

Some people claim that the popularity of Ms. Fonda's video actually created a surge in the sale of then new-to-the-market VHS players, (and certainly it put wind in the sails of leg-warmer sales), but no matter how you look at it her videos helped stoke the fire of the workout craze that is still thriving day.