If you lived in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, your choices for an aerobic workout class were truly slim. You could go to Jane Fonda’s studio in Beverly Hills, where everyone breaking a sweat was “feather-to-lightweight,” according to one observer. You could try a few dance studios where the professionally beautiful — actresses, models, media personalities — willed their bodies to become even more so. If building muscle was your goal, you could stop by Gold’s Gym or other palaces of pump, where an almost entirely male clientele strove for hard bodies in the image of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was against this backdrop of fitness exclusivity that Richard Simmons kicked, shouted and shimmied to the forefront of the workout scene, inviting the people he encountered to move with him — first at his Los Angeles studio and then in their own living rooms, through his home workouts on TV and VHS.

---

Persons: Jane Fonda’s, —, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Simmons, shimmied, Simmons, “, ”, Daniel Kunitz, ” Mr, Kunitz Organizations: Gold’s, Los Angeles, Ninja Warriors Locations: Los Angeles, Beverly Hills