The 1970s: Jazzercise

The fitness trend of the 70s was called the Jazzercise. Jazzercise is a type of high-intensity workout that still exists and is practiced today but not as widely as in the 70s. It consists of a mix of jazz moves and dance (which explains its name), as well as Pilates, yoga, kickboxing and ballet. The routines were set and performed on a song that was popular at the time that the instructor chooses. It is believed that Jazzercise was the beginning of many choreographed types of exercises that follow a certain music rhythm.

The 1980s: Aerobics

In the 80S, Aerobics were widely known and practiced. They were considered a byproduct of Jazzercise. In fact, the two types of fitness routines; Jazzercise and Aerobics are considered to be similar however the latter is less related to dance moves. Aerobics was invented in the 60s, 20 years before, but was not popular back then. It wasn’t until Jane Fonda started practicing it and encouraged the release of books and workout tapes about aerobics. In aerobics, dance moves are mixed with fitness movements such as marching in place or elevating knees. Aerobics became a hit and inspired a lot of other trends that came later on such as step aerobics and water aerobics.

The 1990s: Tae Bo

In your head, might associate Tae Bo with martial arts. This is partially true, as Billy Banks, also known as the Karate master, was the one who created it. The 90s fitness industry was dominated by Tae Bo, which is a type of high-intensity cardio workout that brings together, not only martial arts and boxing but also dancing and hip hop beats. During this time, Tae Bo was very popular in that nearly 500 million Tae Bo videos were being sold.

The 1990s: Spinning

There was another fitness trend that came alive between 1990 and 1999, and it is spinning. This is the brief story of spinning; a personal trainer and cyclist known by the name of Johnny Goldberg flew from South Africa to the United States. One day when he was biking, he almost got hit by a car, which scared so much that he came up with the idea of indoor cycling. He started giving cycling courses in 1990 which became a workout revolution. Spinning classes are fueled by upbeat and lively music and became a very popular class in today’s world.

The 2000s: Zumba

As you have just read, many of the past decade's fitness trends were based on some dance concept, and the 2000s trend is nothing different. Zumba started as a workout inspired by Latin dances, as it mixes bachata, salsa, flamenco and tango moves and the music that follows the workout is a pop or Latin music.

Which of these past fitness trends did you ever try?