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When thinking of infomercial product marketing, several big names come to mind:  Ron Popeil, Billy Mays, Anthony Sullivan, and of course, the legendary Jack LaLanne.  Now in his mid-nineties, Jack LaLanne began his career as a fitness expert, and was among the first to encourage weight lifting for not only men’s health, but for women as well.  A fitness innovator, he created some of the first weight training machines, including the leg extension machine and the Smith machine.

LaLanne was the first to take his fitness programs to television.  Even before the days of selling “as seen on TV products,”  LaLanne was a television fitness guru.  In the following clip from one of his early shows, LaLanne shows how important it is to exercise even your face:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isLJ024EdMA

Since then, a number of products and videos have launched to help people with facial exercise, including the Neckline Slimmer, Facial Flex, Flexaway, and Rejuvenique, which we’ll look at more closely next week.

Jack LaLanne himself didn’t stop with his fitness programs.  LaLanne has authored books, developed nutritional supplements, and marketed two of the top selling infomercial juicers:  The Juice Tiger and Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer.  LaLanne touts the nutritional benefits of juicing, and since he celebrated his 96th birthday last month, I’d say he may be on to something.

Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, has become really big news in recent years.  The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has come a long way from its early beginnings when it was misunderstood and compared with bare knuckle, no-holds-barred brawls.  As people begin to understand the true martial arts and wrestling roots of MMA, however, the sport has enjoyed increasing popularity.  This phenomenon spawned MMA-inspired apparel created by Tap Out, RVCA, and Affliction.  Once found only through online MMA specialty shops, you can now find these t-shirts in any mall.  The UFC, once condemned as a brutal sport of barroom brawlers, has launched its highly-trained fighters into household names.  In fact, The SciMark Report indicates that MMA has inspired a new trend in fitness equipment.  Acclaimed mixed martial artists and UFC fighters Randy Couture, Rich Franklin, and Bas Ruten are all currently endorsing infomercial fitness equipment.

So what does all of this have to do with Way Back Wednesday?  As a huge MMA fan, I am really interested in the unprecedented growth of this sport.  With so many MMA standouts selling exercise equipment through television marketing, I started thinking about the beginnings of martial arts as an infomercial fitness phenomenon.

One of the first martial-arts inspired fitness trends seen on TV was Tae Bo, marketed by fitness guru Billy Blanks.  Designed as a blend of Tae Kwon Do, boxing, and aerobics, Tae Bo launched a cardio kickboxing craze.  Even after the success of the initial Tae Bo series in the late 1990′s, Tae Bo continued to evolve, with Billy Blanks expanding the series to include Amped, T3, and Boot Camp videos and DVDs.   Take a look at this clip from the original Tae Bo Basic video:

Now, I’ll admit that I was an owner of this original series, and these exercise videos did, in fact, work really well.  The major drawback was that I felt like I had to constantly avert my eyes from Billy Blanks’s barely covered chest (I think it was cold in that studio) and from his embarrassingly tight, shiny pants.  That’s more information about Billy Blanks than I need.

The martial arts inspiration continued with everyone’s favorite roundhouse kickin’  Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris, and his Total Gym.  Even Tony Horton’s P90x includes a martial arts element through its Kenpo X routine.  As the pure martial arts evolve into the highly popular mixed martial arts, Randy Couture, UFC Hall of Famer and repeat champion in two weight classes, comes on the scene with the Tower 200.  Touted as “The Ultimate Workout,” the Tower 200 attaches itself to the fame of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its most prized fighter.

As MMA continues to grow, I’ll be interested to see how its popularity further impacts fitness trends.

Today we bring Way Back Wednesday to you all the way from 1992.  Jane Fonda, aerobics guru extraordinaire, could be seen on tv frequently, promoting her various aerobics videos and workout equipment.  Nearly 20 years ago, she brought us her New Step Aerobic Workout (how’s that for a great title?).  Along with the 45-minute step workout, you received a bench step with a FREE intensity level.  I mean, you could have just received two lousy levels with your order, but they threw one in FREE!  You could step on four inches, six inches, or tumble gracelessly from a height of eight inches:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvjT0d1kqds

Now, personally, I think that the true secret to the effectiveness of the workout lay in the size and thickness of the socks.  I mean, those suckers had to add a good five, ten pounds at least.

In the infomercial, Fonda notes that step aerobics provides less stress on the joints, but through the years, we have discovered that step aerobics is, in fact, jarring on the joints.  As workout philosophy and technology has evolved, trainers have learned ways to maintain the quality of a step workout while eliminating the stress on the bones and joints.  Two notable exercise equipment products include the TreadClimber, made by the fitness geniuses at Bowflex, and the AirClimber, which gives you the benefits of an aerobic step workout, but cushions your step through air-filled bellows beneath the steps.

Ginormous socks are optional, but do you really want to minimize your efforts by wearing normal socks?

With an impending trip to the lake this weekend, it has just hit me that I will be forced to wear a bathing suit–in public–in less than a week.  Of course, this just sets my mind to wondering exactly how many calories I can burn in the next two days.  I think I may have to resort to forcing my fellow vacationers to wear blindfolds.

In the meantime, all of the trauma brought on by the prospect of wearing a small piece of spandex to cover my not-so-small body has made me begin to ponder the evolution of the workout video.   From Jane Fonda first bringing aerobics to your living room and  Richard Simmons being your personal cheerleader as you sweated to the oldies, we’ve come farther than you can stretch a day-glo leotard.

Just take a look at this Jazzercise video from the 80′s.  While not exclusively an as seen on TV, it does have all the crucial elements of an 80′s infomercial workout video:  the big hair, the wedgie-inducing leotards, the bad music, and the really awful moves:

I think I got an ab workout just from laughing so hard.

Of course, now we have things like P90x and Insanity. Check out the difference in the workouts (and in the bodies performing them!):

While I know that nothing is going to get this body ready for the lake by the end of the week, I have no doubt that Tony Horton and Shaun T could have me ready to rock the boat by the end of the summer.

No leotard required.

P90X and Insanity have just been added to our product line-up, and we have more BeachBody products coming soon.  P90X and Insanity are some extremely intense home exercise programs.  I should know – I’ve done them both (actually, just about to finish up the Insanity program this week).

They are tough, but if you really want results you’ve got to work at it.  I struggled a lot through both of the programs.  With Insanity, even after 2 months, the warmup still feels  like a pretty good workout, and I am absolutely wiped out and sweating like a horse after the complete workout.  And while I can’t speak for everyone, I’ve have been extremely pleased with my results on these 2 programs.

P90X is geared more toward building strength, while Insanity is to build cardio endurance and help you tone.  I didn’t stick to the diet very well (the programs come with a very detailed diet plan in addition to the exercise), or I would probably have had phenominal results, but here’s what I did experience:

• Lost 20lbs
• Went from a size 40 waist to a 36
• Went from doing 2 pullups to 15 (plus more curls, pushup, situps, increased resistance, etc)
• More definition in chest, biceps, triceps
• Better abs (still have a little bulge to get rid of right in the middle, but I can see abs and obliques now with some definition)

I did lay off the soft drinks quite a bit – still have 1 or 2 a week, so I am sure that helped as well.

Both P90X and Insanity are great programs, but you really do have to be determined and committed to get through them.  I’ll wrap up Insanity in a few days, take a little break for the Holidays, and get started again in the New Year.