In 1982, the Jane Fonda Workout became the best-selling home video of all time. Over decades, it and its 22 follow ups would spawn a fitness empire, sell more than 17 million copies, and transform Fonda into a leg-warmer-clad exercise guru. And 40 years after its initial release, when the COVID pandemic hit, the workout had a moment yet again. People began doing it alone and on Zoom, tweeting about it, writing about it. So when Jane Fonda agreed to talk to us, we set out to do an episode about it—but it did not go as planned.

On Part 1 of a special two-part Decoder Ring, originally released in 2020, we explore the decades-long relationship of Jane Fonda and Leni Cazden, a fraught friendship that birthed the VHS workout that changed the world. It’s a story of creation, fame, forgiveness, trauma, betrayal, survival, politics, and exercise. You’ll hear from Jane Fonda and Leni Cazden, the brain behind the workout, and Shelly McKenzie, author of Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America.

In two weeks we’ll return with Part 2: the nitty gritty story of the bestselling VHS tape of all time.

This episode was written by Willa Paskin. It was edited and produced by Benjamin Frisch. We had research assistance from Cleo Levin. Decoder Ring is produced by Katie Shepherd, Max Freedman, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected], or leave a message on the Decoder RIng hotline at 347-460-7281. We love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show. 

Sources for This Episode

Burke, Carol. Camp All-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-Tight, Beacon Press, 2005.

Fonda, Jane. My Life So Far, Random House, 2005.

Hershberger, Mary. Jane Fonda's War: A Political Biography of an Antiwar Icon, The New Press, 2005.

Lembcke, Jerry. Hanoi Jane: War, Sex, and Fantasies of Betrayal, University of Massachusetts Press, 2010.

McKenzie, Shelly. Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America, University Press of Kansas, 2013.

Perlstein, Rick. Nixonland, Scribner, 2009.

Rafferty, James Michael. “Politicising Stardom: Jane Fonda, IPC Films and Hollywood, 1977-1982,” Queen Mary University of London Dissertation, 2010.

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