IT’S the beginning of 2017 which means New Year’s Resolutions are on the cards, with many bound to be promising to get fit.
Marylin Monroe Working out
Rosemary Andree, a classical dancer and body culture expert demonstrating exercises using a treadmill in 1934
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Around this time it seems working out in high heels was also a big trend
Workouts were a completely different thing back in the day, starting with the outfits.
In the Victorian era, it seems women exercised in their everyday clothes. That means they climbed onto equipment in full-length skirts, presumably with tightly-wound corsets beneath.
Things weren’t much better by the 1930s, when it seems it was all the range for ladies to exercise in HIGH HEELS. Stretches, balance beans and even rowing machines were used with stilettos firmly in place.
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Miss Dorothy Keith is in the clutches of the hip-reducing machine and electrical device which rolls away the surplus flesh in 1900
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circa 1930: Rosemary Andree keeping fit on the latest device
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1933 – Mildred Babe Didrickson, the sensational girl athlete of Beaumont, Texas, loosens up the kinks here in her legs on a running machine in Artie McGovern’s Gymnasium in New York, under the personal direction of Artie himself. The Babe was disappointed as she intended to box with Babe Ruth, but he didn’t show up
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Victorian era exercise machine
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1955 – Dr. William J. Steenrod, Jr., Seattle tried out a new exercise machine on display at the Olympic Hotel, site of the Washington State Medical Association convention. Walter Heath, representing the manufacturer, explained the workings of the machine
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A woman out for her morning run on the latest British invention for home exercise, London, England, January 4, 1923
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Helen List and Jack O’Brien foot-racing with Elizabeth Darling, who is on the indoor running machine in 1928
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One of the busiest secretaries in Washington DC is the amanuensis of Vice President John Nance Garner, who also happens to be the Vice-President’s wife. The Garners are strict observers of the simple life and Mrs. Garner gets her exercise in her office at times when business is not too pressing. Here you see Mrs. Garner taking a session at the rowing machine and getting the equivalent of an hour’s row up the Potomac without leaving her office
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circa 1928: Star of the silent screen Colleen Moore (1900 – 1988) keeps herself with a spot of exercise on a rowing machine in the garden
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Passengers on the Canadian Pacific liner Duchess of Bedford keep fit in the ship’s gymnasium, with the help of a riding machine in 1931
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Rowing machines certainly used to look very different
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In fact some of the machines were incredibly literal, as this one with oars shows
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This lady’s balance is certainly being tested as she works out in heels
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Cricketer Phil Edmonds, who played for England between 1975 and 1987, hangs upside down to try to help a back problem
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Journalist Virginia Ironside seen exercising in 1967
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This lady appears to be working out in a silky slip and matching shorts
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A group exercise together in 1930
A young woman exercising with a spring apparatus in 1933
Then, of course, there was the equipment.
Who needs flashy Power Plates or Crosstrainers when you could do step ups and stretches on one of these beauties?
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Boxer Jack Dempsey, who competed between 1914 and 1927, is seen exercising on a treadmill in Chicago in
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This stretching station looks as if it helps with toning
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A woman exercises in 1933
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Bill Marshall had a heart operation in Leeds and was then pictured getting fit on a static bike
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This brings a whole new level to the term hula hoop
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Beauty queen June Whitaker took up weight-lifting to keep her figure trim
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Joan Crawford in Dancing Lady – 1933
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This machine seemed to test strength and balance
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Trainer and young woman doing exercises at the beach
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One of the businessmen that patronises the Chicago Athletic Club using the new vibrating belt machine in1 927
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People exercise using rings
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This bench stretch looks pretty relaxing
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Even gym balls have changed over the years
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Chicago, Illinois: May 9, 1929. A woman is tangled up in the straps from the tummy shimmy machines at her athletic club.
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A man exercises his arms in his office
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Clara Bow, on-set of the Film, The Saturday Night Kid Directed by A. Edward Sutherland, 1929
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An old-fashioned rowing machine
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Skipping has always been a
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Surely that cant be a real weight?
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Lawrence, Kansas: November 11, 1926. A member of the University of Kansas acrobatics team makes a swan dive over four of his teammates
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Clara Bow and Mary Gordon, on-set of the Film, The Saturday Night Kid Directed by A. Edward Sutherland, 1929
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