Fit: Jumping Back in Time

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TWENTY YEARS AGO, this was a hot ensemble, explains the area group exercise director for Bally Total Fitness. She's rocking it again as Bally celebrates a month dedicated to the workouts of the 1980s.

The action kicked off last week with a class led by a tag team of instructors at the gym's Pentagon Row outpost, where they've hung a disco ball for the occasion. (Every club is hosting an '80s night Sept. 20; see Ballyfitness.com for Washington-area locations and a free seven-day pass.)

There are plenty of cultural quirks to mock from that bygone era. Lili Rojas, another instructor, marked the occasion with Cyndi Lauper-style makeup, a side ponytail and an off-one-shoulder sweatshirt straight out of "Flashdance." The workouts are also showing their age: They got hearts pumping, but pretty much ignored muscles. "We do a lot more strength now instead of all cardio," Bell says.

But pining for the past isn't so crazy. Exercise science might not have been as advanced back then, but those workouts involved a heck of a lot more grooving. And what's not to love about the decade that tricked a nation into believing that leg warmers and headbands were OK? "We need to bring back the fun," Rojas cheers.

Terry Sneed, 48, is all for the idea. She was one of the dozens of Bally members crammed into the studio last week. "This is the music I grew up with. It represents that time when we danced together," she says. Even members whose memories of the decade must be hazy at best were psyched: Tyler Khai, 20, doffed his cowboy hat to gush, "The '80s are much better."

Certainly, there is an argument to be made that the music is superior to the tedious techno and Top 40 that accompany today's workout classes. The crowd was thrilled as the first notes of each song pounded from the stereo. "Push It" by Salt-N-Pepa, "Don't Go" by Yaz and "Venus" by Bananarama all drew "ooohs" from the crowd. (Although folks were probably forgetting that, back in the day, they'd have been dealing with an awkward mix tape instead of a user-friendly CD.)

The moves were quick and bouncy, and often involved jazz hands. "You never stood still in the '80s," Rojas cajoled the class. Students soon became grapevine experts, completing every possible variation: with sharp arm movements, followed by a double leap, etc. There was sweating sure to make Richard Simmons proud.

But after the exhaustingly aerobic hour, the students proved that they were no longer living in the past. "Aren't we going to do something for our abs?" asked one. And even Sneed, who'd like to do the class again, has a modern take on how &'80s-style moves fit in. "It's nice for cross-training," she says.

Photo courtesy Lawrence Luk