Night before last Richard and I had some friends (and family) over for dinner and to listen to some music. I loved seeing Rosanna again. She and I used to hang back in the late 70s and 80s and I was in her documentary, “Searching for Debra Winger”.

Parky DeVogelaere, My bro Peter and Rosanna Arquette

Singer/actor, Olivia d'Abo, her husband, music producer and pianist, Patrick Leonard, actor/director Rosanna Arquette, me, Peter, Parky and Richard

Songwriter supreme, Diane Warren with friends

Trying to be funny on their laps

Diane, me, Rosanna

Then, I just got back from a full day’s work doing the two exercise programs I am developing with a wonderful group of boomers and seniors who volunteered to be my guinea pigs. We all had a really good time and I learned a lot from them about what works, what needs tweeking, etc. They were a wonderful group, randomly picked to come into Darren Capik’s studio. ET and People Magazine stopped by to watch and film and I was interviewed and I am wiped!!! I think I’ll go take a hot Epsom Salts bath before we go out to dinner.

me talking with producer/director Darren Capik

torso twists

Using the band

doing wall squats

A recent article in the Daily Mail reports that my knee replacement surgery was the result of years of repetitive pounding from doing my Jane Fonda Workout programs. Wrong! It is a result of osteoarthritis which my father, Henry Fonda, also suffered from, as does my brother, Peter, who may need hip replacement soon. You never saw them doing the Jane Fonda Workouts. My family’s osteoarthritis (the gradual disappearance of joint cartilage) is a matter of genes, not working out. I am sure that my 25 years of eating disorders didn’t help the condition, and perhaps my decade of running made it worse. But sooner or later I would have needed joint replacement even if I had been totally sedentary.

The fact is that my Workout programs were initially not aerobic at all. Only one of them, “The Workout Challenge,” had an aerobic component and because it was so challenging, not many people purchased it. When I actually got into producing aerobic videos they were of the low-impact variety and were supervised by sports physiologists. As for my exhortation to  ”Go for The Burn,” that came with strength building-working the particular muscle group long enough to feel the burn that results from the build up of lactic acid. This has nothing to do with aerobic activity which is where the “pounding” comes in.

Genes, my friends, are the culprits, not my workouts,