Who remembers “Mad Lizzie”, or formally known Lizzie Webb?
She presented daily exercise routines on the British morning television channel TV-am. Lizzie was first introduced onto the show after the success of exercise teacher Diana Moran (“the Green Goddess”) on the rival BBC One Show Breakfast Time.
Pop Dance days:
Lizzie created many videos, such as Pop Dance with Lizzie, Shake-out with Lizzie and much more! She also had a lot of success with her part in the show – Joggy Bear, a children’s television show from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
If you didn’t know, Lizzie was married to Andrew Webb. But sadly after a 9-year-marriage, they divorced.
So, what has Lizzie been up to since leaving the show?
Webb has made appearances here and there, most recently she appeared on ITV’s That Anthony Cotton Show. She also featured in an episode of Pointless Celebrities and made it to the final with This Mornings Dr Chris but lost jackpot.
Nowadays, Lizzie is still fit as a fiddle as we still remember her!
In 2007 she was nominated for the Sue Ryder Care Women of Achievement Awards.
What is Lizzie doing now?
She’s now a fitness instructor to young offenders at Huntercombe Young Offenders Institute and at Reading Prison. She prepares prisoners for a career in fitness instructing and acts as a mentor to the Huntercombe youths when they attend court, she couldn’t be any more perfect! Let’s all take a trip down memory lane and take a moment to watch Lizzie and a very young Sinitta working out to “I don’t believe in miracles”.
The Green Goddess
As we are getting older we are becoming lazier, we drive everywhere and our idea of exercise involves standing on a PowerPlate! But we weren’t always this lazy! In the 80s especially, we were totally into aerobics and we LOVED it!
This was mainly due to Jane Fonda! I think we can all agree that almost every single household owned a Jane Fonda workout video in the mid-80s. In the UK, we were treated to a daily dose of The Green Goddess, whose real name is Diana Moran and she’s now in her 70s!
Diana Moran now:
She used to guide us in a workout on BBC1’s Breakfast Time between 1983 and 1987. The Green Goddess’ routine was energetic and full of motivating words that kept Mum going when all she wanted was to sit down with her cuppa.
Mr Motivator then:
Mr Motivator was really the Green Goddess of the 90s and no doubt used her work as inspiration. He even took a leaf out of her fashion book, following up her all-in-one green Lycra leotard with his own multi coloured ones.
In 1993, Mr Motivator arrived, the man in Lycra who made everyone say “Yeah”. It has been sixteen years after he left our screens, Mr Motivator (real name Derrick Evans) continues to have a hold on millennials. His infectious enthusiasm, his easy-to-follow workouts, and the trademark multi-coloured outfits turned him into a cult figure.
Derrick left GMTV in 2003 because he wanted to move back to Jamaica with his family, but he still performs as Mr Motivator at festivals, as well as running an adventure tourism business in Jamaica, H’Evans Scent, and fronting campaigns such as the public health campaign Change4life.
Mr Motivator now:
I think we can all agree that Mr Motivator, the Green Goddess and Mad Lizzie are in amazing shape for their age! They can do moves with more grace and flexibility than most pensioners, and probably most of us…
Richard Simmons then:
Richard Simmons captured our attention in the late 70s and was known for his micro-mini shorts and his other outlandish outfits.
He became popular in the late 70s after taking the public on his own personal weight loss journey. In the 90s, he sparked an aerobic craze with a series of his Sweatin’ to the Oldies videos.But what is Richard Simmons up to now?
Richard Simmons now:
The comedian and fitness instructor still continues to teach at his Slimmons Studio in Beverly Hills, Calif. You might even see him in a few endorsements like the Geico commercials. As you can see he still wears his unique outfits and short shorts.
Jane Fonda then:
When people think about working out in the 80s, they won’t forget to mention Jane Fonda who was responsible for the highest selling home workout video of the 80s The Jane Fonda Workout. The workout video ended up selling over half a million copies!
Because the video was only available on the then-new VCR, a lot of people went out to buy themselves one so that they could do then workout at home themselves. After her success, Jane decided to release a series of 23 workout videos which in total sold 17 million copies combined.
Jane Fonda now:
In 2010, Fonda decided that she would release a further two workout videos that was targeted at an older audience. She still has a very successful career as an actress. In 2014, she was the recipient of the American Film Institute AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2017, she was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 74th Venice Film Festival.
Olivia Newton-John then:
We all remember Olivia Newton-John for playing Sandy Olsen in the 1978 film Grease. But what some of you might not know, is that the actress also had a very successful music career.
In 1981 she garnered a lot of attention for her ‘Let’s Get Physical’ music video where she pranced around and told her fans to literally get physical. After this music video was released Olivia Newton-John became a fitness icon!
Olivia Newton-John now:
In 2015, Newton-John was a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the same year, she managed to bag herself her first number-one single on Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart with “You Have To Believe” with her daughter Chloe. In 2017, it was unfortunately revealed that the singer/actress’ breast cancer was back and that it had now spread to her lower back.
The 80s was a time when fitness DVD’s and routines were at their all time high with the stars wearing leg warmers, headbands and neon leotards. Although the outfits might have changed, without the 80s push on workout videos, going to the gym and looking nice might not be as important as it is today!
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