Vintage Exercise Techniques

[KittyT]

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

Love this! And working out in jeans is the coolest thing.

 

[HadleyH]

Jean Harlow 1933

"Develop or Bust" says the title, JH exercising with weighted pulleys.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Aw, great pics ladies! That is one of my favorites of Marilyn!! If I didn't do squats like a maniac I would maybe go for that look in the gym! Though it would only be my husband to see - in the ol' home gym - but whatever!

 

[HadleyH]

Joan Crawford manages to look glamorous in slacks and a sweatshirt while working out with Clark Gable in "Dancing Lady" (1933).

(they loved weighted pulleys in the 20s and 30s ...)

 

[lexismonkey]

Weightlifting and yoga worked for me, I haven't worked out in over a 1.5 years and I still look great The muscle is a lot harder to lose than fat.

You want better thighs? SQUATS! Very reliable. Lunges/squats and biking all seem to work wonders.

stumptuous.com is the greatest site ever.

Women don't bulk up without steroids or messing with hormones somehow.
as long as you don't mean "definition" as bulk anyway.

Avoiding white sugars, corn syrup, basically buying whole foods and making meals from scratch will help too. (ultra wellness diet is amazing-but tough)

Good luck with all this!

 

[Viola]

What does biking do that walking doesn't? That's not accusatory, I'm just looking for something else I can do that isn't more walking. I was thinking of a rowing machine or something but I thought a bike was redundant. No? Because I could get a stationary bike inexpensively I think.

I can't wait until I can buy weights but that's for next year.

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Yay! I work out in a gray sweatshirt! My husband bought us both gray sweats because we were going for a vintage feel!

 

[Tatum]

What does biking do that walking doesn't? That's not accusatory, I'm just looking for something else I can do that isn't more walking. I was thinking of a rowing machine or something but I thought a bike was redundant. No? Because I could get a stationary bike inexpensively I think.

I can't wait until I can buy weights but that's for next year.

Viola, I prefer biking (stationary or otherwise) to jogging or running because it is lower impact. (Bad back here.) I feel like I get more of a workout on the bike. We have a stationary bike that I use as opposed to running, but what I really want is an elliptical to work the upper body too.

 

[naominoir]

(first post eee!)

I thought this might interest you all... (sorry for my poor scanning technique!)

Here is a scan from the 'Best of the 1950's Good Housekeeping' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-1950s-22Good-Housekeeping-22/dp/1843404885/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256595245&sr=8-1

The article is from 1951 and demonstrates different exercises targeted at certain areas of the body: 'Exercise for figure faults, for vitality, for litheness of body, for a lit in your walk; to stay young, young, young.'

Here is the link to the scan

 

[Miss Jess]

My doctor told me that the only reason some women gain weight when they are on birth control is because they start eating more. The hormonal changes make you much hungrier... which means you eat more than normal if you don't watch your portions... which results in weight gain. So it's not actually the birth control that causes the weight gain, it's the change in appetite.

I've definitely had an increased appetite since starting my birth control regimen, and I put on about 10 pounds in 3 months - I've had a very consistent weight and waist size since I was 15, so that's a lot! I realized I was just stuffing in the food, without noticing how much I was taking in. Now I'm watching my portions and the weight is dropping back off.

Interesting!

 

[dgenevieve]

Also, I have an hourglass figure. Right now my measurements are 42-30-42. I was advised to stay away from kickboxing, the stairmaster, weight lifting with high resistance, and walking/running on an incline. Is this true?

I'd be interested to know why! I have the EXACT same measurements as you.

There was also a pretty neat discussion of vintage exercise techniques and what to wear while doing them in this thread.

Thought you ladies might find this interesting. There are lots of pictures of this woman. She was contemporary to John Grimeck and Steve Reeves, so 1940 - 1960ish. I love this picture since I do heavy lifting myself! I also found one of Marilyn Monroe that I had not seen before (who was also into weightlifting.)

Love it!! I'm going to pass along this one and the Marilyn one to my sister, who does much more weightlifting than I do. I really should start doing it again...

Right now it's dancing, running, yoga. I used to do much more of the running and yoga, plus swimming and some weightlifting. No $$$ for a gym membership now... dancing too much!!! I do some basic things too, like push ups and sit ups.

 

[ricki]

I posted some 1950's exercises here:
Exercise is a Ball.
The article is from 1000 Beauty Hints, called "Exercise is a Ball". It's supposed to be an exercise for those that love dancing.

 

[KittyT]

I just picked up a reprint of a book called "101 Things For The Housewife To Do - 1949" by Lillie B. and Arthur C. Horth at the Vermont Country Store. It's also available on Amazon and contains a ton of tips for things you would expect, but also a lot for things that you would not expect a housewife to do, like refinish a floor, mend electric cords or build a medicine cabinet.

I'll be posting fun tidbits around the Lounge in various threads!

 

[Mrs. Merl]

Love this!

 

[Romamor4]

Maintaining Pin Curls and excercising

I posted this question on another thread but haven't received any comments yet, so I'll try here!

How do you maintain your pin curls if you are excercising regularly? I am on a workout routine and am not sure how to do it. I get so sweaty that I want to wash my hair afterwards, but then I have to start my pin curl routine all over again. And if I work out three times a week at least, well...that just becomes a lot of work! Any advice or insight?

 

[Romamor4]

Also one more thing about the cardio- I have two kids and not always a lot of time. So when I strength training I do high interval cardio on about two or three days. But I never go over 25-30 min usually. And I still have great results, in fact you may burn more fat.

I do high interval training as well! It's GREAT! Best workout I've found for a person who's not crazy about running either.

 

[LittleMissToniJo]

I posted this question on another thread but haven't received any comments yet, so I'll try here!

How do you maintain your pin curls if you are excercising regularly? I am on a workout routine and am not sure how to do it. I get so sweaty that I want to wash my hair afterwards, but then I have to start my pin curl routine all over again. And if I work out three times a week at least, well...that just becomes a lot of work! Any advice or insight?

This IS interesting. I do yoga in the mornings and it's fine on the days where I've slept on them. On day 2, 3, etc. I usually put it up entirely in a scarf. I don't sweat that much really, though, with the kind of exercise that I do. I imagine if I was sweaty I'd have to re-set it all of the time :-(

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Set hair and intense sweating/working out don't mix. You either have to put in the extra effort to set your hair more regularly or choose which one you find more important (working out or good hair!)

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I posted this question on another thread but haven't received any comments yet, so I'll try here!

How do you maintain your pin curls if you are excercising regularly? I am on a workout routine and am not sure how to do it. I get so sweaty that I want to wash my hair afterwards, but then I have to start my pin curl routine all over again. And if I work out three times a week at least, well...that just becomes a lot of work! Any advice or insight?

I don't know if this will be of any help, as I don't pincurl but "cheat" and use one of those dryers with circular brush attachment which takes me all of 35 minutes to "do my 'do", with satisfactory results. I only do this 2x/week on average, and dry shampoo a couple of times during the week. Have you tried dry shampooing at all?