The Crystal Light Aerobics Championships

Sunday, July 15, 2012
Photo via mariachilly on Flickr
I saw these clips making the rounds on Facebook last week, and they're nothing short of gems. They're from the Crystal Light Aerobics Championships, which were broadcast on TV back in the day in all its spandex-and-leotard glory. Each clip is a voyage into an 80s time capsule. Although they might seem laughable today (especially some of the hairstyles) don't be fooled; the participants clearly took the competition seriously, and were in commendable physical shape. Each sequence also had to incorporate certain moves (so many pushups, etc.) And would you take a look at that synchronicity! 

Technically, this type of competition is known as "sportaerobics" and was created by Sports Fitness International, an athletic marketing firm, in the early 80s as the fitness and aerobics craze was beginning. The first national championship was held in 1984 and became an Olympic sport in 1997. (I was going to say who needs the Olympics when you have aerobics championships, but needless to say it's a moot point.) 

They are a gas to watch...enjoy! The opening sequence to the first one is straight out of Olivia Newton-John's "Physical."





7 comments:

  1. I am obsessed with these clips! I stumbled upon them randomly last week myself (I was looking up the 80s TV show Double Trouble and they just popped up in the sidebar), so it was funny when you mentioned they had been making the rounds.

    Aerobics is in the air!

    This was fun, thanks for posting! And I agree about the competition. It's probably easy to make fun of them, but these people are really talented. Some of the performances are insane. Who can do that stuff?!?

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  2. Thanks, Amanda! As I'm sure you found out, there are tons more on YouTube where these came from! It's kind of impressive that this new sport made it to the Olympics by the late 90s, so it has to be as physcially demanding as it looks.

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  3. P.S. I was mostly impressed by how high the trio of guys can kick in that last clip.

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  4. It really is hard to stop watching. I'm struck by how perky everyone is. And the music, whoa does that take me back. Thankfully, fitness fashions have evolved since then. :) Fun post Pam!

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  5. HA! Aerobics.. Wonder when those old fashions will come back in style?

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  6. Drive By Blogging... Nice!

    Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
    Oh No, Let's Go Crazy

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  7. My sister was on the winning team ! A reunion would be so fun especially after the release of the Taylor Swift video featuring this .

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