“Up until that point, people had been hearing exercise messages for the better part of the decade, but they weren’t sure what they were supposed to do,” says Shelly McKenzie, PhD, author of Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America. Cooper offered practical workout guidelines—setting the stage for what would eventually become a national fitness obsession.
The 1960s also saw the birth of the modern barre industry. The workout was invented by Lotte Berk, a retired German dancer who combined ballet moves, yoga and rehabilitative exercises to help herself recover from a back injury. She discovered that the workout helped her stay strong and supple, and in 1959, opened a small basement studio on Manchester Street in London, where she attracted a star-studded clientele.