Richard Simmons Exercises

Richard Simmons is a nutrition and fitness icon whose mission is to touch the lives off those who struggle with weight issues. His career began in the 1970s after winning his own battle with weight. He realized that there needed to be a health plan for the obese, elderly and disabled. He found that the gyms were filled with people who were already in shape, and he wanted to help those that were not.

  1. Walking

    • Richard Simmons has created an exercise program that reflects his personality. It is energetic and fun. His famous exercise videos incorporate upbeat and popular songs with low impact but high energy aerobics. The steps he uses are very basic, and they are designed so that anybody can do them.

      The routine will start with something very simple such as walking in place or step taps. While walking in place, he will add arm movements to get the whole body moving to the beat. The step tap would be taking a step to the side, tapping your feet together and then stepping to the other side and tapping your feet together. As you step to the side raise your arms out to the side at shoulder level, and as you tap your feet together, place your arms back down by your side.

    Grapevine

    • Another basic step is the grapevine. The grapevine starts with a step to the side on either side. Cross behind, take another side step in the same direction and tap your feet together. Repeat a grapevine on the other side. There are a number of ways to incorporate arm movements with the grapevine. Richard Simmons choreographs arm movements to go along with the music and lyrics.

    Chases

    • Chases also are used in the Richard Simmons choreography. Chases can be done in any direction. They are made up of three steps. Take a step in any direction, step together and step again in the same direction. If you are going forward starting on the right foot, you would step forward on your right foot, together with your left and forward again on your right foot. The arms can be added in a number of different ways, the most basic of which would be to have the opposite arm forward as you chase.