LITTLE ROCK — At 64, Richard Simmons is still the self-appointed “clown prince” of fitness.
He still sports his tight Dolfin brand shorts to teach aerobics class twice a week at Slimmons, the Beverly Hills, Calif., exercise studio he founded in 1974.
He also travels around the country teaching hundreds of classes a year at schools and conferences. In February, the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance gave him its Jack LaLanne Lifetime Achievement Award.
And he answers the phone himself, singing. It’s 7 a.m.
Q:
Hello, Richard?
A:
Already, I’ve talked to 20 people. I start phone calls at 4 a.m. to cheer people up. The housebound, people in the hospital. People who, after decades, still can’t get over what happened 10 or 15 years ago.
Q:
What’s different about people today?
A:
Everyone knows how to eat right. They know the difference between oatmeal and a jelly cream doughnut. They know how to walk. Everyone has this in their brain. When I started, we didn’t have all this knowledge. Forty years ago, I lost my weight, but only by watching what I was eating.
Q:
What would you tell your 16-year-old self?
A:
Stop trying to find something in food that will make you feel better. I used to have eating disorders; I’d binge and purge all the time: fried oysters, po’ boys, muffulettas, beignets, coffee and doughnuts. I tried to medicate myself with food when people made fun of me or hit me with a bat in school. I’d always turn to food. Knowing what I now know, I’d turn to me.
Q:
What was your workout today?
A:
Today I’ll do 45 minutes of chest and back exercises at the gym in my house. When I go to teach, that’s not my workout. It’s my show. I’m 134 pounds - I’m a teeny thing. I work out 1 1/2 hours a day and eat 1,600 calories. I can’t stray because I have to fit into these Dolfin shorts! They don’t make the material anymore. It’s flammable. So people send me their old pairs. I have 300 and wash them by hand.
Q:
Wow. Are you wearing them now?
A:
I actually am in all-white pants from H&M, a white zip up hoodie and a white Gap tank top. In class, I wear outrageous and crazy outfits. Slimmons is my theater, and I get to be whoever I want. Tonight I’m going as an Egyptian pharaoh. My job is to spin a web around all these people so they don’t know they’re working out. They aren’t going to think of bills, their relationships. They will just come in, have fun with me and leave in a better place.
Q:
How do you connect with younger people?
A:
I’m 64, but I act like I’m still 12. I go to schools. At colleges, they come out in droves, they almost scare me. I think it’s just to see if I’m still alive. After I work them out - and it’s not easy - I sit them down and we have a serious talk. Are they eating? Working on their body? I can say things parents won’t say. No matter where I go, I talk to each one individually after I teach. They tell me things like, ‘I’m starving, guys like girls thinner.’ I give them concrete advice about self-image and self-worth.
Q:
What’s the biggest mistake today’s fitness trainers make?
A:
Most workouts are way too aggressive. Thousands of lunges wear out the body. It’s not healthy for my client - the one with the bad back, bad knees, diabetes. I’m never going to do that. I’m the only one who takes a humorous approach. Comedy - not screaming at someone - can make someone lift their legs higher.
Q:
What’s the best way to stay healthy?
A:
For 40 years, my formula has been to love yourself, move your body and to watch portion size. But the No. 1 thing is to love and value yourself, no matter what you’ve been through. People spend thousands in therapy digging and digging in the past. When you dig and dig, you find relics. Try to forgive yourself and get back on that ride. Ride Sally Ride! [He begins to sing.] “On this magic carpet ride !”
ActiveStyle, Pages 28 on 07/30/2012