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Simmons Sees Fit To Be Senior Advocate

Photo courtesy of HUMANA

Richard Simmons will be in town next week to lead a warm-up to the Senior Fun Walk, sign autographs and head up an exercise class.

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By MARY SHEDDEN

mshedden@tampatrib.com

Published: November 12, 2008

Updated: 11/13/2008 10:11 am

Nearly 30 years after Richard Simmons burst onto America's pop culture consciousness, his high-energy, positive-thinking, eat-better mission shows no signs of slowing down.

Most people met the bubbly Beverly Hills aerobics instructor and his unique brand of wellness through the TV soap "General Hospital" and Simmons' own fitness show in the early 1980s. There, and on his countless instructional DVDs, he shunned the glamorous for those with girth, pushing people of all sizes and abilities to watch their portions and keep moving.

Now 60, Simmons and his brand of wellness continues with regular TV appearances and in-person workouts, including an appearance Thursday at the free Senior Friendly Extravaganza! at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field. Starting at 9 a.m., Simmons will lead a warm-up to the Senior Fun Walk, sign autographs and head up an exercise class.

Simmons recently spoke with 4you about his upcoming visit, his support of people suffering with major weight and health problems, and the increasingly obese population of American children, teens, adults and seniors.

4you: You're famous for getting and responding to thousands of letters and e-mails from people struggling with obesity, some hundreds of pounds overweight. Have the letters changed in the last 30 years?

Richard Simmons: The sad and most tragic part about the letters and the e-mails is that nothing's changed. It's gotten worse. Now there are more people who are overweight. There are more children who are overweight. That's why I'm fighting to get PE back into the school systems in a big way.

You know our teens have never been so obese and overweight, or our young adults. Our seniors were a population that didn't have that much obesity; now it's rampant. And you know it's because we eat too much processed foods, and it's because we're emotional eaters. And it's because we don't move enough.

4you: In your work with the overweight and obese, are there some constant issues people of all ages face?

RS: The constant is that (a) People don't have time, and (b) they cannot control their emotions when they are around food. And that's from young kids who are spoiled with food, as I was as a child in New Orleans, to seniors who want to go to the early bird special and chain themselves to the Chinese buffet.

4you: What's your role in this war against obesity?

RS: It's my job every day to convince people to get off the La-Z-Boy and stop being lazy about their exercise, and they need to start eating from their intelligence and not their emotions. We are what we eat. I used to be a Vienna sausage, and now I'm fat-free licorice.

4you: What is it that you did in the 1980s that keeps you popular with people of all ages?

RS: Could it be that I'm just cute and adorable? I'm able, through teaching and through being who I am, I'm able to spin a web on these people when they hear the music and see the real people, not just Q-tips and spandex. I mean real people with girth. And they see us having fun.

4you: Why do you still travel around the country, teach exercise classes and give motivational speeches?

RS: I'm 60 years old now. I'm a senior. So I go in with my tight buns and my cute legs and my energy. ... I can't leave until I give some of that to everyone. Because as you know, as you get older, you get lonely; you lose a spouse; you lose friends. You start getting a little gray cloud that comes in over your head. And that's when I come in. That's why God made me. I'm able to come in and do a warm-up before they walk, sign some autographs, hold their hand, talk to them, listen to them and give some advice about what I do at this age to be fit.

4you: What is the hardest thing to convince seniors to do?

RS: It's that they think they can't turn around what is happening to them. Seniors take a great deal of medication. Seniors get very depressed and get put on antidepressants and things like that. And I think people are way too overmedicated. They think that their cholesterol will never go down and that they will always have to take Lipitor.

You know, if you really did change your eating habits and you really did your walking and toning, you can turn many things around. It just depends on how you treat your body. Some people treat their body like garbage cans.

I tell many of these seniors that many of the things that ail them can be fixed. And when they are fixed they will feel better about themselves. It's a hard sell.

4you: What do seniors trying to be healthy need to understand about food and their aging bodies?

RS: If you're 60 years old, your stomach is 60, your lungs are 60, your heart is 60; it's not just your face. All of these organs have been working for 60 years, so you have to start eating much cleaner because processed foods and those spicy foods and ... all those things that we love cause problems. So you really have to make a list of the 50 best foods you can eat and you stay within your realm there.

4you: What about seniors and exercise?

RS: Seniors don't do enough stretching, and seniors do not do enough cardio, and seniors definitely do not do hardly any resistance training. When I'm visiting these expos, I try to teach these people consistency because that's the way to stay healthy.

Keyword: Simmons, to listen to the full interview with the 60-year-old exercise guru and all-around nice guy.

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