Body of Work: The Top 20 Fitness Icons

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Body of Work: The Top 20 Fitness Icons

The Legend: Jane Fonda

She has played many roles -- Oscar winner, political activist, billionaire's wife -- but for millions of women, Jane Fonda's legacy is all about leg warmers. It was 1982, and fresh off her triumph in On Golden Pond, one of Hollywood's leading ladies, at the age of 44, decided her next act would be as a fitness guru. Workout: Starring Jane Fonda, originally on VHS and Beta, remains the best-selling fitness video of all time, having sold 17 million copies.

"It launched the home fitness video industry and made it okay for women to have muscles," Fonda reflects. Only years after its release did she reveal that the cover photo of her in a striped leotard and those maroon leg warmers, legs scissored skyward, was that of a woman who had embraced exercise as a way to save her�self from bulimia.

In 2010, despite hip and knee replacements, Fonda was back in the studio -- wearing yoga pants now -- to film her Prime Time DVD series targeted at inspiring older people to move. At 74, Fonda loves hiking up mountains, and she has a body most 30-year-olds would envy. Her secret? "It's one-third good genes and less than one-third diet, and all the rest is working out," she says. When asked what's next, Fonda demurs. "I don't know. And if I did, I wouldn't tell because I wouldn't want someone else to get there first."