Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies

These tapes appeal to me since I always have enjoyed dancing and wished I was better at it. Well, when I dance alone I can PRETEND I'm the best dancer eve. ;) Good music and cheerful banter helped motivate me. As I lost weight and need to kick up the routine I added weights, speeded it up, picked up videos to alternate with......It's been 2 years now and I still enjoy a week or two of Richard's videos when teh weather is rainy or when I just feel like giving my mood a push up.

I really enjoy seeing real live people working out in these videos. Female, male......Obese to average, muscular to flabby......It makes me feel good to be working out with other normal appearing persons.


A Great Way to Exercise   March 23, 2003
J.C. Wallington (Detroit, MI)
42 out of 60 found this review helpful

I absolutely hate exercising. So one day I decided to put on one of these tapes. It was so much more fun and easier to sing and dance to the oldies. Now, I look forward to my 40 minutes of exercising. Singing along makes the time go by faster and I really do sweat.
I have this one and Sweating to the Oldies 1, I alternate between the two for variety.
Love them!!


great for new moms!   November 17, 2000
36 out of 37 found this review helpful

I love this tape! having gained 40 (okay, maybe closer to 50) pounds while pregnant, I really needed to drop some weight after my baby came. this is a fun workout. I get a huge kick out of the people in the video - I would not feel at all intimidated joining this aerobics class in real life. all shapes and sizes are represented (not just buff models like in other tapes), and I love the fact that even the 2 or 3 very good-looking women in the video are wearing hilarious cindy lauper fashions (the video was filmed in the late 80s, after all), so even they don't make you feel too bad about your big old self! the first few times I did this tape, I had to stop and rest between songs, but now I can do the whole thing with no problems, other than working up a good sweat - and I've already lost 30 pounds of my baby weight - only 10 (okay, 20) more to go! also, richard is surprisingly low-key in the video - unlike his talk-show persona, he only really starts to yammer in the last few songs. but what the heck - by that time, he's already started to grow on you.


Fun for beginners   September 18, 2000
Pam Leitterman (Sunnyvale, CA USA)
33 out of 34 found this review helpful

This was the first Richard Simmons tape I ever used. I agree with others who note his instruction is not always clear and specific; the first time I used the tape that was a bit disconcerting. Then I realized that one of my exercise goals was to relieve stress and this was not something to stress about. Richard and the people who join him are clearly having so much fun -- it's contagious. The great thing is you get to do this workout in the privacy of your home and it doesn't matter if you master every move.

I like that the participants who join Richard in this, and all of his videos, really represent humanity. They are different sizes, shapes, and ethnic backgrounds. Some are clearly more coordinated than others BUT all are enjoying themselves. I particularly find the closing of each tape motivational, when participants come forward doing their own steps and their names and the # of pounds they have lost is displayed.

This is the easiest of Richard's tapes and a good place to begin if you haven't previously done much exercise.


Richard Simmons = good   January 25, 2006
N. K. Turner
29 out of 40 found this review helpful

First of all I would just like to say that I love Richard Simmons and his tapes have made me happier than any other workout tape I have ever used. I am 16 years old, and when I was little, about 3 or 4, my mom bought Richard Simmons: Sweatin' to the Oldies, her and her friends would excercise to it and bring their daughters along and we would dance and just have a good time to the music. Now, they haven't done that in years, well, probobly about 12 years actually, and I, being the naive teenager I was, would make fun of my mom for having done Richard Simmons because it seemed so lame. But then a couple years ago, in secret, because I would have been devistated to like, have my older brother and his friends come down and see me doing Richard Simmons, I put in Richard Simmons and excerised with him. And I actually really liked it! I loved the cheesy dance moves and watching the people on the tape sing along to the music! It makes you feel so good about yourself and (suprisingly) did not make me feel like a loser! It made me feel good. Now if I ever am feeling like I have been lazy all day but it's too rainy or cold to go outside running and I'm too lazy (or it's too late) to go to the gym, I pop in Richard Simmons. It still makes me feel good. At the end of the workout when you cool down he tells you to "Give yourself a hug" and it makes me smile, everytime.