so i have been trying to get back on the exercise bandwagon. it’s tough, really tough if you’ve been off it for long enough. but the soreness you experience the day after an intense session is pretty great and encouraging! by intense session i mean, 15 minutes of circuits and then lying on the floor feeling sorry for myself. don’t worry, i’ll get there.
the one thing i’ve never really been into is going to classes or exercising in any kind of group situation – i think introverts aren’t really into being around other people in the best of time, let alone getting sweaty around them. so when i saw this editorial from a 1938 issue of LIFE magazine about Rose Dor Farms, essentially an exercise & weight loss getaway, i realised this is a complete nightmare scenario for me. ???✨
funnily enough, these women seem like they are having a great time. i mean, exercise that involves hop scotch and rolling down a grassy knoll like a child? i guess that’s pretty awesome…
Now women whom the pace of modern life requires to look their best are turning increasingly to “milk farms” where strict diet and regular scientific exercise takes pounds off oversize figures. Typical of these in Rose Dor Farm up the Hudson River from New York where the setup is that of a swank country club and where regulation ten-day course includes three days of nothing but fruit and vegetable juices, a week of cultured milk and vegetables. Run by a young man called Bob Taplinger and his sisters, Rosalie and Doris, for whom the farm is named, Rose Dor Farms attracts not only stylish stouts but many a young girl who wants work off a few pounds to get that modelling job.
actually i think i’ll stick to my YouTube exercise videos, thanks.
“Gym class is conducted by Swedish Physical director Steve Finan whose ministrations have modified the embonpoint of many a famed operatic star. Customers pay $5.50 a day for this sort of thing.”
“Passive exercise for indolent clients permits them to lie quietly while Steven Finan deftly manipulates their limbs.”
“Mat exercises calculated to recede hips and remove “widow’s humps” which form at the back of neck.”
17 Comments
In heels nogal!
haha ja!! ?
Oh wow – this is one of the best things I’ve seen recently! I’m just glad they all had a chance to smoke at the end of a rigorous workout … ;-)
They look like a really cool bunch of ladies with their high waisted shorts, heels, and perfect hairdo :)
Sounds like fun, so much more than our modern day exercise “bootcamps” !
Charlotte
the shoes!!!
Exercising is hard enough on its own, but in heels?!
These ladies are the real MVPs.
Rose Dor Farm http://t.co/ZIBkwLNQ64
lol the heels! the grounds here look so much like Cedarmere on Long Island where I love to go shoot.
the vintage photos from this 1930s exercise & diet getaway farm are great: http://t.co/zoTrs57noE http://t.co/FlxwDTTGT0
Ah, glad I’m not the only one who considers a 15 minute YouTube video a workout! These pictures are amazing. The woman lighting up in the second to last photo is my hero.
i graduated to 25 minutes today ?
Do you have a couple recommendations as far as YouTube videos?
my favourite is Fitness Blender – they make the BEST videos. and there’s no music, so you can play your own tunes. i did this one yesterday and it was great. but the easiest is to go to their website and search through their workouts depending on what you want to do. https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos
Thank you!
These are priceless!! I especially love the one of the woman lighting up after a session. How times have changed!
http://picme.com
“stylish stouts”?!
I dont think I’d be upset if someone called me that.
It’s amazing to me that this is for overweight gals and yet none of them look very large, especially when compared with women of today. There are all kinds of facts about obesity being on the rise, but it doesn’t quite hit home until you see something like this and realize the standards then vs. the standards now. Very interesting reading and gorgeous old photos from Life. Thank you for sharing!