Podcast Summary: Decoder Ring | Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 1: Jane and Leni (Encore)

Podcast: Slow Burn Presents Decoder Ring
Host: Willa Paskin
Guests: Jane Fonda, Leni (Lenny) Kasdan
Published: August 27, 2025

Overview

This powerful episode explores the true origin story of the Jane Fonda Workout, delving into the overlooked contributions of Lenny Kasdan, the instructor who created the routine that became a global phenomenon. Rather than simply recounting the genesis of an iconic exercise tape, host Willa Paskin unwittingly becomes chronicler—and at times, mediator—of a deeply personal, decades-spanning relationship marked by creation, betrayal, regret, and, ultimately, reconciliation. Through revealing interviews with Fonda and Kasdan, the episode unpacks not just the birth of the fitness empire, but the unresolved emotional history between two boundary-pushing women.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Inception of the Jane Fonda Workout

• Genesis: Fonda approached the project not as just another celebrity endeavor, but as a fundraiser for her political action group, the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED).
• Lenny's Contribution: Jane Fonda readily admits, “The person that created the workout was not me. It was Lenny Kasdan.” (05:19)
• Mutual Histories: Jane and Lenny met in the late 1970s at Lenny’s tough, dance-based exercise class in L.A., which Jane became addicted to and adapted for her fitness empire.

2. The Untold Backstory of Lenny Kasdan

• Difficult Upbringing: Lenny survived an extraordinarily tumultuous childhood and adolescence, including parental abandonment and institutionalization. She found purpose through athletics, especially competitive roller skating and, later, dance instruction. (11:39)
• Becoming an Innovator: Lenny’s unique classes were an outgrowth of 1970s trends in women’s fitness that merged dance, pop music, and aerobic exercise—pioneering a cultural movement.

3. The Rise of Women’s Fitness Culture

• Context: The episode details how women’s exercise in the 1950s–70s shifted from “tenderizing our behinds” with vibrating belts (16:46) to sweat-filled group classes built around dance and music.
• Pop culture explosion: Lenny’s blend of music and movement set her apart—her classes packed studios as the fitness craze swept America.

4. How the Partnership Fell Apart

• Business Decisions & Betrayal:
  • While initially united to fund CED, Jane’s legal and financial advisers insisted the new studio be owned by the organization, not as a private partnership.
    • As Fonda says: “I was persuaded by my lawyer that would make the most financial sense to have CED own the business, even though this would shut Lenny out.” (39:08)
  • Lenny, feeling pushed out and unvalued, leaves for years at sea, embarking on a personal odyssey.
  • Lenny candidly recounts her devastation: “She just literally took everything from me. I didn’t have anything else to do. It destroyed me. Of the top three things and I lost a child. That’s one of them.” (42:41)
  • Lenny draws a pointed parallel to her childhood, recognizing a recurring pain in being overlooked or left behind: “It reminded me back on the schoolyard, where you’re too ugly, you can’t swing with us.” (43:27)

5. The Explosive Success—and Erasure

• Aftermath: As Jane Fonda’s business and celebrity ignites, Lenny is nowhere in the narrative, even as her routine drives the global fitness boom. She describes seeing Jane’s cutout and videos in hotels across the world: “It was real tough on me hearing about all… it’s making so much money.” (44:34)
• Others Compete for Credit: Other fitness entrepreneurs, like Gilda Marks, try to claim the origin of the technique, further compounding Lenny’s sense of erasure.

6. Reconnection and Attempts at Reconciliation

• Chance Reunion: Nearly two decades later, Jane and Lenny reconnect by chance at a gym, beginning a cautious friendship (46:44).
• Unspoken Wounds: Though they share new experiences and Jane seems to understand the gravity of her past decisions, the workout conflict remains unspoken—for years.
• A Missed Therapy Session: The two almost address their history in a planned therapy appointment, only to have it thwarted by a major earthquake—“I knew she was powerful, but God, that’s really powerful.” (49:22)
• Partial Compensation: Lenny eventually receives financial remuneration, but no public acknowledgment or direct apology—until now.

7. Coming to Terms and Opening Old Wounds

• The Revelatory Interview: For the first time, Jane and Lenny openly discuss the pain, regret, and lasting impact of what happened, with Willa as the inadvertent witness.
  • Jane admits: “If I were then where I am now in my head and my heart, it would have gone down differently.” (54:12)
  • Lenny: “We can let that go now.” (55:02)
  • Lenny, more bluntly: “She knows that it was just a very shitty thing to do. And here’s the irony. It was Campaign for Economic Democracy. That was the day moment.” (55:19)
• Endings & Letting Go: Lenny stresses the importance of not becoming bitter, “One thing you must avoid is being a bitter old woman. I thinking that’s not a good look.” (57:16)
• Graceful, Honest Closure: Both women arrive at a tentative peace. Lenny maintains her perspective and pride in surviving and thriving: “It’s just nuts that I should end up happy. And yet I really am.” (57:36)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote / Moment | |-----------|---------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 05:19 | Jane Fonda | "The person that created the workout was not me. It was Lenny Kasdan." | | 11:10 | Jane Fonda | “I have never met a human being that has had a more challenging life than Lenny Kazdan."| | 16:46 | Jane Fonda & Lenny Kasdan | (Re: 1950s exercise machines) "Tenderizing our behinds, right?" – Fonda; "That was it." – Kasdan| | 42:41 | Lenny Kasdan | “You just literally took everything from me. I didn’t have anything else to do. It destroyed me. Of the top three things and I lost a child. That’s one of them.”| | 54:12 | Jane Fonda | “If I were then where I am now in my head and my heart, it would have gone down differently.”| | 55:19 | Lenny Kasdan | “She feels terrible about it...and she knows that it was just a very shitty thing to do. And here’s the irony. It was Campaign for Economic Democracy.”| | 57:16 | Lenny Kasdan | “One thing you must avoid is being a bitter old woman. I thinking that’s not a good look.”| | 57:36 | Lenny Kasdan | “It’s just nuts that I should end up happy. And yet I really am.” |

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:05 – 09:36] — Jane and Lenny reunite for their first-ever interview together
• [11:10 – 15:09] — Lenny’s childhood struggles and rise as a fitness innovator
• [16:27 – 23:28] — The cultural shift in women’s fitness and Lenny’s class innovation
• [38:26 – 41:56] — The business deal, betrayal, and Lenny’s emotional fallout
• [46:44 – 48:15] — Jane and Lenny’s accidental reunion and tentative new friendship
• [54:12 – 55:04] — Jane’s regret and apology; Lenny’s acceptance and reflection
• [57:16 – 57:36] — Lenny on resilience, contentment, and avoiding bitterness

Episode Tone & Narrative Style

The episode is candid, emotionally complex, and at times, unexpectedly raw. Paskin’s gentle, probing questions draw out both dignified self-reflection and deeply personal stories. Fonda and Kasdan’s exchanges range from loving to painfully honest, with a palpable undercurrent of unresolved tension—eventually giving way to something that looks like genuine closure.

Summary Takeaway

What begins as an investigation into the history of a pop culture phenomenon becomes a moving exploration of the cost of ambition, the complexity of forgiveness, and the ways personal wounds haunt—and sometimes heal—across a lifetime. This episode honors Lenny Kasdan’s crucial but overlooked legacy, and in so doing, cracks open the private dramas beneath one of America’s most iconic wellness trends.

Listen to Part 2 of this Decoder Ring two-parter for the wider impact of Jane Fonda’s Workout on fitness, fame, and the culture at large.