All the way back to the dancing segments seen on Cher’s 1970s variety shows you could tell that Cher was putting in some sweat and tears.

Even even today she continues to move at age 80 on stage in ways her contemporary entertainers cannot. It’s beyond impressive. It means she put her money where her mouth was.

It’s the ultimate response to the plastic surgery guff. Plastic surgery doesn’t give you the stamina to strut around a stage at 80 years old.

The 1960s

From 16 Magazine:

Dear Cher, I have fat thighs. I am not tall, so it really shows on me. I am 14 years old. What should I do? Out Of Shape, Bossier City, La.

Dear Out Of Shape, Be glad you are 14—for that means that some of this weight is still “baby fat” and it will slowly disappear in the next couple of years. However, I think you should practice rolling around on the floor. What you do is recline on the floor propped up by your arms with your elbows straight. Point your toes and stiffen your leg muscles. Now slowing roll over to the right as far as you can. Hold it for a moment, and then slowly roll all the way back to your left. Repeat this 25 times a day, and within two weeks your measurements will be on the way down.

The 1970s

In Cher Superstar (1975), the magazine states that to stay extra thin, Cher exercises at a “rigorous salon where the Hollywood stars go…the exercise school at Fletcher School of Body Contrology.” (Ali MacGraw, Raquel Welch and Dyan Cannon go there too). Cher goes there to workout every day.

Cher’s Workout with Sonny on The Mike Douglas Show (1979)

(Video, 11:35) This is part of the week when Cher guest hosted The Mike Douglas Show and she had Sonny on as a guest. This would be their first “reunion” since their second variety show was canceled in 1977. They sing a duet together, do an audience Q&A together and this exercise segment. Sonny does not take it very seriously and tries to joke throughout the whole thing and he flirts with Angela Best, Cher’s workout friend.

Mike Douglas asks Cher about her “daily exercise ritual.” Cher introduces Angela (she’ll appear later, too, in other exercise stories). Sonny tries to give Angela a hard time about her name. Angela says she goes over to Cher’s house to workout. Cher says they run between 1 and 2 miles every day. Cher says she’s also turned her garage into a gym.

Angela explains the difference between jogging and running.  Angela says she and Cher wont do anything on the show unless Mike Douglas does it too. Sonny volunteers. “I’ll do it with ya.” It’s borderline creepy, especially when he grabs Angela’s ass in a minute. Angela goes up to the bar. Mike Douglas make a bad Irish joke about Irishmen at bars. Cher first looks irritated by Sonny but then decides to “lean in” with some “little body” jokes. They all try to do a plié ballet move. Angela says you should do about 8 pliés. And she says you should come back up on your toes.

Everyone seems familiar and affectionate though, as if it were truly a family affair. Douglas says he knows it works because it hurts. (That old “no pain no gain.”)  Douglas kids Sonny about Cher’s kidding him about his “little legs.” (It’s like the variety show never ended but got meaner.) Sonny is good humored about it and won’t be deterred in trying to turn the segment sexual. He says pliés feel “nasty.” (Yikes.)

Cher and Angela then demonstrate lifting their legs up to the bar and then doing a plié (you should do 8 of these again), then stretching over the leg.

Cher suggests doing “some mat stuff.” They all four lay back on their elbows on blue mats and do walking and scissoring alternatively to counts of 8 (because usually you do this to music.) There’s some kerfuffle about where hand positions should have been. Angela demonstrates a knees-up sit-up. More suggestive comments ensue from the boys. It’s the 1970s, after all. Then Cher demonstrates the sit-up and Sonny, almost like he’s feeling competitive, goes right into trying it.

This is a good example of how Sonny could still take the cool-wind out from under Cher’s sails. I can see why it would be hard to be the “new kickass Cher” around him.

The 1980s

In  the book Shake Your Head, Darling (1982), Cher says ” I’d only be more active if I were training for the Olypics”.

She also said her bedtime was “whenever the party’s over.” So that’s the only mention of sleep in all the materials I went through so far.

Cher also did a series of commercials for Jack LaLanne fitness clubs from 1984 to 1989.

BaliG
You can get some inspiration for your fat thighs here by listening to some memorable Cher epigrams about sweating:

In various outfits and hairstyles, Cher told us things like:

  • “Getting this blonde hair was easy. Getting this body wasn’t.”
  • “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
  • “If it came in a bottle, everyone would have a good body.”

The 1990s

Tips from Forever Fit (1991)

More recent reviews call this book “old school” but that its advice also stands the test of time….because it was based on science and not fads. For example, the book was already talking about the dangers of high-impact exercising.

The book constantly makes connections between the mind and body. Cher consistently brings exercise back to her mental health, her situational and recurring anxiety and depression, and the mood benefits of exercise.

Cher says she was an active teen and when she met Sonny at age 16 she was on a softball team.

Cher recommends low impact walking and using fun clothes as a motivator, getting into great clothes. She says she wants to be able to keep going at 75 like her Grandma Lydia. Considering she’s 80 now, mission accomplished.

The goal of the fitness plan is to work up to a 30 minute 3 mph walk, It’s not to be able to do a strenuous hike right away.  The goal is to rev up your metabolism so you can lose and then maintain a healthy weight. The books says you can burn fat faster in warmer climates.

Start with 1 and a half miles at a slower pace. Eventually work up to 4 miles in an hour.

Robert Haas and Cher believe that walking is orthopedically better than running because it doesn’t stimulate your appetite as much, is less prone to injury, and burns 2/3 as many calories. So it’s 2/3rds as good with a lot fewer drawbacks.

It’s best to exercise before breakfast because of how your glycogen and insulin levels change during the day.

Strength training (weights/resistance bands) are necessary to fight osteoporosis and a sluggish metabolism. Cher recommends light weights for women if you want to tone without building a lot of muscle.

Even if you only walk for only 5 minutes a day and add 2 mins every few days, you’re doing good. Cher says she swings her arms or uses wrist weights to add effort. She once tried ankle weights but they caused her calf issues and shin splints so she doesn’t recommend them.

The book then talks about your target heart rate and the formula is 220 minus your age multiplied by .85 (your upper range) and 220 minus your age multiplied by .75 (your lower range) .

Cher used to run 3 miles a day, she says, which she calls grueling. Running was jarring to her shins and she complains about boobs and ovaries bouncing too much and the joint-pounding. She’s also tried “trendy LA gyms.” Cher says she’s pretty advanced and in no way is she recommending her workout to anybody else. It makes no sense to try to do the workout she does.

She walks 4-5 mph and “sweats like you wouldn’t believe.” She does this aerobic walk for 30-40 minutes 4 times a week. Cher said she sometimes goes uphill on level 5 for 30 mins at 5 mph and would often start exercise at 5 am for a 6 am movie call. She purchased a portable treadmill and bike eventually because going to public gyms caused her problems. Her traveling gym included a Bally Lifestep, a reclining bicycle, a Precor treadmill, free weights, bar weights and a multifaceted upper body machine.

She also does 20-30 mins of strength training a day using a different muscle group each day to alleviate boredom. Later she talks about 2 45-minute classes she rotates between: 45 minutes of butt, stomach and hips (20-25 minutes of a variety of crunches, 10-12 minutes of side lifts and 10-12 minutes on butt lifts) and 45 minutes of free weights and bar weights for the upper body. She says she has a tendency to favor upper-body work because she can see the results faster.

Cher says she shows up scrubby to the gym with no makeup and her hair is a mess. No fancy clothes and dirty hair. “It doesn’t make any sense to dress up.” She often wears baggy sweats and has her hair in a rag.

When this book came out, Cher was struggling with Epstein-Barr Virus (which caused her chronic fatigue). She said it “comes and goes.” She would get a slight ever, feel crabby and drained and would want to sleep all the time. In her Behind the Music special there was a scene describing her chronic fatigue with a sign on her tour bus door that said something like “Please be quiet. Cherilina is sleeping.” (Cher’s friend Paulette’s nickname for her.)

Cher says she needs stamina for the big concert tours. She needs cardio health to be running around alongside her dancers, running up and down stairs, and making up to 9 costume changes.

Angela Best (former British model and ex-wife of Irish football star George Best) has been Cher’s exercise partner for a long time. They met while Cher was pregnant with Elijah. After Elijah was born, Cher did 50 minutes of strength training a day with Angela. Since then their group also expanded to include Cher’s friend Paulette and Cher’s sister Georganne. While they worked out they would watch Oprah, MTV, a Kennedy miniseries or movies like Gone with the Wind and TV shows like The Golden Girls or Geraldo. Cher recommends the buddy system because you can use peer pressure on each other if the one of you is feeling lazy or sluggish.

Cher also recommends renting videos and using trainers because it’s more safe and effective. Cher and Angela reviewed a lot of exercise videos and found these to be the ones they would recommend for intelligent instruction. You can probably find a lot of these on YouTube now.

  • Stretch for Life by  Doreen Rivera: which is good for people who have limited mobility and is a series of spine stretches
  • Sweatin’ to the Oldies by Richard Simmons: which is good for overweight people and Richard Simmons is very motivating
  • Jane Fonda’s Easy Going Workout: They like the camerawork on Jane Fonda videos
  • The Jane Fonda Workout: 90 mins and very challenging
  • Callanetics: Good for toning
  • Kathy Lee Crosby’s Beautiful Body Workout: 20 mins
  • Joanie Greggain’s Firm Fannies: An intermediate level with a good motivator
  • Molly Fox Shape Up: With abdominals, thighs and butt
  • The Firm: 40 minute aerobic workouts with weights (episodes 1-4)

They also recommended two then-current TV shows:

  • Joanie Greggain’s Morning Show
  • Gilad’s Bodies in Motion

Cher says girls mostly care about the areas of the stomach, thighs, butt and triceps and boys care more about biceps and pecs. Therefore, women should use low weights and a high amount of reps, like a maximum of 5 pound wights and 15-20 reps.

The book recommends Stairmaster, Biocycle, Lifecycle and Lifestep machines.

Cher gives this piece of great advice: Sometimes you just don’t want to. Cher says you should get going when that happens with the promise to yourself that you can quit after 5 minutes if you want to. She promises you never will quit. You will keep going because after 5 minutes you will feel better. Your energy will come back. She says you should try to keep up a new exercise routine for a month at least before giving up.

Be patient, she says. While she was learning dance moves on her 1970s variety show, she saw her flexibility and abilities improve.

Cher’s VHS Exercise Videos (DVDs in Europe)

A New Attitude (1991)
The trainer for this video is Australian Keli Roberts.

Cher’s Intro:

Cher says she respects women who try to get that fit feeling. It takes courage and faith and you can’t wish for it. You have to work for it. This tape was created so you don’t feel alone. Cher admits she’s not perfect at doing the exercises. But doing part of the exercises is better than nothing.

Cher says she will try to be the motivation, sweating along with us and maybe not making all the reps herself. “You have to start where you’re starting.”

Cher says she trains her body because her body is her business. She talks about being happy to be a student and to follow experts who know their business better.

The tape is modular so everyday you can have variety and your brain doesn’t get bored. Cher says there are advances in training techniques to get in there and work the muscle efficiently and then get on with your life, not to have to kill yourself but get stronger slowly.

It is challenging but “you just have to start.” Cher takes you through the fitness levels: beginning, intermediate and advanced and which dancers are doing which level. The step block is set up differently for each level. “Be sure to drink plenty of water.”

The routines:

  1. The Step Workout
  2. Healthy Back and Abdominals
  3. Hips, Bottoms and Thighs

She has a different outfit for each routine.

They also provide a chart so you can check your heart rate.

Body Confidence (1992)
The trainer for this video is Cher’s choreographer Doriana Sanchez (hot dance) and Karen Andes (band workout).

Cher’s Intro:

Cher assumes you’ve already done tape 1. There are testimonials from the first exercise tape. The hot dance is just fun, Cher says. It tones your arms and legs and gets your heart rate up to burn fat.

Fans like that Cher is a student and cracks jokes during the workouts.

Cher explains cross-training as sculpting muscles and burning fat.

Some bands came with the VHS copy. (I can’t remember what happened to mine. They might still be in the box. But I have about 10 sets of bands since so no worries.)

The routines:

  1. Hot Dance Aerobics
  2. Pure Muscles Band Workout

Cher wears her Hold Fit for the first routine!

You can find these tapes on YouTube. Stay hydrated.

The 2010s

The article from Harper’s Bazaar (2018) made much ado about her five-minute plank at age 72. The article also mentions Cher does Wii Tennis (try to ruin that, Sonny!), walking and going to the gym.

“I exercise about five times a week….I enjoy it…I try to play that age card with my trainer but she just doesn’t go for it.”

In the article What Cher Has To Say About Beauty (2019), there’s more exercise commentary:

“I never had to worry about a pound until I was 50. I could eat whatever I wanted. But after that, you have to work out.”

“I’ve been screaming at the top of my lungs at my family, ‘Work out! Work out! Old age is coming!’ At some point you will need the strength. Who would have ever thought you would get this old?”

“I’ve killed myself in the gym to have this body. It isn’t like I have some amazing secret that nobody else has.”

“I’m working out now with this wonderful guy who comes to my house at eight in the morning. Yesterday we worked out for two and a half hours, and we do a little bit of everything. We do aerobics, weight lifting, we do stretching, and all kinds of stuff. I love that, and I really need that. Not only do I like it because when I look in the mirror, I like what I see, but it makes me feel better. It makes me feel calmer.”

“I tried running for years and hated it. Your breasts are going everywhere, your ovaries are going everywhere, and you’re jarring your shins. It’s not the greatest thing.”

From this Today Show article (2022):

“The 75-year-old music icon’s workout routine is proof that she has not slowed down one bit over her decades-long career.”

They show a Cher tweet that mentions her “work with Abs, Zumba, Yoga and  wall sits and step class.”

One fan responded: “Could u send me some of that energy, pls!?”