The Bod for '90

We'll be in good shape in the Nineties, but it won't be the shape we're in now. Fashions in bodies change, like car chassis. We take our cues from movies, ads, album covers and rock videos, choosing our clothes, workouts and diets accordingly. In the Baroque period of the early 1600s, as all students of Art Appreciation 101 know, the right look was Rubenesque: ladies voluptuously plump, gentlemen blatantly of substance. In fact, current research shows that fatness enhances fertility. Ancient Hawaiians wanted to be blala (gargantuan), because taking up a lot of space was a sign of importance. Late--19th Century gentlemen saw a big belly as signifying power and cut their coats to emphasize their rotundity. Then came the 20th Century and a new ethos: You couldn't be too rich or too thin. The portly tycoon evolved into the Fifties greaser. Skinny Sergeant Pepper quick-dissolved into the Yuppie Nautilus jock.

The look attenuated to its ultimate in the Sixties, when Twiggy, a tall stick figure, was the model. But thinness can be hazardous to your sex life. Not only are thin women less fertile but University of Minnesota studies have found that men who drop below their normal weight lose their sexual urge and produce less sperm.

By the Seventies, we had a new look. Shapelessness was in, bras and girdles were out. It was the feminist era, and the slogan in body styles was "Up with dumpy." Hairiness was groovy--the unisex English-sheep-dog look. If you were a radical feminist, that included furry legs and armpits. We let it all hang out. We wore peace symbols and Cheyenne war paint. Annie Halls proliferated, swathed in layers, like textile dumplings. Were there bodies under all those natural fibers? Did it matter?

In the Eighties, propelled by the workout craze, body images changed. People muscled up. While men were evolving into Superman, women were becoming Wonder Woman. Never before had so many women pumped iron. With the new emphasis on nutrition and muscle toning, we were on the way to becoming a nation of Conan the Barbarians. Now, here come the Nineties. According to Joey Hunter, executive vice-president and director of the men's division of the Eileen Ford Modeling Agency, the new ideal is compact. "The kind of models we're using now are not as big as they were," he says. "People realize the need for a more flexible type of body, one that's better suited for different kinds of sports." We're still conscious of weight and health. Nobody's going soft. But men are lifting lighter weights now. "We were overdoing it before," says Hunter. Trainers are working with their clients on definition and slimness, not bulk. "Men are sacrificing a little power for more maneuverability. As more sports catch on and more guys play them, they want to be looser."

The underlying message could be economic: The go-go years are over. In the new, tricky economy, the limber man who is flexible in the market place--and light on his feet--is the winner.

"Traditional clothes are where it's at for the Nineties," says Hunter. "A more normal-size body, with less bulk, is going to look better in these traditional clothes." Too bad, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here's another straw in the wind: Reviewing Switching Channels, film maven Pauline Kael recently noted that, compared with Christopher Reeve, co-star Burt Reynolds looked "rather small." And then she added, "It's becoming." Are you listening, Danny DeVito? This era could be for you.

Fitness in the nineties--the type B approach

"No pain, no gain" was the motto of the Eighties fitness fanatic, sweating for a washboard stomach and the pulse rate of a sloth. The Nineties will have a new credo: "Take it easy!" Exercise in the Eighties was Type A. The idea was to run as far and as fast as you could, and then up the ante. Like the Type A personality, which researchers say can predispose you to heart disease, Eighties exercise was hard-driving, competitive, aggressive and tough on the body. Everyone seemed to be training for the Washington Redskins. The result: ripped ligaments, shin splints, tendinitis, stinging knees and rampant burnout.

Between 1983 and 1987, the number of marathoners dropped by nearly nine percent. Participation in aerobics programs dropped by 4,000,000 between 1985 (the peak year) and 1987. Perhaps part of the reason for the drop-off is research showing that we don't need all that body thumping. The Harvard Cardiovascular Health Center recommends only 20--30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week, at 75 percent of the maximum pulse rate for your age. That means you're pumping, but you still can maintain a conversation. "If you're running, anything more than ten to 15 miles a week is unnecessary, unless you're training for a specific competitive event," says orthopedic surgeon Robert Porter, head of sports medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Heavy exercise increases your risk of musculoskeletal problems, he says. Excess exercise also can lead to sports anemia, which leaves you weak, tired and cranky. Couch potato--hood, however, is no answer. With studies verifying that exercise helps ward off heart disease, diabetes and possibly cancer, the fitness boom is here to stay. But exercise mavens say that the Nineties approach to shaping up will be Type B. Like the Type B personality, which is easygoing, fun-loving and noncompetitive, exercise in the Nineties will be easier to live with.

You know you've got a problem when 90 percent of Americans recognize exercise's importance, but fewer than 20 percent actually do enough. One big reason is our obsession with peak performance. Few of us can throttle up that high, and so we call it quits. But that is changing.

"The old strategy was to glorify high scores--the new strategy is to find an exercise you enjoy," says Arizona State University fitness expert Charles B. Corbin. Few will go at it as if training for the 1992 Olympics, either. New studies show aerobic benefits at exercise levels as low as 40--50 percent of maximum heart rate. One reason exercise will be more user friendly is that it will be integrated into our daily lives. Fitness equipment is popping up in hotel chains, resorts, cruise ships, apartment and condo complexes and individual households. Corporations increasingly provide on-site health clubs. Get ready for fitness night clubs, a Nautilus in the executive washroom and a rowing machine beside the video games at your favorite saloon.

Meanwhile, walking--which is kinder to the skeleton and easier to slip into your day--is eclipsing running as the number-one aerobic exercise: Two thirds of all adults who exercise regularly now do fitness walking. Race walking (hips swiveling, arms swinging) will look decreasingly weird as it becomes increasingly popular. A ten-minute-per-mile race walk burns as much energy as an equally fast jog. Add hand weights and you outwork even faster runners.

Boredom is exercise's big bugaboo. That is why a program of multiple sports is another new trend. Instead of devoutly running your 24 laps a day, you'll mix it up: running when you feel like it, lap swimming, squash, cross-country skiing, whatever gives you a rush. Workouts will combine muscle toning and aerobics. The muscleman who puffs after climbing a flight of steps is out. So is the high-speed marathoner with a toothpick physique. The new aim is over-all fitness. Dieting will be out. "You self-digest muscles," says cardiovascular nurse Peg Jordan, editor in chief of American Fitness magazine. And studies have shown that exercise and dieting can shrink heart muscles.

One Type B--exercise trend: "exotic" aerobics, done to African or Caribbean rhythms. "The earthy beat makes you feel vital and sexy," says Jordan. Some avant-garde exercisers now work out to the soothing intonations of Gregorian chants.

Also new: couples exercise, a kind of muscle-toning tango. "Couples who sweat together stay together," says Chris Silkwood, an exercise-video producer.

The Nineties body will be limber as well as strong: "I can't emphasize stretching enough," says Susan Brewer, director of Destin, Florida's Blue Heron Spa. Look for a yoga comeback.

Not all Eighties-style exercise appurtenances will disappear: High-tech workout gear seems here to stay. However, in line with today's cocooning impulse, the equipment is moving into at-home fitness spas, where you can treat the downstairs neighbors to the thump of happy feet.

Meanwhile, après-workout, the Nineties should see new zeal for sports massage. A recent Swedish study demonstrated that leg massages boosted cyclists' performance 11 percent. At the Calgary winter Olympics, 150 massage therapists were on hand (so to speak); a massage SWAT team is set for the Seoul summer Olympics, as well. Pro teams, such as hockey's Philadelphia Flyers, are now hiring massage therapists. Ultimately, every neighborhood health spa will offer massages. As Shakespeare might have said, "Aah, there's the rub!"