Sweating to the Oldies

By Zoltan Illes

Summertime is all about hot movies and even hotter bodies. So, what better way to inspire beach-body conditioning than incorporating your favorite movies into your mundane workouts?

Here are eight fun fitness programs that celebrate both Hollywood and life in San Diego, while simultaneously helping you sculpt a silver-screen physique.

Pumping Iron Weight Lifting
Long before Arnold Schwarzenegger ravaged the California economy, the English language and his female staff, he was a very accomplished bodybuilder. This famous documentary shows just how easy it is to get pumped up at the gym. All you need is the dedication to hit the gym every day, the self-confidence of three Donald Trumps and the ability to scream like a dying cat every time you do a rep. Oh, and a butt load of steroids, of course.

Rocky Cardio Training
Start by running sprints along the water in Mission Beach while wearing extra small shorts and knee-high striped socks. Then, try to catch a chicken from one of the residential coops proliferating North County. End your workout by running up the stairs of the Convention Center downtown. Be sure to avoid the name-tag wearing, tote-bag carrying, pant-suited ladies and polo-shirted guys (aka conventioneers) as you’re jumping around in victory, singing Eye of the Tiger. (Actually, they’ll probably avoid you.)

The Notebook Resistance Training
Watch this movie and try to hold back your tears as long as you can. The more you watch, the harder it gets, providing a great workout for your tear ducts. Bonus: swallowing the lump in your throat helps tighten the neck muscles.

Top Gun Volleyball
Put on your tightest Wrangler jeans, tape up your wrists, throw on your dog tags and oil up your buddies. Although you’re dressed just right for Pride, this serious workout takes place in Ocean Beach, helping your relive the awesomeness of the volleyball scene from this classic 1980s hit movie, filmed right here in San Diego. Just remember: no shirts, no women and no serve until you strike a macho-ass pose.

Breakin’ Breakdance Fighting
This movie was one of the first to show the incredible strength, agility and hard work it takes to breakdance. It also shows that you can solve many of today’s problems by popping and/or locking. Some big company wants to shut down your local rec center? Battle. Someone cuts ahead of you in line at Target? Battle. Get pulled over for a DUI? Call a lawyer. Battling would just get you jail time, as your killer dance moves are considered a deadly weapon. Word!

Brokeback Mountain Bareback Riding
This film shows you how to mount and ride him all day long for an exhilarating workout. Your horse, silly, not your training buddy.

Anchorman Intensity Training
Set in 1970s San Diego, this classic comedy teaches us how to “stay classy.” And although there is no fitness portrayed in the film, make your workouts more intense by basing them on the behavior of Ron Burgundy and his crew. Simply perform your normal routine wearing nothing but polyester-bell-bottoms, butterfly collars and leisure suits. Your core body temperature will climb to 110 degrees, helping you burn twice the normal calories (and brain cells). Not to mention, you’ll be the biggest deal on the elliptical.

Dirty Dancing Couples Cardio
Never mind the fact the Patrick Swayze’s character was 35 and Baby was 16, this film shows us that couples dancing is a great way to get a hot body. Just look at Kirstie Alley on Dancing with the Stars. On a sexy scale, she went from “eww” to “ehh.” Erotically grinding against someone at one of many clubs in the Gaslamp is proven to burn calories, raise metabolism and make new friends you’ll regret giving your number to.