Over 2 decades ago, step/bench classes at local gyms and fitness facilities began to flourish at a pace never before seen in the fitness industry. In August of 1989, Step Reebok was born. The story of Gin’s contribution to Step as a major fitness revolution is chronicled in our website – with Reebok playing a leading role in research based programming with the creation of Reebok University.
After signing with Reebok, Gin’s contract had her creating and starring in a series of workouts. The first one was simply titled “Step Reebok The Video”, quickly followed by “The Power Workout” and “Circuit Challenge”. As step progressed and diversified, other titles followed to include “Aerostep”, ”Best of Step Reebok TV” and “Intense Moves”. In 1995, Gin shot the final workout in the Step Reebok Series, “Extreme Step”.
In the 90′s, Reebok’s commitment to group fitness programming further diversified with the introduction of Reebok Slide Training, Flexible Strength, Walk Reebok, Martial Arts, Cycle Reebok, Final Cuts, Reebok Core Training and finally Rep Reebok. As step remained popular throughout the decade, fitness continued to evolve with new concepts, equipment, and programs.
Few programs took the industry by storm as step had earlier in the decade. “Slide Reebok” was the first hit with many clubs looking to add something new to the schedule – but it’s no secret how that ended.
The next big thing was Cycle Reebok, which became part of the rise in popularity in indoor cycling. However, Reebok’s contribution was that of an adaptor following the Johnny G brand known as “Spinning”. Likewise, the Martial Arts program followed the rise in interest of “kickboxing” workouts, brought about by Billy Blanks.
A few programs were actually ahead of the industry, but none created the buzz experience of the step phenomena at the time of their release - but the concepts eventually became quite popular. Flexible Strength was an “Americanized” version of yoga – released much earlier than the rise in traditional yoga.
Another was “Final Cuts” – a program that introduced integrated, functional strength to work multiple muscle groups over a strong and stable core. That program was quickly overshadowed by the similar but further enhanced programming known as Reactive Training – the basis of Reebok Core Training.
As Reebok moved in the direction of programming that appealed more to personal trainers, pre-choreographed barbell-based strength classes were rapidly growing in popularity in the group fitness arena. Reebok University’s final effort to catch the wave was Rep Reebok – another pre-choreographed group strength class which used a variety of equipment, but distinguished itself by offering periodization.
Before the decade came to a close and the end of Reebok University that eventually followed, Gin had already parted ways with Reebok to pursue other directions. But long after her departure, her legacy and name continues to be closely associated with the Reebok brand.