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diet time
January 2, 2014

40 Vintage Ladies in Ye Olde Workout Gear

By Sally Holmes

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January is the month when the gym is suddenly full of people in pristine Lululemon gear who have vowed to make this year the year that they actually start exercising. Since no one really wants to start working out — it’s more that you want to want to start working out — the whole gym-rat thing is hard to keep up through the cold winter months. But 2014! It’s a big year! We have a new mayor! Kim Kardashian is going to get married! So if you’re going to start working on achieving inner thighs like Beyoncé’s, now is the moment.

For an extra boost of inspiration, we’ve put together a slideshow of vintage ladies doing their version of exercising. From Marilyn Monroe raising a baton (or, according to the photo caption, “Walking is the only exercise Marilyn takes to keep her figure at its present proportions, perfect enough to win her the title ‘Miss Cheesecake’”) to Mae West lifting weights, see the best images of women working out.

Related

Ladies Looking Glamorous Posing With Tennis Racquets
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1 / 40 Photos
1908  Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
1920  Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1920  Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
1921  Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
1923  Photo: Underwood Archives/Getty Images
1925  Photo: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
1925  Photo: FPG/Getty Images
1925  Photo: Bettmann/Corbis
1920s  Photo: Bettmann/Corbis
1927  Photo: © ClassicStock/Corbis
1927  Photo: Underwood Archives/Getty Images
1928  Photo: Henry Guttmann/Getty Images
1928  Photo: Davis/Tropical Press Agency/Getty Images
1930  Photo: FPG/Getty Images
1930  Photo: Anonym/IMAGNO/Austrian Archives/Getty Images
1930  Photo: Imagno/Getty Images
1930  Photo: Max Haas/Getty Images
1931  Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
1933  Photo: Underwood Archives/Getty Images
1933  Photo: © Corbis. All Rights Reserved.
1933  Photo: ©Rue des Archives/Collection Bourgeron/Getty Images
1933  Photo: William Vanderson/Getty Images
1934  Photo: FPG/Getty Images
1934  Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
Date Unknown  Photo: Underwood & Underwood/Corbis
1934  Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
1935  Photo: FPG/Getty Images
1935  Photo: William Vanderson/Getty Images
1939  Photo: Walter Bellamy/London Express/Getty Images
1944  Photo: A. E. French/Getty Images
1947  Photo: William Vanderson/Getty Images
1951  Photo: Dave Cicero/Bettman/Corbis
1952  Photo: Bettmann/Corbis
1955  Photo: John Pratt/Getty Images
1955  Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images
1956  Photo: Firth/Getty Images
1959  Photo: Central Press/Getty Images
1960  Photo: Archive Photos/Getty Images
1970  Photo: Erich Auerbach/2012 Getty Images
1994  Photo: Mike Powell/Getty Images
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