17 Facts About Bonnie Prudden

Bonnie Prudden was an American physical fitness pioneer, rock climber and mountaineer.

Bonnie Prudden produced six exercise albums, hosted the first regular exercise spots on national television, had a syndicated television show, and wrote a regular column for Sports Illustrated.

Bonnie Prudden attended German Turnverein gymnastic clubs and Finnish exercise, took piano, violin, voice, riding, and writing lessons and studied anatomy.

Bonnie Prudden first climbed in the Gunks of New York in 1936 with her husband, along with Fritz Wiessner and Hans Kraus.

Bonnie Prudden rehabilitated herself with chair exercise and aqua-exercise to music.

Bonnie Prudden went on to become the first woman to hold a National Ski Patrol Badge and formed the Addlepate Ski Club, the first dry ski club in the country.

Seven years after her injury, Bonnie Prudden returned to the Gunks, partnering with good friend Hans Kraus.

Bonnie Prudden was able to find a piton placement that had eluded Hans at the crux, and went on to claim the first ascent of "Bonnie's Roof".

Bonnie Prudden stopped climbing in 1959 as she said she was working fourteen-hour days and no longer had weekends off.

Bonnie Prudden bought an empty elementary school in White Plains, NY in 1954 and after renovating it opened The Institute for Physical Fitness.

In 2007, Bonnie Prudden was awarded the council's Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bonnie Prudden became a much sought after speaker, and the YMCAs became the place to go for the Bonnie Prudden Programs, with "diaper gym and swims", pre-natal classes, and toddler-, mixed teen- and family-oriented classes.

From 1957 through 1960 Bonnie Prudden served as a columnist for Sports Illustrated, introducing her fitness program and appearing on the cover in a full-length leotard of her own design.

Bonnie Prudden left the show when they started advertising a diet pill in connection with her spot and watchers thought she was endorsing it.

From 1955 through 1975 Bonnie Prudden continued her crusade for better bodies.

Bonnie Prudden wrote 13 books, countless manuals, set up pilot programs, designed fitness clothing and equipment for home and school, lectured nonstop throughout the country, made six records, two films, and one film strip, established five-day training workshops, and wrote and taped 35 half-hour segments of The Bonnie Prudden Show.

Bonnie Prudden continued to write, lecture and travel, teach at her school, see patients, and conduct exercise classes and pain erasure seminars, serve on boards and garner national and local awards.