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Old 03-28-07, 05:57 PM  
stereopsis78
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
History of the Firm, FitPrime...

I was one of the original Firmies. I bought Volume 1 in 1986 for $39.99, then pre-ordered each of the next 5 volumes for $49.99 each. (Really)

Then they sued Shape Magazine, which promptly gave them low marks in their video reviews. For a while, it looked like this was the end of the Firm.

I'm really curious about their ups and downs over the years. Can any of you fill me in on their history, as well as what they're up to now?
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Old 03-28-07, 07:22 PM  
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OH man, have YOU opened a can of worms!!! LOL

You will get far more info, but Anna Benson, who designed the Firm workouts (and I was with you by the way, paying almost $50 a pop sight unseen for any Firm) and her sister evidently had a falling out (kind of common with Anna, she tends to have a lot of 'fall-outs' with people, LOL) and from there things went nuts. I love her workout designs, but it is my guess after being a member of the Fit Prime forum that she isn't much of a business woman perhaps? I sure wasn't impressed with how she did business, but you couldn't beat her workouts, at least then. These days she is more into gentle stuff, understandably, but she was definitely THE face of the change of women's bodies!
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Old 03-28-07, 07:43 PM  
Nuggie's Auntie
 
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I believe there has been quite a bit of drama surrounding Anna B.! I didn't know they sued Shape, but I heard they were sued by a member of their filmaking crew... something like he wanted more money.

I loved the early Firm workouts, but they always seemed to be about cracking on other fitness people and that kind of irked me. I wouldn't be surprised if they made a lot of enemies over the years...
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Old 03-28-07, 08:34 PM  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nuggie's Auntie
I loved the early Firm workouts, but they always seemed to be about cracking on other fitness people and that kind of irked me. I wouldn't be surprised if they made a lot of enemies over the years...
Not sure what you mean by "cracking on other fitness people", you mean in the introduction of the tape, where they say that 'aerobics alone' only does so much, etc.? I don't recall anything on any of the tapes about other fitness people. Elaborate?
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Old 03-28-07, 09:27 PM  
mbt
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Oklahoma City, OK :(
They sued Shape over Volume 3. The Firm marketed Volume 3 as having 30 minutes of aerobic training, but Shape said it wasn't an aerobic video because the aerobics was separated into 3 different 10 minute segments. This was back in the day when they thought you had to do your cardio training continuously to get benefits, which is now no longer the thought, so I guess The Firm was ahead of the times. Anyway, I have no clue how the suit resolved aside from that it was settled somewhere.

Many of us old school firm people (or former firm people like me) first heard about The Firm in their fullpage ad in Shape. Those disappeared after the suit.
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Old 03-28-07, 09:32 PM  
mbt
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ~^~RedFlame~^~
Not sure what you mean by "cracking on other fitness people", you mean in the introduction of the tape, where they say that 'aerobics alone' only does so much, etc.? I don't recall anything on any of the tapes about other fitness people. Elaborate?
You know, it's probably been a good six years since I lasted watched the 30 questions about fitness or whatever it was called -- the old hosted by Kay Doran at the end of all the classics. I don't think they actually named names there. However, I think they bashed Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons in their promotional stuff for just doing aerobics. Also, Mark Hendrikson (Anna's ex) was a very vocal critic of Bob Greene.
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Old 03-29-07, 01:48 AM  
Jane P.
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I'm not sure it was only Anna who had the bad business sense. It seems that they were always lurching from crisis to crisis. It was one big soap opera. They evenutally sold the Firm to Goodtimes. Anna and Mark H. who had been married, got a divorce and Anna started Fitprime on her own. She filmed several videos under the Fitprime name but they had poor production values.

Eventually they decided to work together again and signed an agreement with Warner Brothers (I think, might be wrong here) and made several dvds. They refilmed the Fitprime workouts with a new cast and leads and called them the Kick Butt series. They also filmed a series of easier workouts and also called these new workouts the Fitprime series which causes confusion. They set up a website called the Women's Health and Fitness Network (WHFN).

I don't know what's going on now and if they have any plans for future dvds. I believe Anna still runs a small gym in Columbia, SC.
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Old 03-29-07, 06:54 AM  
Peggy T
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mbt
Also, Mark Hendrikson (Anna's ex) was a very vocal critic of Bob Greene.
so was he "medical Mark"?
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Old 03-29-07, 07:49 AM  
bonbon
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Cedar Park, Texas
Yup, he was "Medical Mark".
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Old 03-29-07, 07:54 AM  
Nuggie's Auntie
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ~^~RedFlame~^~
Not sure what you mean by "cracking on other fitness people", you mean in the introduction of the tape, where they say that 'aerobics alone' only does so much, etc.? I don't recall anything on any of the tapes about other fitness people. Elaborate?
I just meant in their printed media, flyers they'd send, etc. and that book they wrote. They were really quite mean about other fitness people.

I guess part of my frustration was that I filled out on the feedback questionaires they sent me and was very effusively positve about the workouts, the results I'd gotten, etc. I wrote one thing about the Firm being better than some of the stuff I'd seen on infomercials and THAT was the quote they chose to print! Out of all I'd said, they chose the one little blurb I'd written that was somewhat negative about other fitness methods. I did write it and they had a right to print it, to me it was just unfortunate that they chose that over all the other things I'd written...
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