John Basedow

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Basedow

Occupation Fitness Celebrity

John Basedow, born in Baldwin, Nassau County, Long Island, New York, is a bodybuilder and fitness celebrity best known in the United States for his Fitness Made Simple home workout videos and the ubiquitous television advertisements for them. These advertisements have led some to call him "The Father of the Modern Infomercial"[1]

Basedow got his start on a TV show called IMAGES. He set a goal to be in good enough shape to be in a fitness magazine. After frustration at different exercise routines, he sat down and invented his own, which came to be Fitness Made Simple. John also appeared on Fit Living Long Island, a local fitness program in the Metro New York area. Basedow offered viewers training and fitness tips from the Fitness Made Simple program.

Basedow is known to be very modest about his status as a fitness celebrity. In an article with the Iowa State Daily, he says:

...it's so hard to believe - that I'm a popular icon. The New York Times was funny. Not too long ago I was on the front page. It wasn't even a story about me, it was about celebrity poker. The first line of the story said "If you thought the next great television phenomenon after NASCAR, figure skating and fitness celebrity John Basedow would be celebrity poker, people thought you'd be crazy." The fact that they grouped me with those things blew my mind. [2]

John Basedow is the author of "Fitness Made Simple: The Power To Change Your Body & Life," which is published by McGraw-Hill. He's also a spokesperson for the American Heart Association and has led their annual Heart Walk for the past 2 years.

In September 2007, John was signed as a spokesmodel for Chamonix Skincare and is now featured in advertisements for their new Th-121 product.

[edit] Tsunami hoax

Following the December 2004 tsunami, a falsified hoax press release was circulated claiming that Basedow was killed by it.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carpenter, Susan. "For John Basedow, fitness is both simple and lucrative; The formerly pudgy, now buff infomercial star is a classic case of American dream self-determination", L.A. Times, February 4, 2005, p. E33. 
  2. ^ "Fitness Made Basedow" Iowa State Daily: 2006-01-24
  3. ^ Wolf, B.: "Will Ferrell Lives: Dead Wrong Death Rumors", ABC News web site, March 27, 2006.

[edit] External links