Gilad Janklowicz, the legendary fitness coach familiar to generations of viewers from televised workouts on Sport 5, has died at the age of 71.
Janklowicz, who lived in Hawaii, had recently been in advanced talks with Sport 5 to produce new fitness programs that would air in the United States and show the beauty of Israel.
Several months ago, during a visit to Israel, Janklowicz held meetings with Sport 5 in an effort to move the project forward. The plan was to have Israeli women exercise alongside him, in a format similar to his American programs, and to film at tourist sites across Israel, including Masada.
The project was already in advanced stages and was expected to begin filming around October.
Janklowicz’s athletic path began in high school, where he excelled in track and field. He later became Israel’s decathlon champion and record holder, and served as a fitness officer in the army.
In 1976, he moved to California to train for his Olympic dream, but an Achilles tendon injury in 1978 ended that ambition and opened a new path for him: film studies at UCLA, alongside teaching fitness classes at leading studios in Los Angeles.
He eventually became one of the most prominent and recognizable fitness instructors of the era of televised workout shows and exercise tapes. He was best known for his workout programs, including Bodies in Motion, which launched in 1983 and was filmed against the scenic backdrop of Hawaii.
The programs aired for years in many countries, including Israel, where they were broadcast on Sport 5 and became part of the home-fitness culture of the 1980s and 1990s.
Janklowicz was previously described as someone who, through his level of performance, presentation and the beautiful scenery around him, brought people closer to fitness. He was considered one of the figures who helped shape the home workout boom, alongside names such as Jane Fonda and the fitness tapes that defined that era.
Over the years, he received awards recognizing his contribution to the fitness industry and continued broadcasting workouts into the streaming era.