The founder
The first Friskis & Svettis association was started in
Stockholm in 1978. The founder, Johan Holmsäter,
was a young physical training master who received his
education in Switzerland. While there he saw how the

combination of gymnastics and music attracted a big part of the university students. Men and women went into the sport together in big groups. With his experi- ence as a gym- nastic teacher, Johan wanted to create a new form of gym- nastics. He be- lieved this sho- uld be based on simple, natural

movements, done with timely and inspiring music.

A fresh breeze through old traditions
Other associations already had a wide range of aerobic
training to offer, but Friskis & Svettis gave a new
aspect to this tradition. The form of aerobic training this
association offered had never been seen before. At
Friskis & Svettis people could jympa (= Friskis & Svettis
way to exercise). The expression jympa was decided by
The National Council of Friskis & Svettis. This word is
now even stated in the Swedish Academy's List of words.

Fast growth
The first year, Friskis & Svettis had 1.500 members. Five
years later there were 28 associations with a total of
28.000 members. In time for the 10th anniversary, the
number of associations had increased to 65 and the number
of members to 75.000. When Friskis & Svettis celebrated
15 year in 1993 the total number of members were 130.000
in the 97 associations. There were seven associations out-
side of Sweden. Four located in Norway and the other three
were located in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. These asso-
ciations still exists. Between 1990 and 1993 the number of
members grew by 15% per year. Today there is more than
188.400 members spread over the 115 associations inside
and outside of Sweden.

English text: Mary Beth Krebsbach. Webmaster: Gabriel Dorch