Women's Health Health Home>>Women's Health>>Health news Written by: Cary Castagna, QMI Agency Oct. 23, 2014 Maureen Hogan. (Courtesy)

Maureen (Mo) Hagan fondly remembers that fateful day 31 years ago when she taught her first group fitness class. (Back then it was called aerobics. Or in this case, dancercise.)

She recalls with clarity that she was wearing her favourite pink leggings and leg warmers.

The 52-year-old Canadian fitness guru cant quite recollect whether she was wearing special aerobics shoes at the time. And the details of the rest of what she refers to as her dancercise outfit are lacking, but you can bet it was topped with a gaudy Jane Fonda-esque leotard.

A day earlier, Hagan had walked into the clubs Toronto headquarters looking to apply for the managers job posted in the newspaper.

They pretty much laughed me out of the room, she reminisces by phone from London, Ont. But they said, Do you teach fitness classes? And I said, Absolutely.

Up until then, Hagan freshly graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education had only ever led a 5 minute aerobics routine on one occasion in university.

With management willing to try her out as an aerobics instructor, a determined Hagan went straight home and started putting together a 60-minute dancercise class for the next day. She drew some of her inspiration from watching the 20 Minute Workout TV show and her moms collection of Jane Fonda workout VHS tapes.

Hagan turned out to be a big hit with gym members.

And within about three months I had about 15 classes a week, she says.

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Keeping Fit: Maureen Hogan looks back