If you think Chuck Norris is the only man who could roundhouse kick someone in the face as he is jumping out of a helicopter and reading a Danielle Steele novel, you would be wrong. John Basedow is, for all intensive purposes, as big of a celebrity among college kids as Pikachu is to adolescents. Basedow, creator of Fitness Made Simple, a series of home fitness videos, and his commercials have spawned a cult following of people enamored with all things Basedow. The Daily had the pleasure of talking with Basedow to find out about his supposed death in the Thailand tsunami, the origins of his theme song and how he maintains his “hurricane-proof” hair.

Rob Lombardi: I guess the obvious initial question is: How did you get involved with fitness and weight training?

John Basedow: I’ve always been a pretty goal-oriented person. I had been on a TV show for a while called Images, and I was nowhere near the shape needed to be in a fitness magazine, but that was my goal. I started trying all these different fitness regimes, and about a year or so into it, none of them were producing the results worth the efforts I had been putting in. I think that’s when you get to the point where you just want to throw up your hands and quit – that it’s just not genetically possible and just continue to eat Big Macs and Entenmann’s chocolate brownie cakes. But rather than quit, I sat down one weekend and looked at what worked out and what didn’t, and through trial and error, it became the Fitness Made Simple program.

RL: So the Fitness Made Simple video was made way back in 1998?

JB: Yeah, I did get into the fitness magazines, but the money didn’t pay the bills. One of the magazines realized I could write and gave me a column which I called Fitness Made Simple after the little video I put together. The video was put together on a shoestring budget, and I was off [Images] for a few years. There wasn’t any money coming in. I was so destitute I actually had to take out a loan to pay my mortgage. I had to call in favors from other people in the TV industry, and the video didn’t have all the bells and whistles they do now. Then I said to myself, “why don’t I make a little commercial to promote my video and bust my butt to get it on TV?” It then started on a smattering of TV stations. The first time I saw the commercials on TV, it sent shivers up my spine – I had to bust my butt to get them on TV. Dealing with TV stations is the hardest thing I’ve ever done – much harder than getting fit.

RL: I don’t know if you’ve seen the whole Chuck Norris thing and how it exploded after Conan O’Brien featured him on his show daily, but for quite a while now Chuck Norris has become sort of the “it” guy for the 18 to 24-year-old demographic. Now that Chuck Norris has sort of played out, many people around here have said you’re the next Chuck Norris. What do you have to say about that?

JB: All my buddies in Des Moines that treat me well, I’ve got to go to your college. You’re making my day. I don’t think I’ve ever really tried to be that, but other people are saying – it blows my mind, I can’t even say it practically because 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.

RL: I think one reason why people are so crazy over you is because everyone thinks that no one else knows about you . but everyone does. What would you say about that?

JB: You’re funny, I get that from every interviewer. When I go out to a train station or airport or whatever, I get all these shout-outs and all these people running up to me asking for pictures. The people I’m with go, “Isn’t that annoying?” and I say if you don’t like it, then get your butt off TV. These people are coming up to me saying they love what I’m doing, and I could be having the most miserable day and that’s music to my ears. I would sign an autograph at a urinal.

RL: How did the theme song come about?

JB: It’s an infectious little ditty, isn’t it? That came together as a collaboration with myself and the same people who write songs for the Simple Life, you know, that Paris Hilton show on Fox? They just made it really, really catchy and everyone talks about it now.

RL: Do you have any interesting fan-related stories regarding it?

JB: Oh yes, that happens almost on a weekly basis. I’ve had people come up to me at a 7-Eleven and not even say my name, just go “It’s Fitness Made Simple, made for real people.” I was in [Las] Vegas, walking around and going to the different casinos and these girls were following me going “It’s Fitness Made Simple, made for real people . we love you John!” It’s a joy to be me at times. I’m honestly living my dream.

RL: Okay, the big question: How much can John Basedow bench press?

JB: You [know] what’s really funny, I get asked that a lot and I don’t need to know what my max is – my one-rep max I’m talking about now – because I don’t find that to be a useful training routine at all, just seeing how heavy you can lift one rep. The only way you build muscle is slow and controlled, and I like to do eight to 10 reps and then go from there. On a general bench press I use two 45’s and a 25 on each side. So . about 275 with the bar?

RL: There is a picture on your Fitness Made Simple Web site of you posing with two old ladies. What was that about?

JB: That wasn’t even a planned shot, that’s on there as a joke shot. What happened was I was in the middle of Central Park and I was with a photographer, his name is Ulrich Oehmen, I’ve shot with him a number of times. As I was getting more known through the TV commercials when they would see me in Central Park it would gather a crowd and stuff. So [Oehmen] took these weird pictures sometimes. He said “John, you’re shiny,” and I had to bend down and I had to put that powder to get rid of the shine under my eyes. As I was doing that there was a tour group of old ladies that came around where the photo shoot was and were actually standing over me taking pictures of my butt as I’m bending over putting on makeup. I stood up, I didn’t know they were behind me, and Oehmen says do a twist pose, and all of a sudden they looked surprised because they were taking a picture of my bum.

RL: There was a rumor circulating the Internet a while ago about your death in the Thailand tsunami. Have you heard about this, and how did you react?

JB: Oh please, that was crazy, that was a funny one. I was doing my infomercial, which was a half-hour show, last January. It was a news release that someone did, very well-written actually. I don’t how they got such circulation on the Web or why anyone cared. That impressed me more than anything. But all of a sudden our office [was] getting calls from Larry King Live, the State Department and every major news show to check the validity of the story. The thing that was funny, though, is that people believe what they read and it’s just so fictitious. I wasn’t even paying attention to it and was doing my infomercial and all of a sudden my mother calls the office and says “I just got a call from cousin so-and-so that they had a moment of silence for John at all these New York area schools.” So we had to call these schools to retract. And then I’d walk into Staples or the supermarket or something and people would go, “We’re so happy you’re OK!” and I’d say that it was bogus and people would go, “Oh, I’m glad it was bogus.”

RL: I googled John Basedow, and a lot of people on the Internet suspect your picture looks like a Photoshop job, like someone just inserted your head onto a body. What do you say to those people?

JB: If that were the case how would I appear on TV then? You know what that is? That’s just pure jealousy. That’s just some “hatas” trying to find some solace in not improving their own bodies. And they have their own issues that they have to deal with if they’re saying something like that.

RL: How do you keep your hair looking so great?

JB: Oh my gosh, that’s so funny. That goes back to the modeling days. For the infomercial we got a little bit of the blond highlights going in there, but otherwise the hair has a mind of its own and has become a little bit of a trademark. Just call it “The Basedow.” And it’s hurricane-proof.

RL: So if you ever go to Thailand .

JB: That’s right, the hair would survive the tsunami.

RL: Do people address you as “Fitness Celebrity John Basedow” now?

JB: Yes. It’s freakish, but yes. I was at the U.S. Open watching a Maria Sharapova match, and I was walking outside and some guy goes, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it’s Fitness Celebrity John Basedow!” And that just stops you dead in your tracks, that cracks me up. I’ll get that in the middle of the mall, and it’s just so funny because we have that little phrase and that’s become part of a pop culture and it’s just amazing the power of TV.

RL: I know you’ve been asked this a million times, but my coworkers wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t ask it. Do you own any shirts?

JB: I do own shirts, yes. I always tease people that I started off the commercials without the shirts because at that time all the money went into the production and I couldn’t afford a shirt. In all seriousness, I could speak as eloquently as I possibly can for 30 or 60 seconds and nothing will have the impact of you seeing me if that’s the physique you’re looking to get and that I’m saying the program can deliver. It’s not vanity or anything like that – if your program is so damn good, you should be a walking example of it.

RL: Where do you go from here? World domination?

JB: Yes, it will be world domination from Fitness Made Simple. Actually, to be honest with you, I sleep very well at night knowing that in some small way our programs have had a positive impact in improving the bodies of [everyone from] teenagers to grandparents. It’s an amazing accomplishment. Few people have the ability to positively influence the lives of others, and I feel blessed to do that. I want to keep doing what I’m doing now, and keep taking it to bigger and bigger levels.