Let's Get Physical... with Eric Nies!

Yo yo yo! If you’re down with Eric Nies and think he’s smokin’ hot, you’re gonna luv The Grind Workout! This high-energy, low-impact, hip-hop dance extravaganza will have you workin’ up a sweat in no time, yo.

Aiight, dawg!

The ’90s was a fabulous decade for workout videos. And who understood this better than MTV? Their hot afternoon franchise The Grind went fitness crazy with such classic workout tapes as Hip Hop Aerobics, Dance Club Aerobics, Strength and Fitness, Fat Burning Grooves, and my personal favorite, Fitness with Flava. While the tapes—which aerobicized you to tunes from such classic groups as M People and Junior M.A.F.I.A.—featured upbeat dancers and super cool moves, they were really all about showcasing Eric Nies’ hot bod. At least that’s what continues to resonate a decade or so later.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to go back in time and do the “skater” to some Naughty By Nature, but truth be told, it’s feels more than a little dated. Eric’s pecs, on the other hand, are timeless.

As one of TV’s first reality stars, Eric Nies was the hunky eye candy on the first season of The Real World before going verbally gangsta and moving on to such programs as Hangin’ with MTV and The Grind. It was here that Eric really began to shine. And take his shirt off regularly. In fact, there was a time when you could see a shirtless Eric Nies just about everywhere you looked. (Like I said, it was a fabulous decade.) He would even strip down for talk show appearances that promoted his shirtless workout videos.

(Eric wasn’t the only hunk in the family who was interested in fitness and showing off his sculpted physique. There was also his really cute older brother John. In addition to both of them posing naked in a 1990 Bruce Weber book—no, not together...eeeuww—the Nies brothers came up with the Abaratus, a portable abdominal contraption with elastic straps that could be fastened to a door. John, a former pro football player slash model is also the creator of Chi-Force, a program that uses "seven disciplines to restore a more holistic life.")

After a serious of fitness-related infomercials, Eric branched out by becoming a TV reporter and co-developing an entertainment guide called Glide Magazine. He may have moved on from The Grind, but from the looks of things, he’s still got a smokin’ bod (which we know because he's still frequently shirtless). Which is exactly the way we like him. Check him out on The Grind, yo.