DC Public Library System

Fit nation, the gains and pains of America's exercise obsession, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 349-433) and index

portraitsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Fit nation

bibliography

1304461912

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

the gains and pains of America's exercise obsession

"Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a leading scholar and proselytizer for physical well-being, elucidates the political and social implications of America's exercise cult(ure). Delving into the paradox of why so many Americans are physically unfit, despite the power of the exercise industry, Petrzela shows fitness to be both a product and a marker of education, social class, wealth, power, and more. Like much in postwar American life, fitness has been privatized, and the resulting dominant ideology of exercise is a product of neoliberal political and culture choices. Petrzela reveals a story that puts Charles Atlas, Jane Fonda, the Chippendales, and so many lesser-known people at the center of American culture, media, and politics."--, Provided by publisherHow is it that Americans are more obsessed with exercise than ever, and yet also unhealthier? Fit Nation explains how we got here and imagines how we might create a more inclusive, stronger future. If a shared American creed still exists, it's a belief that exercise is integral to a life well lived. A century ago, working out was the activity of a strange subculture, but today, it's almost impossible to avoid exhortations to exercise: Walk 5K to cure cancer! Awaken your inner sex kitten at pole-dancing class! Sweat like (or even with) a celebrity in spin class! Exercise is everywhere. Yet the United States is hardly a "fit nation." Only 20 percent of Americans work out consistently, over half of gym members don't even use the facilities they pay for, and fewer than 30 percent of high school students get an hour of exercise a day. So how did fitness become both inescapable and inaccessible? Spanning more than a century of American history, Fit Nation answers these questions and more through original interviews, archival research, and a rich cultural narrative. As a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is uniquely qualified to confront the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape. She explores the work of working out not just as consumers have experienced it, but as it was created by performers, physical educators, trainers, instructors, and many others. For Petrzela, fitness is a social justice issue. She argues that the fight for a more equitable exercise culture will be won only by revolutionizing fitness culture at its core, making it truly inclusive for all bodies in a way it has never been. Examining venues from the stage of the World's Fair and Muscle Beach to fat farms, feminist health clinics, radical and evangelical college campuses, yoga retreats, gleaming health clubs, school gymnasiums, and many more, Fit Nation is a revealing history that shows fitness to be not just a matter of physical health but of what it means to be an American. -- Provided by publisher

Introduction : What Is the Fit Nation? -- Part One : When Sweating Was Strange -- 1. Performing Civilization -- 2. No More Fat Cats or Ladies of Leisure -- 3. Sanitizing - and Selling - Fitness -- 4. The California Beach Body Is Born -- Part Two : Slimming the Soft American -- 5. White Plains, the White House, and the Paradox of Prosperity -- 6. Fitness Makes Us Strong, Not Soft -- Part Three : From Margins to Mainstream -- 7. The Future Belongs to the Fit -- 8. Training for Life, Body, and Mind -- 9. The "Tanny Touch" -- 10. Slimming on the Small Screen -- Part Four : Movement Culture, Redefined -- 11. Yoga and the Counterculture -- 12. Kenneth Cooper and Aerobics Universalism -- 13. Run for Your Lives! -- 14. Title IX and Its Limits -- 15. Swap the Fat for Your True Self -- Part Five : Feel the Burn -- 16. Daytime Disco -- 17. The New Gospel of Fitness -- 18. Turning Up the Intensity -- 19. Not Quite Sports -- Part Six : Hard Bodies and Soulful Selves -- 20. Beyond Aerobics with Chanting -- 21. Strong Is the New Skinny? -- 22. It's Not Fitness, It's Life -- Part Seven : It's Not Working Out -- 23. Exercising in an Age of Uncertainty -- 24. Eat, Pray, Buy -- 25. The Limits of "Let's Move" -- 26. The Pandemic and the Peloton -- 27. Broken EquipmentWhen sweating was strange -- Slimming the soft American -- From margins to mainstream -- Movement culture, redefined -- Feel the burn -- Hard bodies and soulful selves -- It's not working out

Gains and pains of America's exercise obsession