Getting Physical

Getting Physical
Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Total Pages : 264
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780700623044
ISBN-13 : 0700623043
Rating : 4/5 (44 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Getting Physical by : Shelly McKenzie

Download or read book Getting Physical written by Shelly McKenzie and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Charles Atlas to Jane Fonda, the fitness movement has been a driving force in American culture for more than half a century. What started as a means of Cold War preparedness now sees 45 million Americans spend more than $20 billion a year on gym memberships, running shoes, and other fitness-related products. In this first book on the modern history of exercise in America, Shelly McKenzie chronicles the governmental, scientific, commercial, and cultural forces that united-sometimes unintentionally--to make exercise an all-American habit. She tracks the development of a new industry that gentrified exercise and made the pursuit of fitness the hallmark of a middle-class lifestyle. Along the way she scrutinizes a number of widely held beliefs about Americans and their exercise routines, such as the link between diet and exercise and the importance of workplace fitness programs. While Americans have always been keen on cultivating health and fitness, before the 1950s people who were preoccupied with their health or physique were often suspected of being homosexual or simply odd. As McKenzie reveals, it took a national panic about children's health to galvanize the populace and launch President Eisenhower's Council on Youth Fitness. She traces this newborn era through TV trailblazer Jack La Lanne's popularization of fitness in the '60s, the jogging craze of the '70s, and the transformation of the fitness movement in the '80s, when the emphasis shifted from the individual act of running to the shared health-club experience. She also considers the new popularity of yoga and Pilates, reflecting today's emphasis on leanness and flexibility in body image. In providing the first real cultural history of the fitness movement, McKenzie goes beyond simply recounting exercise trends to reveal what these choices say about the people who embrace them. Her examination also encompasses battles over food politics, nutrition problems like our current obesity epidemic, and people left behind by the fitness movement because they are too poor to afford gym memberships or basic equipment. In a country where most of us claim to be regular exercisers, McKenzie's study challenges us to look at why we exercise-or at least why we think we should-and shows how fitness has become a vitally important part of our American identity.


Getting Physical Related Books

Getting Physical
Language: en
Pages: 264
Authors: Shelly McKenzie
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-02-29 - Publisher: University Press of Kansas

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From Charles Atlas to Jane Fonda, the fitness movement has been a driving force in American culture for more than half a century. What started as a means of Col
Let's Get Physical
Language: en
Pages: 361
Authors: Danielle Friedman
Categories: Health & Fitness
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-01-03 - Publisher: Penguin

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A captivating blend of reportage and personal narrative that explores the untold history of women’s exercise culture--from jogging and Jazzercise to Jane Fond
Getting Physical
Language: en
Pages: 32
Authors: Felicia Law
Categories: Juvenile Nonfiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-08-01 - Publisher: Bramblekids Limited

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Growing up offers young people guidance on the factual, emotional and problematic aspects of puberty. They are encouraged to keep their bodies fit, to adopt goo
Getting Physical
Language: en
Pages: 184
Authors: Art Turock
Categories: Health & Fitness
Type: BOOK - Published: 1988 - Publisher: Doubleday Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"A guide to starting a realistic fitness program and staying with it includes eight practical, motivational sessions and advice on how to avoid the four basic "
Exercise
Language: en
Pages: 86
Authors: National Institute on Aging
Categories: Exercise
Type: BOOK - Published: 2001 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One of the healthiest things you can do for yourself. Exercise!