I worked out after work: Few sentences would have been more baffling to people in the 19th century, especially if spoken by a woman. Join Virginia and Charles as they explore a little-noticed revolution in daily life: the transformation of hard physical labor from a daily burden to an emblem of personal virtue—and a globe-spanning, multibillion-dollar industry whose omnipresence is as much a sign of our time as social media beefs or flying drones.
They are everywhere: women carrying gym bags filled with sneakers, sports bras, and high-waisted leggings; men hauling duffels stuffed with performance joggers and training gear. So ubiquitous today is exercise culture—and so large the industries that support it—that it is hard to realize that they are thoroughly new phenomena, enabled by recent breakthroughs in textiles and materials.
A century ago, people expended so much effort in their daily lives that the idea of seeking out more was literally unheard-of. A few isolated souls promoted “physical culture,” but exercise was not a common ideal, especially for women, until the arrival of one of the more important U.S. cultural figures in the 20th century: Jack LaLanne, who launched the first televised workout program in 1953. And then came the 1960s, the discovery of “fitness,” and a revolution that literally reshaped the human body.
Virginia and Charles explore how exercise evolved from necessity to aspiration—and how gyms, Lycra, bodybuilding, aerobics, and athleisure conquered the modern world.
Subjects discussed include:
- Virginia as Class Traitor
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Body-Fashion Icon
- Charles Dickens’s Ideal Life
- Impact (Astounding, Decades-Long) of University of Oregon Track Team
- Indolence as Ambition
- Spandex, Empire of
- Jogging, its Rise and Fall
- Jane Fonda, Lioness of Leotards
- A Tiny Bit of Polymer Science and Engineering
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References, further reading, and credits:
Getting Physical: The Rise of Fitness Culture in America, by Shelly McKenzie
“The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change” by Tomas J. Philipson and Richard A. Posner
“Americans’ waistlines have become the victims of economic progress,” Virginia’s 2001 New York Times column explaining this research (gift link)
Arthur Jones, New York Times obit (gift link), Seattle Times obit
Frank Bond obits here and here
Kathrine Switzer’s account of becoming the first woman to officially enter the Boston marathon (registering as K.V. Switzer) in 1967. She was attacked by the race manager but finished the race.
Lycra by Kaori O’Connor
“If you love your workout gear, thank the girdles and Flexatards of the past,” by Danielle Friedman, Popular Science (excerpt from Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World).
“How Polyester Bounced Back,” Virginia’s article for Works in Progress
Correction: The President’s Council on Physical Fitness was renamed the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition in 2010.
Nautilus demonstration video/photo courtesy of Aly Wilson, The Extreme Fitness Studio, Shreveport, Facebook, Instagram
Bowerman waffle sole shoes courtesy of Mark Cullen, The Cullen Collection