Dr. Huth: Fitness, American Style

Just as early European settlers marched westwards and pushed the boundaries of what they believed to be wild and unsettled lands, Americans have also been known for pushing the boundaries of fitness. And, similarly, not always for the greatest reasons or with the greatest results . . . 

President Theodore Roosevelt fully lived the "no pain, no gain" life, and he quickly came to represent the American spirit of physical challenge and extreme risk-taking. In a 1999 article on presidents and physical fitness for The Washington Post, Abigail Trafford writes, "No other president was such a glutton for physical punishment. Yet many of them have set the pace on physical fitness for the rest of the country." Physical fitness was a signature of Roosevelt's presidency, and according to Trafford, his exploits served to demonstrate the
power and strength of the US on an international stage. 

Around the same time, Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California, grew into a national, if not international phenomenon. Muscle Beach is where the American fitness boom began. Gymnasts and weightlifters gathered to display their feats of extreme bodybuilding, and crowds of onlookers followed. In an article for the Los Angeles Times, Howard Zinkin, fitness "pioneer" and first to hold the Mr. California title, remarked upon the influence Muscle Beach had upon the American public: "By observing the athletes' exercise routines and their impromptu shows, people picked up the not-so-subtle message of fitness. Besides it was great free entertainment, something Americans needed [then]."

Finally, according to a recent article in the New York Times, the latest CrossFit craze is just another example of extremism in American sports and fitness culture. In"Why Are Americans So Fascinated with Extreme Fitness?" Heather Havrilesky claims that nowadays anything labeled as "extreme" is automatically assumed to always be better than the original, even if the extreme version is really nothing more than a perverted version of something that doesn't need improving, such as basic exercise. As evidence, Havrilesky points to recent reports of some CrossFit participants who have so embraced the extreme challenge of the program that they have suffered extreme bodily harm in the form of rhabdomylosis, a condition where a severe muscle injury can release muscle fibers into the bloodstream. Havrilesky even compares the American delight in fitness extremes to a nation-wide religion. However, this is not exactly a good thing: 


"Our new religion has more than a little in common with the religions that brought our ancestors to America in the first place. Like the idealists and extremists who founded this country, the modern zealots of exercise turn their backs on the indulgences of our culture, seeking solace in self-abnegation and suffering."

Is Crossfit really just another form of Puritanism? Both certainly do celebrate the power of suffering. The big difference, though, is that to me it seems that the American love of extreme fitness has just as much to do with spectacle as it does with suffering. Americans will suffer, but they want to make sure they look good while doing it and that someone is watching!