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Ideological Gym Ethos
I offer CrossFit, as Spartans and BodyTribe, as Athenians opposed to each other but united in their opposition of professional bodybuilding, Persians, perhaps.
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Marx’s Critique of Ideology < DIALECTICAL MARXISM: The Writings ...Marx’s Critique of Ideology Introduction to Essays in Critical Theory: Toward a
Marxist Criticism of Liberal Ideology by Richard Lichtman By Bertell Ollman. -
Ethos – Wikipedia
Ethos is a Greek word meaning “character” that is used to describe the guiding
beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks … -
Bodybuilding
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Bodybuilding exploded into the mainstream in the 1970’s, in part, because of Joe Weider’s empire and because of charismatic and iconic stars like Arnold Swarzenegger, and Lou Ferrigno. The movie, Pumping Iron, was the start, the vehicle for their move to mainstream success.
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However, that moment represents the tipping point. It is preceded by years of physical culture sub-culture. Synthetic testosterone was developed in the 1940s, so 30 years (though other versions of the story extend into the 19th century). Venice beach, in Los Angeles perhaps the sacred city, the navel of the universe.
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We see an aesthetic for the shape and form of the male physique writ increasing large by the “good genes” that came in bottles from pharmaceutical companies and available to everyone willing to use them. In the 1970’s Arnold reigned as embodied exemplar of the aesthetic.
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Classic Physique Building and Natural Bodybuilding
for everybody who wants to build a good looking physique the natural way -
Yet in the spirit of American consumerism and the excess ofthe 1980’s the aesthetic shifted increasingly celebrating, simply more. This era of bodybuilding shows participants of both genders, raising their testosterone to extraordinary levels, and supporting muscle growth by consuming 10,000 calories per day, perhaps more…. Food blended and drunk because sitting to a meals of these proportions takes too much time. Then as the competition approached reversing the training radically dieting to near starvation levels, and weight training to maintain gains but now training to burn calories in order to eliminate even the thinnest layers of subcutaneous fat, this to show veins, and striation in the muscles for fans and judges, and increasingly large purses.
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Yet, muscle and strength developed to what purpose?
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If we circle back to Venice beach, we recall the importance of gymnastics at the roots of this physical culture and displays of amazing feats. Perhaps, carnivalesqe, campy, but still functional showing balance, coordination, skill, strength, and risk. This is altogether unlike, bodybuilding competitions where men and women display their muscular development by posing, extraordinary, and unclothed models parading on the catwalk rather than performing feats of strength.
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campy Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary
campy definition, meaning, what is campy: used to describe an activity, or someone’s behaviour or appearance, that is funny because…. Learn more. -
Rabelais and His World
This classic work by the Russian philosopher and literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975) examines popular humor and folk culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. One of the essential texts of a theorist who is rapidly becoming a major reference in contemporary thought, Rabelais and His World is essential reading for anyone interested in problems of language and text and in cultural interpretation. -
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A moment ripe for an iconoclast, an irreverent, voice, and enters, Greg Glassman as much an entrepreneur as Joe Weider, but brash, embracing of controversy and hungry for success. CrossFit, a trademarked brand, combines, elements from gymnastics, Olympic lifting, power lifting, and calisthenics into high-intensity short duration workouts, given women’s names, or honoring deceased soldiers, police, firefighters remembering them by name.
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Glassman franchised the concept and gyms swept the country, the world even. The exercise formula appealed to military and first responders this combined with Glassman’s rhetoric has created an aura around a Spartan functional fitness.
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By contrast, Chip Conrad founder of BodyTribe fitness loves both his exercise and his philosophy.
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Human Posture
Schumacher has written a provocative work in the philosophy of science. In presenting posture as the most important aspect of life, Schumacher examines how the terms of posture encompass all the major disciplines and provide a means for resolving human dilemmas through a humanistically oriented philosophy of inquiry. -
The BodyTribe gym in a Sacramento suburb offers its walls to artists to exhibit their paintings and drawings. The gym has doubled as a concert venue. Cats and dogs are welcome and people exercising yield to the animal’s right of way. Conrad like Glassman draws from Olympic lifting, power lifting, and calisthenics, he as well draws upon gymnastics and yoga. Conrad is deeply committed to functional fitness but he also aims to develop a whole person. He thoughtfully, examines playfulness, sociability, the pleasure, and wonder at beauty. He is concerned with social justice and is willing to speak out. Accordingly, we may liken him to the Athenian values.
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Making America Look Like Idiots. A wall shows fear, not strength. What the hell is @realDonaldTrump so damn scared of?
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Yet his principles seem to hamper his potential impact Conrad is deeply suspicious of fitness credentialing, he tours and speaks nationally, but does not seem interested in branding and franchising accordingly his impact on American exercise culture is limited in comparison with CrossFit and professional bodybuilding. One may join the tribe as a participant but not as a franchise owner/operator.
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Workshops in NC taught by your’s truly.
https://mentalmeatheads.com/event/kinetic-fitness/ … -
Conrad searches for an alternative genealogy for his fitness/philosophy. He is an artistic video maker and one of his loves is capturing moments in the lineage of physical culture sub-culture.
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The First Peloponnesian War
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Glassman took a next turn, one similar to what Joe Weider did in promoting professional bodybuilding, and that was to create a consumable spectacle. Glassman promoted the “sport of fitness” and introduced the“CrossFit Games.” Contestants compete in several workouts per day over the course of several days a grueling endurance event. Workouts are scored in several ways, most repetitions, and speed to completion, for examples.
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We could look at the movements the practitioners engage in and start to sense something about the values and the ethics of the approaches. For example, bodybuilding prefers isolating muscles and joints, the number of sets and repetitions optimized on hypertrophy. Both Crossfit and BodyTribe celebrate and elevate compound movements seeking to engage many muscles around multiple joints. So the movements themselves convey information about priorities. But we do not have to constrain our inquiry to this alone. The adherents themselves tell us about what they consider a beautiful body. They tell us about their values and priorities.
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Society Of The Spectacle
The Das Kapital of the 20th century,Society of the Spectacle is an essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. -
However, necessarily standardization in movements and routines is required in order to compare performances, and so, for example, there is one “right” way to do a burpee. It is at this moment that CrossFit and Body Tribe absolutely and irreparably divide. Their differing values certainly anticipated this divide, but this is the moment of non-negotiability.
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Conrad's rejoinder… And it is not all about any particular movement, rather about the mentality that surrounds the movement. Conrad, himself competes in Olympic lifting and so it isn't only about competition, rather about the mentality that surrounds the competition. Conrad does not name by brand who he is speaking to nevertheless we know, the breadcrumbs are sufficient.
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Circling back to CrossFit it is interesting to note that the web page of 2017 feels very different from that of 2010. This website today is more polished, more inclusive gone are the images of Pukie the Clown and Uncle Rhabdo.
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Why Would Anyone Want to Work Out Until They Puke?
As intense exercise programs like CrossFit and P90X gain popularity, a look at the psychology of pushing your limits—and when that can be a bad idea. -
Pukie the Clown references exercise induced vomiting, unpleasant, at least. Uncle Rhabdo is a reference to the condition rhabdomyolysis a very serious and life-threatening breakdown of muscle with a consequential flooding of the circulatory system with proteins which in turn overwhelm the kidneys. Not unusual in the early days of CrossFit workouts. Yet, weirdly made light of in the old days.
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Why Pukie the Clown Isn’t Funny
I have never been able to get my head around Pukie the Clown – a cartoon depiction of a CrossFitter who has pushed it past the point of no return. And don’t even get me started on Uncle Rhabdo. -
Circling back to bodybuilding we see equally disturbing aspects of that activity these include cycles of binge and purge eating, extreme drug use, and other high-risk behaviors and consequences.
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Myth: Bodybuilders Are Healthy. | Davey Wavey Fitness
We’ve all seen pictures of tanned, oiled up bodybuilders competing for titles. With their bulging muscles and impossible physiques, one might think that a -
How ironic that the most visible and successful training types in America come bound together with extreme health risks if taken to their most competitive levels?
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Circling back to BodyTribe we see that Conrad's rant about "un-stupid" is important and significant. Alas, the very weakness of the most principled is the principled quality itself. For Conrad to achieve the level of impact necessary to challenge bodybuilding or CrossFit would probably require a spectacle rivaling these and a compromise equally monumental. In the end, I think I will give Conrad the last word in this strange tale.
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Are You Useful? The Book!
This week celebrates the release of the second book to bear my name. The process from concept to print has been an example of what to do only if you’re a bit of a moron. This book was extreme… -
References
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1shimashima [1shimashima] (2013, Aug 27) Original Muscle Beach 1950s Santa Monica Vintage Photography, youtu.be/BnRkF4v6no8
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allan97 [allan97] (2016, Oct 22)TOP 5 Freakiest Bodybuilders Ever In Bodybuilding History, youtu.be/qkrxV8g0H6Q
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Anabolic Steroids. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 20, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroid#Development_of_synthetic_AAS …
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Arnold Swarzenegger.Wikipedia. Retrieved February 20, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger …
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Bodytribe [Bodytribe] (2009, Dec 31) History of Fitness Youtube Series: Pedestrianism, youtu.be/vLsDm0WvXkw
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Bodytribe [Bodytribe] (2013, Mar 12) Bodytribe: Creating the Holistic Athlete Workshop & Training, youtu.be/C3eEpkIgRYk
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Bruno, ( 2010, August 27th). Classic Physique Building and Natural Bodybuilding, Retrieved February 23, 2017,,, http://classicnaturalbodybuilding.blogspot.com/ …
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Crossfit [Crossfit] (2017, Feb 1) Fittest On Earth: A Decade of Fitness — Official Trailers, youtu.be/OJa4HPVAk3A
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Joe Weider. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 20, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Weider …
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Lou Ferrigno. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 20, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Ferrigno …
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Rhabdomyolysis. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 23, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis …
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Robinson, R. (Producer), Butler, G. and, Fiore, R. (Directors). (1977). Pumping Iron [Motion picture]. USA: White Mountain Pictures.
A very interesting topic, Bob. I have zero interest in bodybuilding, but the way you organized your post and embedded Storify made it an engaging read.
I like to apply all the things I read to my own life, so here it goes …
First of all, I teach middle school language arts, but my first passion was to teach physical education. I observe all the time what students are doing in their physical education classes. Your post made me realize that observing a P.E. class is kind of like observing how our society values fitness. Here are the following activities I see in P.E.: walking/running the track, badminton, soccer, baseball, sledding, dance, flag football, floor hockey, ice skating, some strength training in the weight room.
How does this lineup of activities compare to P.E. classes decades ago? I have no idea. Regardless, I feel students aren’t doing enough physical activity enough during P.E. classes. According to the CDC, children in today’s society need all the activity they can get. The number of children with obesity in the U.S. has more than tripled since the 1970s.
I like the Cross Fit videos you provided and how you called it a “Spartan functional fitness.” To me, this shows bodybuilding isn’t just for showcasing muscle mass on stage. Could you have added one more section of fitness below Cross Fit? I’m thinking of quick, at-home workouts? Check out The Daily Burn. Each episode could be viewed as a cultural story.
Kevin,
Thank you for your comments. First, I agree wholeheartedly that we are doing young people a huge disservice in not getting them started on a lifetime of fitness. We talk about life-long learning but not about life-long fitness, at least in school.
I am a little perplexed by your stopping at CrossFit…. Did the BodyTribe and my critique of CrossFit somehow not display?
My daughter also reviewed this story and interestingly you both circle back to movements. For me this story isn’t about movements it is about values and aesthetics. After she read the post I went back and tried to tease that out more. Reading your comments likewise makes me feel the need to revisit and re-emphasize the purpose of the story.
Robert,
Wow, you wrote so much more! I didn’t click the big blue bar that read, “Read next page.” Your post now makes complete sense to me. This must have been an interesting topic to explore. The values and aesthetics are on full display throughout your post. I thought of so many questions during the Fittest on Earth video. Why are they doing this? Is it for fame? To promote a healthy lifestyle? What is the benefit of being so strong? And why is feeling pain something people try to achieve?
I don’t expect you to answer any of these questions. Some of these can probably be answered with, “It’s human nature.” But how did we get to this point in body fitness? I think the United States’ cultural story of competition and winning plays a big factor.
I love the Sparta/Athens conceit. It sets a thematic backdrop that works well to draw comparisons and track development over time between the competing philosophies of body building.
One of the most striking elements of your narrative is the notion of excess (80s in particular) and the pursuit of physical attraction (debatable on some levels) vs health and well-being.
That apparently wasn’t always the case, as the archives from Santa Monica clearly demonstrate. Physical beauty in that context seemed to be a function of athleticism and gymnastic ability rather than an end in itself. Compare that (as you artfully did) to cartoon clowns puking and breaking down physically in the pursuit of health. Not something to make light of.
It took me some time to visit all of your primary sources, but there was much food for thought there. I learned quite a bit about a topic I knew about largely from reading comic books in my early youth (at 10 cents per issue…) and wondering about the Charles Atlas ads on the inside back covers. Your well-crafted narrative achieved its goal–to educate, inform, and illuminate issues. Looping back and forth between the Spartan and Athenian approaches was quite effective in helping me understand bodybuilding, historically and culturally.