The Temple Of Perfection : A History Of The Gym Hardcover

Eric Chaline

Many of us have exercised in a gym; many more of us intend, at some point, to join one. Some work out at the gym with the regularity and zeal once reserved for attending religious services. It is seen as an emblem of modernity, yet the gym's origins date back 2,800 years to the beginnings of Western civilization. The Temple of Perfection charts the gym's long history, exploring its enduring appeal and growing popularity in a world increasingly obsessed with plastic surgery quick fixes and pharmaceutical methods of attaining physical fitness. Despite its significance, the gym's complex, layered history and its influence on the development of Western individualism, society, education and politics has never been properly considered. This book examines how body care arose from spiritual beliefs, moral discipline and aesthetic ideals. Today, training in a gym is primarily associated with individual fulfilment, though the gym has always had a secondary role in creating men and women 'fit for purpose' - but exactly for what and whose purpose? Across its incarnations, the gym has been a stage for the interests of individuals, nation-states, the media and the corporate world to intersect, sometimes with unintended consequences. Although the gym may look like a place where the self-obsessed pursue the superficial ideal of physical perfection, Eric Chaline argues that it has always been one of the principal battlefields of humanity's social, political, sexual and cultural wars. The history of the gym is a history of the human body: its authentic and idealized forms, artistic representation, and public and private presentation. While this book might not make us join a gym, it will change the way we think about the concept of it, our bodies and our attitudes to fitness.

9781780234496

English

Reaktion Books

18-May-15

224

Eric Chaline has combined journalism, academic work and writing with sport and exercise, both as a practitioner and coach. He is the author of Simple Path to Yoga (2001) and Fifty Minerals that Changed the Course of History (2012). He lives in London.

Gyms today are a familiar part of the life of millions of people across the globe and a regular aspect of a fitness and leisure oriented culture. But they have a long and fascinating history, from the pedagogic and military cultures of the ancient world to the sun swept beaches of California in the 194s and '5s through to the metrosexual body culture of today. Gyms are about fitness, well-being, beauty, and pleasure, but always about the body. Through their history we can see how the body is shaped, inscribed, worshipped, and displayed, in different ways at different times. Chaline has produced a compelling history that illuminates not just the culture of the gym but also our shifting obsessions with the body through three thousand years. It is a fascinating read.--Jeffrey Weeks, London South Bank University and author of The World We Have Won and The Languages of Sexuality Gyms today are a familiar part of the life of millions of people across the globe and a regular aspect of a fitness and leisure oriented culture. But they have a long and fascinating history, from the pedagogic and military cultures of the ancient world to the sun swept beaches of California in the 194s and 5s through to the metrosexual body culture of today. Gyms are about fitness, well-being, beauty, and pleasure, but always about the body. Through their history we can see how the body is shaped, inscribed, worshipped, and displayed, in different ways at different times. Chaline has produced a compelling history that illuminates not just the culture of the gym but also our shifting obsessions with the body through three thousand years. It is a fascinating read. --Jeffrey Weeks, London South Bank University and author of The World We Have Won and The Languages of Sexuality" -Gyms today are a familiar part of the life of millions of people across the globe and a regular aspect of a fitness and leisure oriented culture. But they have a long and fascinating history, from the pedagogic and military cultures of the ancient world to the sun swept beaches of California in the 194s and '5s through to the metrosexual body culture of today. Gyms are about fitness, well-being, beauty, and pleasure, but always about the body. Through their history we can see how the body is shaped, inscribed, worshipped, and displayed, in different ways at different times. Chaline has produced a compelling history that illuminates not just the culture of the gym but also our shifting obsessions with the body through three thousand years. It is a fascinating read.---Jeffrey Weeks, London South Bank University and author of The World We Have Won and The Languages of Sexuality