Gym Bodies (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society)

In spite of the rapid increase in the number of gyms and the diversification of fitness practices within them, there has been a lack of empirically-based research that explores the embodied experiences of ‘gym goers’ and the fitness cultures that are constructed within these spaces. This fascinating new book offers a personal, interactive, ethnographic account of the multiplicity of contemporary gym practices, spaces and cultures. It argues that gym bodies are historically constructed, social, sensual, emotional and political; that experience intersects with multiple embodied identities; and that fitness cultures are profoundly important in shaping the body in wider contemporary culture.