Gym Bodies: Exploring Fitness Cultures

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of figures
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Introducing (our) gym bodies and fitness cultures
	Introduction and aims
	James
	Ian
	Amy
	‘Going to the gym’
	Outline of chapters and boundaries
	Notes
	References
Chapter 2: Conceptualising gym bodies
	Bringing the (gym) body back in
	Embodied sociological approaches
		Phenomenological approaches
		Sociological phenomenological approaches
		Feminist phenomenological approaches
		A sensory revolution
	Sensuous autoethnography
	Note
	References
Chapter 3: A history of gyms and the evolvement of contemporary fitness
	A history of modern fitness
	Contemporary gyms and constructing the ‘fit’ body
	Gyms as sites for corporeal self transformation
	Notes
	References
Chapter 4: Embodied methodological considerations
	Collecting embodied data on gym bodies
	Sample, data gathering and field relationships
	Analysis, judgement and representation
	Note
	References
Chapter 5: Gym spaces
	Introduction
	‘Spit and sawdust’ gyms
	Modern lifestyle clubs (MLCs)
	The front desk
	Changing rooms
	The gym floor
	CrossFit spaces
	Summary
	Notes
	References
Chapter 6: Being personally trained
	Health knowledge and the fitness industry
	Embodied approaches: filling in the gaps
	References
Chapter 7: CrossFit
	Introduction
	CrossFit’s fitness
	Forging elite fitness: CrossFit as a training methodology and a sport
	Academic analyses
	Amazing ‘Grace’
	Chasing Elysium: sensorial analysis of a WOD
		Pre Grace
		Doing Grace
		Post Grace
	Competitive blood flows through my veins again
	Becoming immersed
	Welcome to the house of pain (and pleasure)
	Pushing to the edge of intensity
	Carnal metamorphoses and reinvention
	Reflections
	Future directions
	Notes
	References
Chapter 8: Spinning
	Introduction
	Spinning experiences
	Bodily displays and body capital
	Spaces for the generation of fitness knowledge
	Emotional bodies
	Pleasurable Spinning
	Summary
	Notes
	References
Chapter 9: Reflections
	Conceptualising and researching gym bodies
	Distinction and authenticity of embodied fitness knowledge
	The gym VIP list
	Embodied gym experience as transcendence
	Applications
	Limitations and future directions
	Personal reflections on own gym journeys
	James
	Ian
	Amy
	References
Appendix 1: Judgement criteria employed
Appendix 2: WOD acronyms in CrossFit
Appendix 3: The original ‘girls’
Index