The rise of fitness

While the worlds of sport and fitness are intertwined, it wasn’t until the 1970s that popular culture was ready to embrace fitness with the same enthusiasm that it had embraced sports. Physical fitness had not yet acquired its importance in improving health, and popular opinion equated physical fitness with work and manual labor. In the 1940s and 1950s, few volunteered to participate in fitness. Among those who did were Jack LaLanne, Victor Tanny, Joseph Gold, Joseph Weider, and Les and Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton. These fitness pioneers, among others, drew people to the beach in Santa Monica, California, the original Muscle Beach. Visitors came to see his feats of strength and acrobatic displays. More and more viewers became participants, and these people, originally on the fringes, became part of the cultural mainstream. Jack LaLanne, Vic Tanny and Joe Gold started gym chains with bodybuilding as their main focus. Due to the influence of Abbye “Pudgy” Stockton, women were introduced to the muscularity and strength that come with bodybuilding. No longer reserved for “strong men” only, bodybuilding sparked a change in the mindset of everyone who visited Muscle Beach.

From the seeds planted in Santa Monica came Venice Beach, home to bodybuilding legends Arnold Schwarzenegger, Frank Zane and many, many more. Venice Beach in the 1970s brought with it an explosion of fitness around the world. Not only did bodybuilding become mainstream, but popular opinion about fitness changed drastically. Americans in the 1970s would do anything to improve their health and fitness.

Sports and athletics also grew in the 1970s. Women became increasingly interested in participating in sports; however, very little funding was available for the development of women’s athletics. In 1972 a landmark law was passed. Part of a series of educational amendments, “Title IX”, legislated gender equity in athletics. Women were not only becoming more active and fitter, but there was now a law calling for equal funding and equal opportunity for female athletes. On September 21, 1973, women’s tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in the first winner-take-all tennis match in the “Battle of the Sexes.” The buzz surrounding this event, and its outcome, provided even more incentive for women to get involved in sports and fitness. By 1977, a record 87.5 million American adults over the age of eighteen claimed to be involved in some form of athletic activity.

The fitness industry continued to grow in the 1980s. Gym owners adapted their facilities to attract customers, and new gyms opened in the United States and around the world. A healthy lifestyle was becoming part of popular culture. It was no longer out of fashion to be athletic, strong, or healthy. With the development of new technologies, health and fitness were able to make their way into homes. Fitness treadmills became available in the early 1980s and continue to encourage those for whom a gym or health center may not be accessible. Innovators like Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons were able to bring their exercise programs to a new population. Joe Weider became a significant force in bringing health, fitness and bodybuilding as close as the mailbox through his magazines and brochures. Thanks to fitness pioneers like Weider, Gold, Fonda, and Simmons, fitness continues to play an important role in modern society. The importance of good health and fitness has made and continues to make an impact.