Fitness Craze

Ever wondered when fitness became famous and started trending? Your parents probably remembered it! Alternatively, you probably grew up with the Craze! There was a moment in history that fitness was a part of our culture in America. The Fitness boom of the 1960s inspired many Americans to take up the pledge of a healthy lifestyle and iconic fitness workout routine that you can watch from T.V. If you ask most people, they would think that Fitness products, gyms are a new thing. However, suppose you look back into our American pop culture. In that case, fitness started to trend around in the 1970s with jogging, aerobics, and jazz exercise classes. According to CBC Digital Archives, "The Nor

th American fitness movement began in the 1970s but hit its full "craze" status in the 1980s. According to the Oxford Companion to United States History, These years saw a significant increase in cycling and jogging, exercising at health clubs, and even marathoning, sponsored by hundreds of cities." This means that fitness was booming around these times because of a cultural trend in the United States when looking healthy and fit with influences like Hollywood and T.V. shows. A lot of this was fueled by the desire to have the right body, physique, and look beautiful with many new T.V. shows and films driving force for this change. It was also this time where we would see a new industry of fitness video. This profitable product was produced one and was sold millions of times to the consumer.

According to We R sports, "Not only was it now cool and hip to workout, but the message was that if you wanted to be beautiful as people on T.V., then you had to get yourself to a gym! 1970s culture had accepted fitness as part of American culture. Even Kennedy promoted fitness as a top priority in America. John F. Kennedy showed his commitment to improving the nation's fitness even before taking the oath of office. After the election, he published "The Soft American" in Sports Illustrated. The article "established four points as the basis of his proposed program, including a White House Committee on Health and Fitness; direct oversight by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; an annual Youth Fitness Congress to be attended by state governors; and the assertion that physical fitness was very much the business of the federal government." Even Kennedy promoted the La Sierra Program because of the highly functional movement. The program consisted of a 12-minute bodyweight strength routine and intense obstacle sources that emphasized functional movement. Four thousand high schools in California adopted the plan. It inspired President Keneddy to make Physical fitness a renewed priority in American schools. President Kennedy had grown up in a physical culture and much valued physical fitness. With JFK's vision and support, we saw a short spike in national physical education programs again, which faded significantly by the end of the 1960s and has continued to slide into what today has become a very unhealthy society. 

Today I Believe that we are less aware of the importance of physical fitness and nutrition compared to back then. According to the American healths Ranking report, Regular physical activity is a vital element of a healthy lifestyle. "Only 24.0% of adults met physical activity guidelines in 2018, and many adults spend a large portion of their time being sedentary (sitting)." compared to back in the 1970s and 1980s, many people were working out! It was not unusual when you see someone working out back then. However, now that seemed to change as awareness of Physical activity fell dramatically as Obesity Rates Continue to Rise in Adults," the rates of American adults with obesity have continued to increase over the past decade...In the years between 2007-2008 and 2015-2016, the report says the obesity rates rose significantly among adults, from 33.7% to 39.6%. Rates of severe obesity increased during this time from 5.7% to 7.7%". According to Stacy Simon," Obesity Rates Continue to Rise Among Adults In the U.S."

In my experience, I never really knew the importance of physical activity until senior year of Highschool and how severe it was. I started to notice this when Physical activity programs were terrible. According to the Berkeley of public health, "physical education has a bad reputation and is often underfunded in schools. P.E. has historically been de-prioritized in the public education system, which has lead to a devaluation of programs nationwide" This dates back to President Bush's law on No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which trickled down tax dollars into "core academic subjects" to raise national average test scores. Programs involving physical education and the arts were cut. This means that there has been a decrease in funds allocated to P.E. in recent years, while obesity rates in the United States skyrocket both in children and adults. I did not know the importance of physical activity and the benefits until I took a physiology class in High School! Moreover, that is terrible. P.E. classes are not highly promoted enough; nutrition about health is not even promoted, like cooking healthy foods seemed unprioritized. 

In conclusion, The Fitness boom of the 1960s inspired many Americans to take up the pledge of a healthy lifestyle of both men and women. Fitness started to trend around in the 1970s with things like jogging, aerobics, and jazzercise classes, and obesity and overweight problems were low. However, back to the present day, we are less aware of the importance of physical fitness and nutrition than back then as obesity rates in adults and children continue to increase.