Alright guys, last week we discussed the beginning of the gymnastics movement, in which people
began to realize that exercising on purpose might be good for you. We learned
that the nascent fitness movement was born of the nationalism that sprang up in
many European countries in the 19th century, as budding patriots
believed that exercise would help produce strong citizens who would be good at
fighting Napoleon. The current nationalist movements sweeping the U.S. and
Europe could probably use a little bit more of that attitude – fitness, I mean,
not fighting Napoleon – but we probably don’t need to be making white
supremacists healthier.
But, anyway, I digress. It’s time to wrap this series up
with some funny photos of old-timey exercises.
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| Like this torture device that is exactly the sort of thing my mother would have forced me to use if we'd lived in the 1920s. |
As the 20th century dawned, doctors began to suspect
that daily exercise was necessary in order to prevent degenerative disease. In
1915, a doctor with the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, Dr. F.C. Smith, reported
that individuals not engaged in manual labor jobs were more vulnerable to
disease. In 1918, with the close of the First World War, a report was released
regarding the condition of soldiers drafted for combat. It was found that one
in three drafted men had been unfit for combat due to poor fitness levels. It was
time for compulsory physical fitness programs in public schools.
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| The nation needed more of whatever this was. Source: The New York State Archives |
But wait! Individual state governments had already started
legislating mandatory physical education programs in public schools after the
Civil War, beginning
with California in 1866. In the decades that followed, a handful of other
states legislated physical education in public schools, including Ohio in 1892;
Wisconsin in 1897; North Dakota in 1899; Pennsylvania in 1901; Michigan in
1911; and Idaho in 1913. Meanwhile, new sports were being invented: lawn tennis
in 1874; softball in 1887; basketball in 1891; and volleyball in 1895. Around
the nation, professional sports teams were forming, and leagues and
associations dedicated to the playing of sports like bowling, baseball, lawn
tennis (is lawn tennis just tennis? I think it is? Why not just call it
tennis?), and gymnastics. The Boy Scouts were founded in 1907 to promote the
sharing of heteronormative physical recreation between young boys and grown
men. And, when in the aftermath of the War to End All Wars, it became clear
that Americans were woefully unfit, more states passed
legislation requiring mandatory physical education in public schools: eight
in 1915 through 1918, and 21 between 1919 and 1925. That was probably all the
states there were back then, but I’m not sure because counting is not my forte.
I’m a writer, you do the math.
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| You can also do this, I guess, because I can't. |
By the mid-20th century, doctors were discovering
the link between exercise, fitness, and good health. Pioneers in this research
included Jerry Morris,
a Scottish epidemiologist whose research established the link between sedentary
lifestyles and cardiovascular disease. By studying the cardiovascular health of
double-decker bus drivers, conductors, postmen, clerks, and telephonists, Morris
established that regular, vigorous physical activity could prevent heart
disease, publishing his seminal paper on the topic in 1958. Dr. Ken H. Cooper,
regarded along with Morris as the founder of the modern fitness movement, also
advocated for the prevention of disease via exercise, a healthy diet, and stress
management. Both men apparently practiced what they preached; Morris died in
2009 at the age of 99. Dr. Cooper is 86 years old as of the time of this
writing.
