FITNESS comes from the Old English

word "fitte," past participle of the verb,

"fitten," meaning "to be suitable, qualified

or competent." The word "fitnesse" could be

first found in literature in the year 1580.

For four hudred years, "fitness" meant proper

or worthy, as in one's moral aptitude; or it

meant suitable and appropriate, as in the ability

to perform a function--

like how qualified a candidate was for office.

In the late 1800's, writings of Charles Darwin

and Ralph Waldo Emerson still revealed FITNESS

to mean functional and appropriate.

In the 1940's, a brilliant emigrant M.D. from Austria

named Dr. Hans Kraus began testing children

in the U.S. and Europe for what he termed,

"Muscular Fitness." (in other words, muscular

functionality) Through his testing, he

found children in the U.S. to be far less

physically capable than European children.

Kruas published some alarming papers in

various journals, and got the attention of

some powerful people, including a senator

from Pennsylvania who took the findings

to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

President Eisenhower was "shocked."

He set up a series of conferences and

committees; then in July of 1956, Eisenhower

established the President's Council on Youth Fitness.

For the next 20 or 30 years, the word

FITNESS still meant "suitable and

proper," although the buzz word,

PHYSICAL FITNESS bounced around

schools gymnasiums and across the

family dinner table. The 1971 Oxford English

Dictionary gives no reference for FITNESS

to mean anything about physicality.

In the late 1960's, the popularity of teenage

model Twiggy started a craze for having a

thin body. Although she hardly seemed athletic and

capable, people loved Twiggy's slight figure.

In 1968, Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper wrote the very

popular book, "Aerobics," which was evidently

the beginning of the big exercise push in the U.S.

Then something changed. With the

advent of the VHS player in the '80's,

people could start exercising at home. Thus

was born the "exercise guru." Millions of

Americans (mostly women) started buying

exercise videos, trying to achieve the bodies

of Jane Fonda, Denise Austin and Susan Powter.

Physical fitness was taking hold.

By the late 80's, the Body Image Craze was on !

For many, dieting was easier than exercising.

The word "fat" became the new asbestos

(reduced fat, low fat, fat-free, "that guy's fat.");

lots of new diets hit the market to sell big

and help people reach their hard-body ideal.

Years later, Dr. Atkins popularized the

no-carb diet.

Although many people chose either the

all-diet-no-exercise camp, or the all-exercise-

no-diet camp, exercise was really catching on.

Jogging became very popular, and aerobics

changed to include dance (like Jazzercise)

in order to keep people interested.

By the 1990's, exercise changed again because

people wanted the hard body, but they were getting

bored. Bodybuilding became popular, and aerobic

exercise got meaner with the inclusion of martial arts.

Madonna's fame & rock hard body gave all new

popularity to the long-dormant practice of yoga.

Like many English terms, physical fitness was

shortened to just FITNESS.

In the last 20 or 30 years, the perfect body for

women went from Marilyn Monroe to Raquel Welch to

Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) to Denise Austin.

The perfect body for men went from

Jack Lalane to Arnold Schwartzenegger,

and then scaled back to Matthew McConaughey.

With FITNESS, anyone could be beautiful. And seemingly,

that's all that matters. FITNESS has become the excalibre

of the Western world.

The word FITNESS substantially changed from

meaning "appropriate," to now meaning

THE CONDITION OF HAVING BOTH

NOTICEABLE MUSCLES AND REDUCED BODY FAT,

USUALLY AS A RESULT OF EXERCISE.

The new meaning has to do with AESTHETICS,

or making a body LOOK GOOD.

Oh sure, people can say they get "FIT" so that they

can do more and feel better, but exercise gurus are

selling their hard bodies under the title FITNESS

and people are buying it.

By 1999, FITNESS guru Billy Blanks had sold over

ONE BILLION Tae Bo video sets from his infomercial.

With the dance music pumping and Billy's six-pack

abs glistening under the lights, who could resist ?

by Tommy kirchhoff

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