When Fitness Went Global

This book provides the first detailed account of how and why fitness and physical culture underwent rapid globalization in the 19th century.

Conor Heffernan is Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Ulster University, UK, and Chair of the British Society of Sports History. The author of A History of Physical Culture in Ireland, The History of Physical Culture and Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness, Conor has published over fifty peer-reviewed articles and runs a history of fitness website, 'Physical Culture Study'.

Introduction: The Global Nineteenth Century 1. The Long Durée of Fitness 2. Globalising Local Practices 3. Institutional and International Gymnastics 4. Physical Culture and Selling Fitness 5. Protected Practices Conclusion Bibliography Index