Training the Body for Healthism: ReifyingVitalityIn and Through the Clinical Gaze of the Neoliberal Fitness Club

Abstract

After purchasing her fitness club membership, the White, middle-aged woman scheduled her ''complimentary fitness assessment,'' a proposed valuable amenity accessible to new members who financially committed to sign up for a club membership. During the first assessment with a personal training sales staff member held a few days later-in which the new member is prompted to discuss her or his reason(s) for joining the club and the goals he or she wants to achieve-the woman passed out. After the woman was stable, she informed the staff member that she had a medical condition which caused her to faint spontaneously. The assessment was cut short for the day.However, the Training General Manager (TGM), a considerably younger man, eagerly took advantage of the opportunity to take over her fitness assessment the next time the woman was available to attend the club and finish the evaluation. Upon this member's return, the TGM assisted her through a strength training workout session, which was the last component of the fitness assessment. 1 The TGM instructed her through a circuit workout in which most of the exercises were performed with the heavy stationary strength training machines. Throughout her workout, he repeatedly urged her to invest in a packaged personal training membership. Nevertheless, she declined.After arriving at the club the following day, this new member requested brief assistance from the TGM to operate the same exercise machines he had demonstrated how to use during her second assessment session. She expressed apprehension in using the same machines because she was not familiar with maneuvering this workout equipment properly. The TGM refused to provide any guidance and justified his indifference for the new member's trepidation or safety by condemning her rejection to purchase personal training from him. Yet, he was the very same club representative who instructed her to use those workout machines the previous day, positioning the specific strength training routine as an invaluable exigency ''for her health.'' She requested just a quick run-through of how to use the machines appropriately to avoid injury (evading any mention of the medical condition she informed us about a few days before). Again, he refused to provide guidance and walked away from the woman, claiming that he did not have the time to discuss this matter since he was

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