Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex

Fit is subjective. Who our society designates as fit–and who gets to be fit in our society–is predefined by the coaches, gyms, and systems at large that uphold and reproduce the Fitness Industrial Complex for their own structural and material gain. In the vital and groundbreaking new release, Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex: How to Resist, Disrupt, and Reclaim What it Means to Be Fit in American Culture, editors Justice Roe Williams, Roc Rochon, and Lawrence Koval gather perspectives from QTBIPOC, fat, and disabled trainers, bodyworkers, and coaches on reimagining fitness for all bodies.

The Fitness Industrial Complex uplifts some bodies while denigrating others. Bodies that are Black, Brown, queer, trans, poor, fat, and disabled–bodies that don’t conform, that resist and disrupt–are excluded from being “fit.” Speaking directly to sick, queer, trans, disabled, and BIPOC readers, Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex is part urgent inquiry, part radical deconstruction, and part call to action: to build spaces that welcome and work for all; to reclaim movement as a vital and liberatory practice; and to embody a model of joy and community care outside the mainstream fitness culture.

Don’t miss a special evening celebrating the release of the new anthology featuring
conversation with it’s editors, readings from contributors and so much more.

Book signing to follow, copies of Deconstructing the Industrial Fitness Complex for sale on-site.

This program is free thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute.