Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness: Mugdars, Masculinity and Marketing

Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness: Mugdars, Masculinity and Marketing

Heffernan, Conor

Paperback

FictionGeneral World HistoryIndian & South Asian History

ISBN10: 1350401668
ISBN13: 9781350401662
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: Jun 26 2025
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.88
Height: 0.60 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English

Emerging in colonial India, the fitness fad that was Indian Club Swinging became a global exercise practice in the early 19th century. Used by physicians, soldiers, gymnasts, children and athletes alike, clubs were used to solve numerous social concerns and ills, and often prescribed to treat everything from depression to spinal abnormalities. This book provides a definitive account of the rise and spread of club swinging as it spread from India to Europe and America, asking why and how it became so popular.

Discussing the global, commercial fitness culture of the 19th century, Indian Club Swinging and the Birth of Global Fitness explores how the popularity of this exercise reflected much deeper global and domestic concerns about body image, military preparation and education. Addressing broader questions about nationalism, gender, race and popular commerce across the British Empire, it highlights the origins of our modern transnational fitness culture and shows how it intersected with global and colonial understandings of health, medicine and education.

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