The pursuit and maintenance of physical fitness, health and wellness has become, over the past three decades, a national preoccupation for North Americans. Sometimes referred to as ôthe wellness craze,ö this phenomenon has resulted in the widespread creation of a multi-billion dollar industry dedicated to satisfying the American populaceÆs desire for exercise (Christopher, 1987). By the end of the 20th century, the home fitness industry, as well as fitness centers, had grown in popularity.
The health and wellness movement has become so much a part of modern culture that its effects pervade the popular media. Magazines, such as Time, produce sections devoted to fitness, television stations air exercise shows as part of their scheduled programming, and health and wellness professionals, made famous by the popularity of their teaching techniques and formats, have joined the ranks of celebrity (Stone, 1987).
In addition various sports and forms of exercise have enjoyed a growth in popularity due to the fitness boom of the last thirty years. For instance tennis and racquetball sprung to widespread prominence in the 1970s with the number of racquetball players in the United States growing from 50,000 in 1970 to eight million in 1979 (Stone, 1987, p. 7). Aerobic Dance, invented in the early 1970s by Jackie Sorenson, and later having its name shortened to simply aerobics, became so popular in the 1980s that, by the end of the decade, there were estimated to be over 22 million regular participants in this form of exercise (Stone, 1987, p. 8).
Much of the available data attests to a remarkable change, over the past thirty years, in the attitudes and behaviors that people hold towards physical fitness and the role that exercise plays in this area. Ever increasing numbers of Americans are embracing and acting upon the idea that greater levels of fitness and wellness can be attained through participating in the various forms of exer...