Dwight Eisenhower Davy Crockett USA Italy Austria Switzerland testing Fitness Dwight Eisenhower Davy Crockett USA Italy Austria Switzerland

New book takes a look at the messy, fabulous history of women’s fitness

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“Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World,” author Danielle Friedman (GP Putnam’s Sons). “It’s rich with cinematic characters and forgotten pioneers of what we now call self-care.

But more than that, it’s the story of a paradigm shift in the way women, so long accepted as the ‘weaker sex,’ came to view their bodies.” The book takes a fascinating look at the world of modern exercise and some of the main female players in it, from the barre phenomenon to marathons, the ’80s aerobics craze to Instagram fitness influencers.One section introduces readers to Bonnie Prudden, an American mountaineer and descendant of Davy Crockett who teamed up with Dr.

Hans Kraus to develop and administer a 90-second physical fitness evaluation of American children. American young people failed the test at a dismal rate of 58 percent, while their European counterparts in Italy, Austria and Switzerland had only an 8 percent failure rate.

Eventually the report would find its way to the Oval office of President Dwight Eisenhower, where it would become known as “The Report that Shocked the President.” Eisenhower called for the creation of the President’s Council on Youth Fitness, and thus the Presidential Fitness test — that staple of nearly every American public school experience — was born, pull-ups, shuttle runs and all.

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