The forgotten father of modern fitness: Shoddy Goods 010
6You know that feeling when you think about some unremarkable fixture of modern life and realize oh, hey, somebody had to invent that?
I recently stumbled across the origin story of fitness gear that measures your workout data while you’re working out, and it turned out to be pretty fascinating even to a confirmed gymophobe like me. Read all about it in your Inbox this week in the latest issue of Shoddy Goods… or watch this space later this week for the full story.
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Ah. You would be speaking of Jack LaLanne. I remember his show.
@werehatrack I was hoping it will be about Bernarr MacFadden.
@mossygreen My understanding of MacFadden has him as a major proponent of achieving physical conditioning, but not as an inventor of exercise machines nor primarily a promoter of their use. “Physical Culture”, from what I recall, was more about pushing limits in ordinary bodybuilding and athletic regimes, combined with vegetarianism and some other quirks. He ultimately fell far short of “living to be 150” as he had forecast that his approach would allow him to do.
@werehatrack You are correct. Bernarr MacFadden was, in fact, the forgotten father of trashy tabloids, as the publisher of The New York Graphic. I just kind of love him.
@mossygreen @werehatrack
Not Jim Fixx then obviously…
@mossygreen @werehatrack …and fasting for up to a week at a time- don’t forget.
@werehatrack Annnn… Jack LaLanne was a swingandamiss. Strike two for me!
@PhysAssist @werehatrack FASTING AND SPINAL EXERCISES, MY FRIEND.
So, even more geeky, we own a stationary recumbent bike…
@djslack SWMBO has one of those too.
@PhysAssist Same. Really the only time it’s mine is when it needs to be moved.
@djslack
@djslack I want one that’s not stationary, but I should really sell four of the bikes I already have before I acquire that. I have a tandem, a Giant fixie, an Electra Townie, an eBike, a Trek carbon-frame dual-sus MTB that I’ve converted to hybrid, a hardtail hybrid ex-Houston-Police bike, a couple of “I’m not sure why these are here” bikes, a Dahon folder, and a late-80s Trek steel-frame roadie. That’s just too many.
We actually have a Life Cycle, which is quite similar to the one in the advert with some cosmetic differences in the control panel and a square vs round seat-tube.
I bought it from Life Fitness on a 0% interest plan and have beaten the heck out of myself on it in the approximately 35 years I have owned it. I still use it, although not as often as I did in my post-knee replacement rehab process.
We also have a likewise fully-functional Life Stepper, but it hasn’t been used since my knee replacement in 2010- on doctor’s orders.
I will sell it if anyone is interested in purchasing a lightly-used model. Shipping will be your problem.
Amazing…my very first ‘nerd’ job was working in a honeybee research lab, where I learned to run a fancy gas chromatograph instrument.
This was right about the time that Dimick was inventing the LifeCycle…
(and you’re pretty much correct about how they work)
Very interesting article, I’ll probably read them more often now. Who knew?? Thanks for enlightening us!!
Various things in this thread have reminded me of a late-night infomercial from a couple of decades ago that was my favorite infomercial ever, but it has somehow managed to avoid being a youtube sensation or, indeed, possible to find a copy of at all.
It was an infomercial for a juicer, in which a man with giant gandalf-style eyebrows ranted about how pasteurized juice is dead and only freshly squeezed juice is alive, getting increasingly agitated, until at one point in the ad he full-on growled “death… death… DEEAAATH”
At least, that’s how I remember it.
@ravenblack The Juiceman!
/youtube jay kordich the juiceman
@mossygreen I thought from that video that he didn’t look eyebrowy enough to be the right guy, but it looks like he aged into it - here he is looking much eyebrowier.
So yeah, the DEEAAATH scene must have been from one of his later works.
How do I get back issues?
@jjeanot Psst…here’s an archive link we haven’t yet made public:
https://shoddygoods.meh.com/archive