Photograph of Horace Fletcher mid-acrobatic somersault from his Fletcherism, What It Is; or, How I Became Young at Sixty (1913).
Featured on PDR in the essay Eastern Sports and Western Bodies: The “Indian Club” in the United States
Although largely forgotten today, exercise by club swinging was all the rage in the 19th century. Daniel Elkind explores the rise of the phenomenon in the US, and how such efforts to keep trim and build muscle were inextricably entwined with the history of colonialism, immigration, and capitalist culture.
Also appearing in the essay…
The Author, on His Sixtieth Birthday, Performing Feats of Agility
Date
1913
From
Fletcherism, What It Is; or, How I Became Young at Sixty
