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In today’s neoliberal times, thinking about fitness and health is dominated by the media’s narratives of “fit bodies,” which are presented and circulated in society as “valued bodies.” Outside that mainstream view, however, there are many people labeled “bodies-at-risk”: those who deviate from perceived norms of size, shape, race, social class, and gender. Social Justice in Globalized Fitness and Health draws attention to how neoliberal ideologies impacting the body overlook the intersection of class, gender/sex, and race that informs how young, ethnic minoritized people embody and negotiate normative discourses of fitness and health. Indeed, through the lens of critical race theory (CRT), post-feminism, and postcolonialism, Azzarito highlights young, ethnic minoritized people’s struggles to find a culturally relevant sense of self. Arguing for the need to found educational spaces where young, ethnic minoritized people can recognize themselves, resist and counter-narrate negative stereotypes, and self-represent to the public in affirmative ways, Social Justice in Globalized Fitness and Health will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as physical culture, education, sport sociology, qualitative methods, and cultural and visual studies, as well as scholars and practitioners of physical education and health in schools.

The global health and fitness industry is worth an estimated $4 trillion. We spend $90 billion each year on health club memberships and $100 billion each year on dietary supplements. In such an industrial climate, lax regulations on the products we are sold (supplements, fad-diets, training programs, gadgets, and garments) result in marketing campaigns underpinned by strong claims and weak evidence. Moreover, our critical faculties are ill-suited to a culture characterized by fake news, social media, misinformation, and bad science. We have become walking, talking prey to 21st-century Snake Oil salesmen. In The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science, Nicholas B. Tiller confronts the claims behind the products and the evidence behind the claims. The author discusses what might be wrong with the sales pitch, the glossy magazine advert, and the celebrity endorsements that our heuristically wired brains find so innately attractive. Tiller also explores the appeal of the one quick fix, the fallacious arguments that are a mainstay of product advertising, and the critical steps we must take in retraining our minds to navigate the pitfalls of the modern consumerist culture. This informative and accessible volume pulls no punches in scrutinizing the plausibility of, and evidence for, the most popular sports products and practices on the market. Readers are encouraged to confront their conceptualizations of the industry and, by the book's end, they will have acquired the skills necessary to independently judge the effectiveness of sports-related products. This treatise on the commercialization of science in sport and exercise is a must-read for exercisers, athletes, students, and practitioners who hope to retain their intellectual integrity in a lucrative health and fitness industry that is spiraling out of control.

As featured on the “Today\" show, an indispensable girlfriend's guide to getting a healthy self-image.

'We can reach far more people through sport than we can through political or educational programmes. In that way, sport is more powerful than politics. We have only just started to use its potential to build up this country. We must continue to do so.' – Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela's statement reflects a widely held view that sport can contribute in unique and far-reaching ways to the delivery of important social outcomes. But is this really the case? Can sport bring people from different backgrounds together, and in so doing act as a force for social transformation and change? In the language of policymakers and practitioners, can sport contribute to social inclusion or could it be argued that sport acts to marginalize and disadvantage some groups in society? In other words could sport reinforce, rather than challenge, social inequality? Focusing on youth sport as a touchstone sector of sport in society, this book examines the theoretical and empirical bases of arguments for the role of sport in social inclusion agendas. Authors are drawn from around the world and offer critical perspectives on assumptions underpinning the bold claims made about the power of sport. This book represents the most up-to-date and authoritative source of knowledge on inclusion and exclusion in youth sport. As such, it is essential reading for those who want to use sport to 'make a difference' in young people's lives. It is, therefore, recommended for students, researchers, policy makers and practitioners working in sports development, sports coaching, sport studies or physical education. Preface Introduction Section 1. Understanding Exclusion 1. The will for inclusion: Bothering the inclusion/exclusion discourses of sport, Doune Macdonald, Kelly Knez, Alison Nelson & Louise McCuaig (Queensland, Australia) 2. Understanding social exclusion and sport, Michael Collins (Gloucestershire, UK) 3. Sport and Social Exclusion: An Economic Perspective, Paul Downward & Simona Rasciute (Loughborough, UK) 4. Sport, Social Divisions and Social Inequality, Grant Jarvie (University of Stirling, UK) 5. \"I’ve Lost My Football…\": Rethinking Gender, the Hidden Curriculum, and Sport in the Global Context, Laura Azzarito (Loughborough, UK) 6. Ability as an exclusionary concept in youth sport, Peter Hay (Queensland, Australia) 7. Sexuality and Youth Sport, Ian Wellard (Canterbury, UK) 8. The embodiment of religious culture and exclusionary practices in youth sport (Birmingham, UK) 9. Sporting fat: Youth sport and the obesity ‘epidemic’, Lisette Burrows & McCormack(Otago, New Zealand) Section 2. Moving Towards Inclusion 10. Young People’s Voices in Sport, Ann MacPhail (Limerick, Ireland) 11. Lessons Learned about Gender Equity and Inclusion in Physical Education, Kimberly Oliver and Nate McCaughtry (New Mexico State & Wayne State, USA) 12. Children’s Talent Development in Sport: Effectiveness or Efficiency? Jean Côté Colleen Coackley and Mark Bruner (Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada) 13. Disability Sport and Inclusion Donna Goodwin and Danielle Peers (University of Alberta, Canada) 14. Facilitating positive experiences of physical education and school sport for Muslim girls Haifaa Jawad, Tansin Benn, & Symeon Dagkas (University of Birmingham, UK) 15. Sport and youth inclusion in the Majority world (Tess Kay, Brunel University, UK) 16. Physical Education for All: The Impact of Curriculum on Student Choice, Deborah Tannehill (Limerick, Ireland) 17. Dance and Social Inclusion: Possibilities and Challenges, Michael Gard & Doug Risner (Charles Sturt, Australia & Wayne State University USA) Symeon Dagkas is a lecturer in the school of education, University of Birmingham, UK. His research interests lie in intersectional issues in sport participation through the examination of multiple layers of disadvantage including socioeconomic factors, ethnicity, gender and religion. Kathleen Armour is Professor of Education and Sport in the School of Education, and Head of the Department of Sport Pedagogy, University of Birmingham, UK. Her main research interest is career-long professional learning for teachers and coaches, and its impact on young people's learning in physical education and sport

In the 1980s, a research team led by Parisian scientists identified several unique DNA sequences, or haplotypes, linked to sickle cell anemia in African populations. After casual observations of how patients managed this painful blood disorder, the researchers in question postulated that the Senegalese type was less severe. The Enculturated Gene traces how this genetic discourse has blotted from view the roles that Senegalese patients and doctors have played in making sickle cell \"mild\" in a social setting where public health priorities and economic austerity programs have forced people to improvise informal strategies of care.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of combined physical training (CPT) on social skills and physical fitness (PF) in children with ASD. Sixteen children with autism (age 6–10 years) were randomly assigned into two groups: CPT and control. The CPT group participated in a program involving ball game, rhythmic movements, and resistance training for eight weeks (three sessions per week). PF and behavior profile were assessed before and after training. CPT program had a significant effect on indicators of social skills such as stereotypic behavior and communication, as well as PF such as handgrip strength, upper and lower body power, flexibility, balance, and agility (P < 0.05). CPT in autistic children can improve indicators of social skills and PF.

Are you ripped? Do you need to work on your abs? Do you know your ideal body weight? Your body fat index? Increasingly, Americans are being sold on a fitness ideal - not just thin but toned, not just muscular but cut - that is harder and harder to reach. In Body Panic, Shari L. Dworkin and Faye Linda Wachs ask why. How did these particular body types come to be \"fit\"? And how is it that having an unfit, or \"bad,\" body gets conflated with being an unfit, or \"bad,\" citizen?Dworkin and Wachs head to the newsstand for this study, examining ten years worth of men's and women's health and fitness magazines to determine the ways in which bodies are \"made\" in today's culture. They dissect the images, the workouts, and the ideology being sold, as well as the contemporary links among health, morality, citizenship, and identity that can be read on these pages. While women and body image are often studied together, Body Panic considers both women's and men's bodies side-by-side and over time in order to offer a more in-depth understanding of this pervasive cultural trend.

Variety (i.e., multiple types of activities) may be effective for increasing physical activity (PA) based on previous research; however, research is needed to evaluate variety's impact on psychosocial variables. This exploratory study examined the effect of a home-based PA variety intervention on PA participation and psychosocial variables (motivation, psychological needs satisfaction, enjoyment, boredom, variety perception, PA feeling, self-efficacy, and affect) in an eight-week randomized intervention trial. Participants (n = 47; mean age, 19.9 + /- 1.9; 75% female) were low-active, 18-25-year-old college students randomized to participate in the PA variety intervention or the consistency comparison condition. All participants received weekly individual counseling. The PA variety intervention received 14 unique high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts with instructions to complete at least three different workouts per week, and the consistency comparison received one HIIT workout to complete at least three times per week. Priori comparisons and between groups analysis of covariance were used to examine findings. This exploratory study revealed there was preliminary evidence that variety may lead to improved psychological responses to PA among college-age individuals, although findings should be interpreted with caution given the use of marginal significance. Future studies should examine how a variety of different activities (e.g., cycling, tennis, group fitness classes) influence motivation and PA, in addition to including larger and more diverse samples. Practitioners should support clients' psychological needs and provide home-based PA options.

Variety (i.e., multiple types of activities) may be effective for increasing physical activity (PA) based on previous research; however, research is needed to evaluate variety's impact on psychosocial variables. This exploratory study examined the effect of a home-based PA variety intervention on PA participation and psychosocial variables (motivation, psychological needs satisfaction, enjoyment, boredom, variety perception, PA feeling, self-efficacy, and affect) in an eight-week randomized intervention trial. Participants (n = 47; mean age, 19.9 + /- 1.9; 75% female) were low-active, 18-25-year-old college students randomized to participate in the PA variety intervention or the consistency comparison condition. All participants received weekly individual counseling. The PA variety intervention received 14 unique high intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts with instructions to complete at least three different workouts per week, and the consistency comparison received one HIIT workout to complete at least three times per week. Priori comparisons and between groups analysis of covariance were used to examine findings. This exploratory study revealed there was preliminary evidence that variety may lead to improved psychological responses to PA among college-age individuals, although findings should be interpreted with caution given the use of marginal significance. Future studies should examine how a variety of different activities (e.g., cycling, tennis, group fitness classes) influence motivation and PA, in addition to including larger and more diverse samples. Practitioners should support clients' psychological needs and provide home-based PA options.

Utilising Welk's Youth Physical Activity Promotion (YPAP) model as a foundational framework, this study investigates the intricate interplay of social support, physical activity (PA), and self-efficacy in relation to physical fitness within the context of Chinese culture. The primary objective is to identify the nuanced dynamics among social support, self-efficacy, PA, and physical fitness to enhance adolescent well-being and fitness. The study employed a convenience sampling method, engaging 123 adolescents aged 18-21, of which 67 were females (54.47%), and 56 were males (45.53%). Data were collected through structured questionnaires focusing on the identified variables. Our study revealed significant positive associations among social support, self-efficacy, PA, and physical fitness, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.282 to 0.419. Notably, a discernible gender disparity emerged, with females exhibiting higher levels of physical fitness. Among the key determinants of adolescent physical fitness, self-efficacy emerged as the most influential, followed by PA and gender. Utilising structural equation modelling and regression techniques, we discerned that social support indirectly influences physical fitness, primarily mediated by self-efficacy and the level of physical activity. This study provides insight into how social support impacts adolescent physical fitness. We found that social support strongly predicts both PA and self-efficacy, and self-efficacy significantly boosts PA, ultimately leading to improved physical fitness. Both self-efficacy and PA serve as mediators in the relationship between social support and fitness. Therefore, interventions should prioritise reinforcing social support, promoting PA, and nurturing self-efficacy to optimise adolescent physical fitness outcomes.