ABSTRACT
Within this chapter we address the locatedness of our bodies in alternative gym spaces and seek to analyse how spatial arrangements within them affect our behaviours, interactions, subjectivities, embodied experiences and identity constructions. Whilst we recognise the relentless diversification of contemporary gyms, we focus our attention on i) ‘spit and sawdust gyms’, raw, basic, utilitarian fitness spaces that have historically acted as hideouts for bodybuilders and powerlifters; and ii) modern lifestyle clubs (MLCs), lavish and opulent health clubs, and their budget reincarnations, ‘globogyms’. In doing so, we distinguish how gym spaces have served to discipline knowledge of fitness and the body in different ways. Analysis subsequently explores how the spaces within gym spaces such as the ‘front desk’, the ‘gym floor’ and the ‘changing rooms’ are socially and culturally constructed in ways that enable or constrain individuals through the creation of formal and informal boundaries which serve to privilege some bodies and exclude others. Finally, in response to more established fitness spaces and acknowledging the recent return to functional forms of fitness, specific attention is given to CrossFit and the ‘boxes’ in which it is undertaken.
