ABSTRACT
Physical culture' embraces a range of different domains of activity. Indeed, all culture is embodied, engaged with by embodied beings in embodied ways and thus 'physical' in certain respects. 'Physical' often refers more narrowly to the human body, however, lending 'physical culture' an association with cultivation of the body – and this has certainly been a preoccupation within physical cultural studies. This chapter focuses on the exercise and fitness practices. It presents an alternative perspective that offers important insights into understanding the cultivation of the body through the physical practices of exercise/fitness using relational sociology. Some of the interactions involved in exercise are 'one-shot', to borrow the language of game theory. Dominant groups within an exercise space can dis-incentivize working out among outsiders but equally friendships and contacts can incentivize it in many ways, not least by reframing it as a fun experience and adding 'connection' to its other benefits.
