Margaret Cirino

Ultimately, these revolutions do fail and a lot of the turners end up in America because they need to escape punishment for, you know, doing revolution.

But in America, they kept their gym routines and their politics.

So the Turners enlisted in large enough numbers that there were entire regiments organized by them.

That is wild.

Yeah.

I wasn't there, but I don't think it hurt.

I mean, physical training was a part of the Black Power movement, too.

That's Hassan Kwame Jeffries, associate professor of history at the University of Ohio, where he teaches courses on the civil rights and Black power movements.

Yeah, and it was a community thing.

In the Oakland chapter during the 70s, they even taught martial arts to kids.

I feel like this community aspect that we see with the Turners and during the Black Power movement is pretty different from contemporary fitness culture.

I feel like fitness is really atomized and individual now.

Yeah.

And Angel had an interesting perspective on this.

They told me they think this individualistic mindset is partly because fitness has been so commodified under capitalism.

But Hassan says there's actually a lot in common with right-wing and left-wing fitness rhetoric these days.

And this is how Devin sees his gym going, as preparation.

For Angel, it's a relief from the bleakness of living under capitalism.

Yeah, I mean, angels talk to me about having a community of fellow Swoletariat and how important that is to them.

And I'm definitely seeing the Swoletariat picking up steam on social media.