#26. Dr Katie Rose Hejtmanek. When Fitness Becomes a Moral Audit

What if fitness isn’t really about exercise, but about belonging?Katie Rose Hejtmanek is professor of Anthropology and Children and Youth Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY. She is the author of Friendship, Love, and Hip Hop (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and co-editor of Gender and Power in Strength Sports (Routledge 2023). Hejtmanek’s work investigates cultures and processes of self-transformation and American and popular culture. She is also world and national champion in masters weightlifting.  In this episode, Katie joins Andrew to explore how a workout became a worldview.They trace CrossFit’s surprising roots in American new-thought religion, garage-founder myth, and military culture, and unpack how ideas like “hard work” and “self-improvement” turned into moral codes. Katie explains what she calls “audit culture” - when counting reps and tracking data stop being neutral and start defining our worth - and why that mindset still shapes much of modern fitness.The conversation also looks beyond CrossFit: at the early internet’s role in creating global community, at how women rebuilt outdoor movement networks during lockdowns, and at what strength really means in a culture obsessed with optimisation.It’s thoughtful, challenging, and full of insight into why we move, and what we might build in its place.You can find out more about Katie here.