A Physical Education - by Casey Johnston (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A Physical Education traces Casey Johnston's journey of calorie restriction and obsessive cardio-making herself small in almost every way-to finding healing through the (unexpected) practice of lifting weights. As she progresses, carrying groceries and closing heavy doors become easier. As she diligently practices checking in with how she feels, she begins to question not only how she has treated her body, but how she sees herself and the world. This growth also fuels a deeper understanding: how the mainstream messaging she received about women's bodies has seeped into almost every other area of her life. Combining wit, rage, and a reporter's eye for detail, Johnston recounts how she learned the process of rupture, rest, and repair-not just within her cells and muscles, but within her spirit. A love letter to the science of female strength, this is a book for anyone who's ever longed to return home to their own body"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Written by the creator of the She's A Beast newsletter, this mash-up of memoir and science writing is the rare story of a woman finding joy in a body that, for so long, she considered her enemy.

After an abusive relationship, the death of her father, and a running injury that left her limping, Casey Johnston was unmoored, alone, and burned out. Then she stumbled on a viral blog post about one woman's experience lifting heavy weights--no dieting, no cardio, no weight loss, and no shame or guilt. With zero experience and nothing left to lose, Casey took a deep breath and stepped into Brooklyn's grungiest gym. Then she began to question how she had treated her body, and what that treatment meant.

Combining wit, rage, and a reporter's eye for detail, Johnston embarks on a radical mission to understand the process of rupture, rest, and repair--not just within her cells and muscles, but also within her spirit. Her personal story frames a take-down of diet culture, and the ways we try to "get healthy" that actively make our bodies weaker, as she dives deep into the science of rebuilding mental, emotional, and physical strength. This is a sharp cultural critique for anyone who has ever longed to reclaim their body.

Review Quotes

"[A Physical Education] incorporates memoir, science writing, and cultural critique, offering a technical breakdown of the effects of Johnston's time in the gym, as well as condemnations of diet culture's scams and hucksters. The book is not a how-to, but more of a why-to: Strength training, in Johnston's telling, reframes both body and mind."
--The Atlantic

"[An] openhearted blend of memoir and science writing... [and] an empowering resource."
--Publishers Weekly

"A thought-provoking memoir about falling in love with weightlifting--and, perhaps more importantly, learning how to unapologetically take up space in the world."
--Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim and On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters

"Make no mistake: A Physical Education is no lifting manifesto. It's about powerlifting in the same way that Friday Night Lights is about football--it's there, all over the place, but you don't have to participate in it or love it to understand it as a metaphor for life, man."
--Vanity Fair

"This book performs power from the inside out. It reminds us: when we turn away from the cultural messages that we must be young, beautiful, and thin--false fictions that ask us to destroy ourselves--we might learn to turn toward hundreds of other forms of beauty, erotic power, senses of self. Where Casey Johnston takes her body, there is joy, release, revelation."
--Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water and Reading the Waves

"I can't stop talking about this book. A Physical Education is for every woman who ever dieted, looked at herself in the mirror and hated her stomach, or cried when she stepped on the scale, which is to say: every woman. This book is both a rallying cry and a testament to what happens when a woman finds her strength. Read this book and get free."
--Lyz Lenz, author of New York Times bestseller This American Ex-Wife

"A Physical Education is a profoundly engrossing journey of how one woman stepped into her power, literally and metaphorically. Casey Johnston is our Virgil through the weightroom, seamlessly blending memoir, history, and science. In lucid prose, Johnston shows how strength training is an exit ramp off the hamster wheel of diet culture and antidote to the shame and isolation so many women experience. Full of heart and humor, this book made me want to get stronger."
--Elizabeth Greenwood, author of Playing Dead and Love Lockdown

About the Author

Casey Johnston is an American writer and editor. She has written the fitness advice column "Ask a Swole Woman" for multiple outlets since 2016 and a newsletter about weightlifting, She's a Beast, since 2021.