A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting [Hardcover]

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“A really smart memoir about getting strong, inside and out… this book inspired me to take it up a notch and start power-lifting (and I love it).” —Cheryl Strayed

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.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.“[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: Strl·