The Physical Fitness Montage
We have all seen it. A movie hero is out of shape, out of his league, overwhelmed and under trained. He has a race or a fight or a game or a war coming up and the only way to be successful is to have a physical fitness montage. From Rudy to Pan, movies, especially sports movies, use the physical fitness montage to quickly whip our hero into shape, morphing him from a fat pasty accountant into a bronzed, sculpted adonis. Complete with six pack abs and a cocky swagger.
The classic example and the standard of excellence is of course Rocky.
He runs and punches and delivers right hooks to frozen bovine carcasses. He climbs the steps and jumps around in triumph in one of the most famous and iconic movie scenes in history. Every Rocky movie has a physical fitness montage. And everyone of them turns Rocky into a lean mean, if old, fighting machine.
I need a physical fitness montage in my own life.
A three minute mash of fantastic music and a face grimacing with pain. At the end of the three minutes I will be lean and fast and powerful. And bronzed of course. Don’t forget bronzed. If only getting back into shape were as easy as the 3 minute physical fitness montage of the movies.
Alas, instead it is going to be as tedious and difficult to get back in shape as it was sitting through that last Rocky movie.
2 Comments
Ski Bike Junkie
September 9, 2008I’ll bet there’s a ton of money to be made in the physical fitness montage business. I mean, if people will pay money to go to some retreat for weeks at a time just so they can fast, there’s got to be a way to turn this into a very expensive product. Perhaps if it were promoted via infomercial.
Highwaymunky
September 10, 2008Rocky films are legendary and when ever i’m battling up some large Hill I always have eye of the tiger in my head! But is that still the same tracksuit?? I think so!