The Swoletariat: a history of leftist fitness
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.7 • 9.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There’s a lot of fitness content in conservative manosphere circles – that’s not new – but now, there are also fitness influencers who call themselves the “swoletariat.” That’s a combination of the word “swole,” meaning buff, and “proletariat,” meaning the working class — the swoletariat are people whose fitness regimens connect to leftist politics. NPR's Life Kit producer Margaret Cirino shares her reporting with Brittany on the history of leftist fitness – and why she’s seeing the swoletariat picking up steam on social media.
Want to know more about fitness and health? Check out these episodes:
The difference between losing weight & being "healthy"
Beware the Wellness Industrial Complex!
The privilege of being "skinny"
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Transcript
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| 0:17.8 | The first guy was like, I go on jogs, and he was like really small, and then there was a guy that was medium-sized, and he was like, I go on jogs and he was like really small. And then there was a guy that was medium size and he was like, I'm just like weightlifting to keep myself in good shape. And then the third guy was like, I am a competitive bodybuilder and he was like pretty big. But then the biggest guy of the four was like, I am harshly aware of the rapid state of fascism that we are living under, |
| 0:39.2 | and I feel a need to protect my loved ones. |
| 0:40.7 | And he was like huge. |
| 0:41.5 | And I just thought it was so funny, but also that's so real. |
| 0:45.8 | Fitness has always been political. |
| 0:48.0 | And so I think it's not whether or not fitness in the 21st century is political. |
| 0:53.5 | It's just how does it manifest its political nature. |
| 0:59.7 | Hello, hello. |
| 1:01.2 | I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, |
| 1:04.9 | a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. |
| 1:17.5 | Yeah. culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Today, I have a very special guest here with me, Margaret Serino. |
| 1:22.8 | Hi, Brittany. |
| 1:23.8 | Marge is a producer over at Life Kit, but Marge, you also have a side job, right, as a CrossFit coach? |
| 1:31.0 | That's correct. To be honest, I just like yelling at people and telling them what to do. |
| 1:38.7 | That's fair. I can understand that, yeah. Yeah. The main draw for me. I am a jock for the record, but not like a self-serious one, |
| 1:46.7 | if that makes sense. I'm aware of like lifting weights and my acrylics kind of person, |
| 1:52.7 | but my algorithms don't know this. So I do get a lot of gym adjacent people and their content online. |
| 2:00.6 | And like the thing about gym culture, it has a lot of politics wrapped up in it. |
... |
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