Jim Fixx
James Fuller Fixx (April 23, 1932–July 20, 1984) was the author of the 1977 best-selling book, The Complete Book of Running. Best known as Jim Fixx, he is credited with helping start America's fitness revolution, popularizing the sport of running and demonstrating the health benefits of regular jogging.
Contents |
[edit] Life and work
Born in New York City, Fixx was a graduate of Trinity School in New York and Oberlin College in Ohio. His father, Calvin Fixx, was an editor at TIME who worked with Whittaker Chambers.[1]
Fixx was a member of the high-IQ club, Mensa, [2] and published three collections of puzzles: Games for the Super-Intelligent, More Games for the Super-Intelligent, and Solve It! The back flap of his first book says: "...He spent his time running on the roads and trails near his home, training for the Boston Marathon."
Fixx started running in 1967 at age 35. He weighed 240 pounds (110 kg) and smoked two packs of cigarettes per day. Ten years later, when his book, Complete Book of Running (which spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the best-seller list) was published, he was 60 pounds (30 kg) lighter and smoke-free. In his books and on television talk shows, he extolled the benefits of physical exercise and how it considerably increased the average life expectancy.
The cover of Jim Fixx' book, The Complete Book of Running, featured Fixx's muscular legs against a red cover. The book sold over a million copies.
In 1980 Fixx wrote a follow up book entitled Jim Fixx's Second Book of Running: The Companion Volume to The Complete Book of Running.
In 1982 Fixx published Jackpot!, the story of what happened after the publication of The Complete Book of Running when he experienced the "Great American Fame Machine", becoming richer and more celebrated than he could have imagined. In one account he noted an experience of being on a TV show with George Harrison, and noticed that Harrison was not sitting down in the "green" room. Upon inquiry Harrison said that sitting down wrinkles the pants. He had become a guru of the running boom.
Maximum Sports Performance, published posthumously, discusses the physical and psychological benefits of running and other sports, including: increasing self-esteem; acquiring a "high" from running; and being able to cope better with pressure and tension.
[edit] Death
On July 20, 1984, Fixx died at the age of 52 of a fulminant heart attack, after his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%.[3] Although there were opponents of Fixx's beliefs who said this was evidence that running was harmful, medical opinion continued to uphold the link between exercise and longevity.[4] In 1986 exercise physiologist, Kenneth Cooper, published an inventory of the risk factors that might have contributed to Fixx's death.[5] Granted access to his medical records and autopsy, and after interviewing his friends and family, Cooper concluded that Fixx was genetically predisposed (his father died of a heart attack at age 43 and Fixx himself had a congenitally enlarged heart), and had several lifestyle issues. Fixx was a heavy smoker prior to beginning running at age 36, he had a stressful occupation, he had undergone a second divorce, and his weight before he took up running had ballooned to 220lbs.[6]
A carved granite monument—a book with an inscription to Jim Fixx from the people of Northeast Scotland—now stands in Hardwick Memorial Park in Hardwick. [7]
[edit] Works
- Fixx, James, Games for the Super-Intelligent (1972) Doubleday
- Fixx, James, More Games for the Super-Intelligent (1976) Doubleday
- Fixx, James, The Long Distance Runner: A Definitive Study - preface by James Fixx, edited by Paul Milvy (1977) ISBN 0893960004
- Fixx, James, The Complete Book of Running (Hardcover) Random House; 1st edition (1977) ISBN 0-394-41159-5
- Fixx, James, Solve It! by James F. Fixx (1978) Doubleday
- Fixx, James, Jim Fixx's Second Book of Running (Hardcover) Random House; 1st ed edition (1980) ISBN 0-394-50898-X
- Fixx, James, Jackpot! (1982) Random House; ISBN 0-394-50899-8
- Fixx, James, (with Nike Sports Research Laboratory) Maximum Sports Performance: How to Achieve Your Full Potential in Speed, Endurance, Strength and Coordination (1985) ISBN 0-394-53682-7
[edit] Videos
- Fixx, Jim, Jim Fixx On Running (Laserdisc), MCA Videodisc, INC.; (1980) Color, 53 minutes
[edit] References in popular culture
Bill Hicks did a routine on Jim Fixx, notably on the irony of Fixx's abrupt death in light of being viewed as a health guru. Bill Hicks contrasted his death while running with the fact that Keith Richards is still alive and sounding good. Denis Leary did the exact same routine too.
The song "I'm Jim Fixx and I'm Dead Now" is a song by Australian band, The Fauves, found on their album Nervous Flashlights. The song details Fixx's death during exercise and is based on the Bill Hicks routine.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ [|Chambers, Whittaker] (1952). Witness. Random House. pp. 478, 494–495. ISBN 0-89526-571-0.
- ^ http://www.us.mensa.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Marketplace
- ^ http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/emmett.htm The Physiology of Marathon Running
- ^ John Taddei. "In the Long Run, Older Runners Live Longer, 21-Year Study Finds". http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=&sid=a4emdcRyNi3M. Retrieved August 11, 2008.
- ^ Kenneth Cooper Running Without Fear: How to Reduce the Risk of Heart Attack and Sudden Death During Aerobic Exercise, publ. Bantam Books (1986, 1987)
- ^ http://bystander.homestead.com/run_heart_attack.html
- ^ http://philip.greenspun.com/images/pcd4554/hardwick-fixx-memorial-49
