Mr. 5BX: Canadian Fitness Pioneer; A Biography of William A.R. Orban

Glynn A. Leyshon is a professor of physical education at the University
of Western Ontario, a former weekly columnist for the London Free Press
and author of 18 Sporting Stories.

This biography of William A.R. Orban, the originator of the famous 5BX exercise program, has been carefully researched by Jackson. It gives details of Orban’s personal and professional life which, even though mundane, help in understanding the man.

For all Dr. Orban’s contribution to the field of physical education, he would go unnoticed but for the 5BX program; if there is a fault with the book, it is that it does not give enough emphasis to the exercise program. As of 1981, the 5BX program as a booklet had sold 15 million copies. The New York Times list of all-time best sellers in 1972 listed the book in eighth place. Such a contribution deserves more than the 18 pages devoted to it. It is a story in itself, when one considers that Orban received no royalties and was not even acknowledged as the author by the RCAF.

The six other chapters in the book round out the background of Dr. Orban and his family. His contributions to the field of physical education have been extensive and his capacity for work, well illustrated by quotations from Orban’s diaries, appears staggering. His place in Canadian physical education would seem assured from his other work, but the 5BX program makes him unique.