Bodybuilder’s Life Style: The Diet and The Obsession with Body

• Main Author: Ceren AKSOY SUGIYAMA
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Ankara University 2017-01-01
• Series: Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi
• Subjects: Toplumsal Cinsiyet; Beden Antropolojisi; Maskülenite; Vücut Geliştirme; Beslenme Pratikleri
• Online Access: http://dtcfdergisi.ankara.edu.tr/index.php/dtcf/article/view/322

Fashion models and professional bodybuilders seem to share the experience of walking on a runway incommon. But the nature of the relation to their bodies exposed on the catwalk are somewhat different. One of the apparent difference regarding their bodily experiences is the fact that, a fashion model is expected to expose the dress instead of her body while a bodybuilder have to display his figure making explicit each muscle. Nevertheless it is not false to claim that have something else in common in their daily lives which they have to put up with. They both have to perform strict diets. Although much more is known about the diets of the models, diets of the bodybuilders and the way those diets interact with the daily experiences of bodybuilders are rarely discussed. In this article, an ethnographical account of the diets those are practiced by the body builders will be discussed so as to explain the bodily strains of the bodybuilders. This article is based on a study that took place in a local gym in Turkey. It is the aim of the article to discuss the strict food regime of the bodybuilders from a phenomenological perspective to give a better understanding about their daily acitivities organising around this sport. Body builders are usually associated as the bodily expression of a hard core masculinity and have a bad reputiton because of the drugs. In fact the strict diets they have to undergo before the competitions have far more importance in their daily routines since the diets themselves continue for much longer periods in their lives, usually a life time. In order to look more masculine, these bodybuilders show a great effort to abstain from the worldly pleasures of food.