This exact situation has happened to tons of people. A lot of them then become so involved with weight lifting that they could never stop. They gain a certain passion for the sport. Once you become immersed within the subculture, you take on a new unique set of values and morals that are often different from mainstream society.
However, in the bodybuilding world, being called a freak is a huge compliment. Bodybuilding really is more a state of mind that is manifested in the gym in the mirror. Bodybuilding norms boils down to training, eating and resting.
Many train with a similar split. Most train back and biceps one day then chest, shoulders and triceps the next day and finally legs the last day. This is a typical three day split in which they would do twice a week with one off day. Most eat a lot in order to grow big and strong muscles. Na, it only takes one look at Muscle Media to see that bodybuilding is as mainstream as Microsoft and Oh wait a freakin minute!
What am I saying? Of course bodybuilding is a subculture! But before the argument begins, we have to define what exactly we mean by bodybuilding. By bodybuilding I'm referring to the drive some call it obsession for physique perfection including huge amounts of muscle mass and low levels of body fat.
Included in this definition is also the drive for maximum intensity both in and out of the gym. Physique competition has something to do with the definition but not everything. Bodybuilding is more a state of mind characterized by excess that is manifest in the gym and on the stage. Everything about bodybuilding is hardcore. Excluded in this definition is the desire to "look a little more cut", to "see all my abs," and to "get a little stronger.
Nothing is wrong with these latter goals, but they are not bodybuilding goals. Of course it does. And if you don't think so, you're not a member. One of the most interesting things I find about this subculture is the following. A member of it is easily recognizable. And I don't just mean the silly tans and the pumped up physiques.
Since I'm pretty big and lean, I can walk into any serious gym across the US and Canada and once I start training, you'll see the members of the subculture rise to the surface. I know this because in the last 7 years I've had memberships at more than 20 gyms.
Immediately as I begin squatting over pounds, the average gym lifter views me as peculiar. And why wouldn't he or she. My head looks like it's about to rocket launch from my body. In contrast, the bodybuilder views me as "one of us" and is the first one to offer a spot or to start conversation.
These are the guys have often become my best friends. It's like being part of a secret society that few others understand. In this life there's a strange irony. We are all looking for a certain defining individuality but we also want to share that with others like us.
It's not a rugged individualism but just something that makes us different from most. And bodybuilding sure does offers that to us. RF: I don't think there can be any question about bodybuilding as a subculture.
When one becomes fully immersed in bodybuilding his life changes and he adapts in varying ways to the pursuit. Lonnie's points about performance drugs and their widespread use cause subculture-like attributes as well. Take a look at any group who share preference for a certain drug - be it alcohol, pot, cocaine, crack, etc Do they not gravitate toward each other? I think in looking at this it is apparent subcultures are created when groups of like-minded people with similar desires unite in opposition to a social environment that views such interests as "abnormal.
That is, is there something pathological about it compared to the general population? They are not, however, the essence of bodybuilding. If you want to know what the essence is, go watch " Pumping Iron " again or "The Comeback.
The roots of the subculture lay in something inspiring and almost magical. This hard-to-describe quality is why so many people get hooked for life and never really stop bodybuilding. I suppose, as with so many things, the world is ultimately what we make of it. JB: Is the subculture bad? I guess it depends on your surroundings and the context. Again, since I move around a lot, I've seen the many faces of bodybuilding.
I've seen a bodybuilding full of competitive sprit and camaraderie. This is that essence that Lonnie made reference to. Interestingly, at the time, I was training in a very old school gym full of black and white photos of Arnold and some other 60s and 70s bodybuilders.
In fact the gym owner used to hang with Arnold back when Arnold was still bodybuilding and loved to tell the stories of the good old days. Sure they were delusional in their thinking that the current bodybuilders couldn't hold a candle to Arnold and Franco. Sure there were drugs in that gym just like everywhere else. Sure there was that hint of body image obsession. But all these potential disasters were held in check by something, I don't know, more wholesome. It was all about lifting weights and pride.
Muscles were synonymous with work and in such a place, the bigger you were, the harder you worked. We weren't worried about getting the perfect tan or always being smoothly shaven. The bodybuilding subculture is a group of people who shared their interest and obsession of building muscle.
These individuals place a priority on exercising and eating a proper diet the will create the most amount of muscle. Due to the amount of time a bodybuilder spends at the gym exercising along with their similar goals interest in their bodybuilding; bodybuilders end up spending a lot of their free time together and in association with other bodybuilders much more than others.
The history of. They could be classified through religion, culture, style, outlook on life and many other aspects. The one subculture that has grown tremendously through out time is a very hard one to notice as a subculture opposed to a sport. Its said that bodybuilding started way back in the times of great philosophers like Plato who believed that a man should strive for a. These societies began building their bodies by moving and carrying different size and weight stones to reach their intended body transformation.
Working out helps control body fat and can prevent certain health conditions and diseases. As people are captivated by the goal of having a healthy and muscular body, this obsession can lead to the deviant behavior of bodybuilding. A deviant behavior is an act that departs from the usual or accepted social standards. As well as, why do they exercise so often?
He believed that the subversive power of subcultures could be useful to further understand misconceptions of natural, and supposedly immutable, aspects of society.
Inspired by Barthes, Levi-Strauss and Saussure, Hebdige argued that subcultures communicate to the social world. Olympia, the largest competition in the world.
Competitors pictured on the Mr. Olympia stage Eddie Maloney, Flikr. Such intense competition created a massive wave of anabolic steroid use in the subculture. Other common behaviors and tactics besides weight lifting and illegal drug use also permeate the subcultural sphere. Although physical fitness is seen as a positive attribute in mainstream culture, bodybuilders are often looked upon as narcissistic, vain, and superficial. Powerlifter Vikki Traugot www. This extremely deviant and risky behavior has led to some schisms within the subculture.
Additionally, there is a distinction between natural and professional bodybuilding in which natural bodybuilders refrain from using narcotic enhancements World Natural Bodybuilding Federation. Most recently, bodybuilding has become popularized and wider spread through social media. Some even connect and sign onto brand deals with fitness and bodybuilding companies to promote their products to their fan-base Chan, Gender plays a massive role in the bodybuilding subculture. For a lot of men, bodybuilding means taking that to the extreme, but it also requires conformity, especially as the community holds certain individuals in the most prestige, and competitions reinforce ideals per each sex.
The interesting caveat to achieving a hyper-masculine form is the role that anabolic steroid use plays. The interesting thing, however, is that through similar training and diet plans, as well as steroid use, women and men in the bodybuilding community exist in relative hormone homogeneity. As mentioned in the Gender and Bodybuilding section, a relatively homogenous standard of masculine representation is a core tenet in the bodybuilding subculture.
An important part to adhering to this status comes through homophobic tendencies.
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