[S1 E26] Hot Take Summer: The Dark Side of Body Building
Have you ever considered bodybuilding?
Participating in bodybuilding competitions involves extreme dieting, which has potential long-term health consequences. Avoiding these risks when aiming for a female body fat percentage below 5% is impossible. Bodybuilding competition requires numerous sacrifices as you are required to not only become obsessive about the food you eat but also plan meticulously, adhere strictly to macro and calorie goals, and engage in intense training sessions, often doubling up or training every day, to reach your targets. Pursuing a perfect physique through bodybuilding competitions can lead to an unhealthy obsession with your body physique that neglects mental well-being and shifts your focus towards insecurities tied to achieving an ideal physique identity.
In today's episode, I will talk about the dark side of competitive bodybuilding for females to shedding light on what lies behind the superficial allure of ultra-lean and seemingly healthy bodies. There is much more to bodybuilding competitions and physiques than meets the eye, and recognizing that you cannot measure yourself against these individuals will spare you a great deal of unnecessary stress. This lifestyle is not realistic! Let us demystify society's beauty standards and aesthetic ideals and learn to embrace diverse body types, celebrate achievements beyond mere aesthetics, and promote our overall health as the ultimate goal.
In today’s episode, we cover:
[00:00:01] Intro and what in for you in today's episode
[00:04:30] My experience with bodybuilding
[00:15:26] The pressure to conform to the winning aesthetics ideals
[00:24:16] Bigorexia or muscle dysmorphia; the obsession to increase muscles
[00:34:56] The emotional toll that comes with intense training and competition prep
[00:38:10] Justifying the struggle with eating disorders
[00:42:52] What competitors who post lean pictures do to stay stage lean
[00:45:05] Insecurities and identity crisis fueling female bodybuilding competitions
[00:51:13] What you need to know about performance-enhancing drugs
[00:55:30] Bodybuilding competition strain and pressure on relationships
[00:56:46] The things I want to see shift and change in the bodybuilding world
[00:58:03] Wrap up and how to share your experience or opinion with me
Notable Quotes
“Bodybuilding competitions are just about comparing yourself and your body against a bunch of other fantastically fit gorgeous women, and it can make you have an immense amount of pressure to the specific aesthetic that is ideal for winning the judges' votes.” [19:48]
“Natural, you can't pick and choose where to lose fat, so as women, when we become extremely lean, we lose our breast tissue, and this makes us less ideal to be chosen in a competition because we lose the feminine physics that they are looking for.” [20:59]
“The pressure to conform to aesthetic ideals is really high in bodybuilding and it can completely change the way you view yourself, often to a negative and unhealthy state.” [24:02]
“One thing that happens with stress is that it can help your body unlock defective DNA; your genetics loads the gun and your lifestyle pulls the trigger.” [27:28]
”Bodybuilding physique and lifestyle and not healthy; it is a very short-term thing that is meant to get you to a certain position, in a certain amount of time and to look a certain way; this does not equate health or longevity.” [40:51]
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