Bigameraria in Bodybuilders

Chris Anderson

December 8, 2010 M/W/F, 12:20PM Biology 110 Dr. Warner

Introduction While brainstorming topics for the I-Search paper, there were a few areas that I found interesting and deeply personal, but lacked that extra punch or touch of excitement that I was seeking or believed others may enjoy or at least find interesting. Although topics such as Bipolar Disorder and genetics intrigued me, I wanted to focus on a topic that was not only interesting and personal, but also something that would allow me to interview individuals to emphasize my research or should I not be able to locate reputable or published sources. At risk of receiving a less than desirable grade for the paper, I also wanted to research more information on a topic that I believed was relatively nascent or perhaps not too well known among the general population. In fact, the topic I chose is so new (generally speaking from a Biological research point of view), that I could not identify one definitive name to encapsulate the disorder. It has many synonymous names, including Reverse Anorexia Nervosa, Muscle Dysmorphia, Vigorexia, The Adonis Complex, and Bigameriaia. Normally, Im a bit of a procrastinator, but I started this research early because I was hoping to be able to drill down beyond the surface on what may be a bit of a challenging topic. What specifically drew me to this topic was speculating what may cause this disorder. Is it related in a biological sense much like the more well-known anorexia nervosa? Are there biological predispositions? To what extent are environmental or cultural factors significant? What effects do synthetic hormones or anabolic steroids have on an individuals body and psyche? Or was it just vanity or deep psychological self-esteem issues? I was also intrigued because I felt like its an area that of study that, while seems to be on the rise, may also brushed off or not given enough credence.

While I am not a professional bodybuilder, nor have I have ever been in any competitive bodybuilding events, I have been exposed to professional bodybuilder culture and the underground scene of bodybuilding since 1987. I have seen duffle bags full of anabolic steroids, witnessed destructive behavior, and watched and even helped individuals inject copious amounts of anabolic steroids into their bodies. There were periods in my life when I would spend 3 to 4 hours in the gym, 7 days out of the week. I was also taking over-the-counter and synthetic drugs, putting off other duties and responsibilities, eating 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day, even getting up in the middle of the night to eat various forms of protein. And I was just considered an average Joe in this particular Golds Gym. What fueled this behavior? Was it somehow related to Anorexia Nervosa? Was it vanity? There is a history of mental illness in my family. Was that a factor? I went through a period of depression. Did that affect serotonin levels? Was that a cause? Am I genetically predisposed? Why did I have to weigh as much as possible? Was it just a phase? At one point in my life I was 63 and weighed 150 pounds with minimal body fat. At another point, I was 63 and weighed 265 pounds with 9% body fat. I have since taken a hiatus from training and my weight is around 210 pounds, with probably around 20% body fat. Again, I am in no way comparing myself to professional bodybuilders that compete for a living and strive for the most lean body mass attainable at any cost, but I have been privy to the bodybuilding culture and been exposed to many areas that that may be misunderstood by the general public and that I still find fascinating.

Bigameraria and Body Dissatisfaction in Bodybuilders Anorexia nervosa is a well-known and well-documented eating disorder, primarily composed of young women who idealize and fantasize about false and unrealistic forms of what a female should look like. Building on the false idealistic body image forms, there also now seems to be an influence of sports and exercise on body image satisfaction in both men and women. The importance of a fit physique has grown exponentially to men in modern society as noted by the hyper muscular action heroes such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, many professional ball players, and just about any superhero in tight spandex in a big-budget movie. They even exist in childrens animated movies and cartoons such as The Incredibles, MegaMan, and Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles. One growing sport, bodybuilding, now has the largest sports federation. In the last few years, researchers have linked bodybuilding to an overwhelming drive for lean muscle mass termed reverse anorexia by Pope, Katz, and Hudson [1] and bigameraria by Taylor [2]. The bodybuilders obsessive behavior resembles anorexia nervosa except that the drive for enormous muscles replaces the drive for thinness. This psychological syndrome may motivate bodybuilders to relinquish friends, to give up responsibilities, to pursue unusual diets and to over train and risk their health with steroid abuse. Bodybuilders who exhibit bigameraria strive constantly to gain more lean body mass, but even when successful they believe their size is inadequate. Pope found that 8% of their bodybuilder subjects insisted that they were very small when they were really big and muscular [1]. This belief affected their daily lives in many ways. Some said they would wear heavy clothing, even in the summer, to hide their inadequate size. The percentage of the bodybuilders in the study with anorexia nervosa was 2.8% which is considerably more than the .02% rate currently recorded among all American men.

The fear of being too small leads to a high degree of dissatisfaction among bodybuilders. Fussell proclaimed, It didnt occur to me then that too big might not be big enough. He went on to say, By making myself larger than life, I might make myself a little less frail, a little less assailable and when it came down to it, a little less human [3]. Personally, for a short time, I could relate to this mentality. Even at 265 pounds, I wanted to become bigger, stronger, and make progress every time I entered the gym. I had a never-ending quest to constantly improve myself, to push myself and my body to the limit at any cost.

Abnormal Eating Behaviors and Control In pursuit of achieving the perfect physique, bodybuilders often reach unparalleled extremes in manipulating their eating patterns to maximize muscle mass and definition. One bodybuilder itemized his weekly grocery store list as including 70 eggs, 14 cans of tuna, 10.5 pounds of beef, 10 pounds of chicken, 9 gallons of nonfat milk, 4 loaves of bread, and as many sacks of brown rice, whole wheat pasta, baking potatoes, and fruit as I could load into my carts [3]. This enormous amount of food isnt unusual for a bodybuilder seeking to put on muscle and demonstrates the devotion to the high amount of protein and low fat food. Any muscle or fitness magazine out there today will contain endless articles and advertisements regarding protein shakes to special vitamins and supplements to enhance a bodybuilders performance. A bodybuilder wants to control their metabolism and development of eating disorders may occur in their pursuit of their idea of a perfect physique. The need to control their metabolism reflects a more generalized need for control among bodybuilders which resembles that illustrated by individuals with anorexia nervosa. Yates states that above all, bodybuilders must control their body [4]. To the bodybuilder, the body represents clay which can be molded and carved into

any desirable from with enough time, discipline, and energy. The need for control may become an obsession necessary to become a champion in the sport.

Self-esteem and Social Isolation Like individuals with anorexia nervosa, bodybuilders display a high degree of confidence when in reality, their self-esteem tends to be low. Men may be drawn to bodybuilding during their adolescent years as a result of feeling weak and helpless. It is further perpetuated and fueled with advertisements that feed off of this sense of inadequacy and promote their supplements or products. Fussell states, On the back pages of comic books, scrawny teens find advertisements and chin-up bars [3]. Perhaps, from these beginnings, bodybuilders learn to use their sport for protection creating a false sense of invincibility. For example, The more insignificant he feels on the inside, the more significant the bodybuilder strives to appear on the outside [5]. To compensate for his insecurities, the bodybuilder will escalate his weightlifting regime so he can appear more intimidating, increase his sense of power, or appear what he thinks is more sexually appealing. Similarly, the female with anorexia nervosa starves herself to become more life-threatening thin, but can never be thin enough. Much like an individual with anorexia nervosa, a competitive bodybuilder will avoid others out of a sense of inadequacy. Many bodybuilders are insecure, reckless, and in poor health which is part of bodybuilding facade. Bodybuilding seems to generally attract loners because of the high degree of individualism involved in the sport [5]. In his 3 year study of bodybuilding culture, Klein also explained how people in team sports who resent their lack of individual recognition see bodybuilding as the answer. Fussell wrote that he gave up his job, his friends, and his family to pursue bodybuilding. Bodybuilders have to rely on themselves because

they do not have coaches or teammates to assist them and essentially see their bodies as their playing fields and themselves as their own coaches.

Steroids Recent estimates are that between two and three million athletes in the United States alone have used anabolic steroids [6]. The growing use of anabolic steroids among male bodybuilders shows that they, similar to people with anorexia nervosa, will use deadly practices to obtain their goal with little hesitation. Steroid use has been linked to a variety of physical illnesses including cardiac disorders, elevated blood pressure, liver issues and complications leading to death. In a study by Pope, bodybuilders and football players who admitted to steroid use showed that 22% of the 42 subjects were diagnosed with an affective syndrome and 5% suffered from psychotic symptoms while using steroids. While its a small sample size, it shows that steroids are associated with mental disorders. I know of bodybuilders that went to great lengths to buy illegal steroids including mail order, smuggling, taking veterinarian/equine drugs, and even making solutions for intramuscular injections in their basement from steer pellets. Despite the grave risks, bodybuilders continue to use steroids, growth hormone, and other gray market drugs (e.g. Clomid, Clenbuterol, etc.) to gain size and lean muscle mass. Yates stated of those with activity disorders, they seem bent on destroying the body, but they also love the body very much [4]. Steroid use becomes the ultimate means of control for the bodybuilder who can manipulate the dosage to achieved desired results.

Conclusion I began the research for this paper wanting to know what may be the cause or causes for this disorder. While the interest in this topic appears to be on the rise and more research is needed to provide conclusive evidence for the existence of bigameraia, there does appear to some correlations with anorexia nervosa. Limited research on this topic indicates that bodybuilding attracts individuals susceptible to and perpetuates a pattern of reverse anorexia. The high profile muscle bound super heroes and modern athletes rival the latest cover girl for cultural icons in our society. Such imagery preys on skinny adolescent boys that begin in a frenzy of weightlifting seeking to attain size above all forsaking friends and family in their quest. When these bodybuilders become super muscular, they still feel their size is not large enough. This fuels body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and a desire to control their bodies among bodybuilders. They will try anything that they think will increase muscle mass or definition including bizarre eating practices, steroids, and even homemade chemical solutions to mold their bodies into a perfect unreachable body. As bodybuilders become entrenched in their cycle, they grow socially isolated. The combination of these factors, lead to a perpetuation of the cycle over the course of a bodybuilders lifetime. Most of the literature on this subject is descriptive, not quantitative and the number of studies which have been specifically conducted to test for bigameriaia are minimal. While it was difficult to unearth any significant quantitative data, I still found the I-search paper worthwhile and incredibly interesting. And although Im no longer involved with the hardcore bodybuilding culture, I find this topic intriguing, and hope one day to revisit it in more detail as I continue to progress in my health field studies.

Journal Thursday, October 28: Initial brainstorming about topic of I-Search paper. Tuesday, November 2: Went to CCBC Essex campus library to locate and research some sources. Started to write first draft of introduction. Thursday, November 11: Looked through personal collection of bodybuilding magazines and books and found Anabolic Reference Guide. 6th edition by Bill Phillips. Bill Phillips is the same author of Body for Life, Eating for Life, and other top-selling health and nutrition books. I found this interesting as this 250 page book is essentially a how to manual on many aspects of steroid usage, their biochemistry, effectiveness, and side effects. There was quite a bit of terminology that was used that I also learned in Biology class. Tuesday, November 22: I continued to write up the paper, but after a missing school for a week and still recovering from a broken arm, Ive decided to not pursue conducting any interviews. At this point, I have not been to the gym in months and have to play catch-up on all of my classes and prepare for multiple tests. I feel confident that I have enough information to constitute a good paper without the inclusion of any interviews. Thursday, December 2: Devoted most of the day to writing the paper. Monday, December 6: Completed writing the paper and bibliography. Tuesday, December 7: Reviewed and put finishing touches on paper. Wednesday, December 8: The paper is due.

Bibliography

1.

Pope, H.G., Katz, D.L., & Hudson, J. 1. (1993). Anorexia nervosa and reverse anorexia among 108 male bodybuilders. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 34(6), 406-409.

2. Taylor, W.N. (1985). Hormonal Manipulation: A new era of monstrous athletes. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland 3. Fussell, S.W. (1991). Muscle: Confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder. New York: Avon Books. 4. Yates, A. (1991). Compulsive Exercise and the eating disorders. New York: Brunner/Mazel, Inc. 5. Klein, A.M. (1995). Lifes too short to die small. In D. Sabo, & F.D. Gordon (eds.), Mens health and illness (pp. 105-120). London: Sage Publications. 6. Phillips, W.N. (1991). Anabolic Reference Guide. 6th Edition. Golden, CO. Mile High Publishing.