Happy New Year Everyone!
It’s officially January 2017 which means one thing only… New Year’s resolutions. As each year reveals one’s own personal aims and goals, without a doubt, the most popular resolution of all-time will always be commitments regarding fitness.
As of May 16, 2016, it had been estimated that there were around 9.2 million gym members in the United Kingdom alone, approximately 1 in every 7 – a high rate which is constantly on the rise (LeisureDB, 2016). So, what could be the cause of this increase in gym membership?
Social media has become more and more ubiquitous in people’s everyday lives, fostering a new form of communication and interaction through media platforms. With the global accessibility to the Internet, social media allows us to view and connect with people from all over the world. The line chart below, analysed by TrackMaven, revealed which social media platform achieves the highest social engagement and interaction, with no surprise, Instagram highly dominates. (Smart Insights, 2o16)
Social media hugely plays an important role in shaping attitudes towards the fitness industry, as it gives the freedom for individuals to publicly express themselves and influence others. It is difficult to scroll through your Instagram timeline without coming across a posted photo or video in relation to “healthy” lifestyles and workout regimes. The fitness industry has become a socio-cultural phenomenon, even the bodybuilding community is becoming mainstream and attracting new followers every day – once being a very niche sport.
Instagram can have negative effects on our self-esteem.
Influential Instagrammers, who are driving the bodybuilding community, include the likes of Simeon Panda, with over 2.7 million followers, Bradley Martyn, with 2 million followers, and Phil Heath, with 1.9 million. All who share many similarities such as posting photos of themselves working out in the gym, presenting the supplements they apparently take, and, of course, posing and showing off their muscular physiques. What’s more, these men have most definitely sculpted the modern epitome of the male body and what is means to be “masculine”.
Scrolling through Instagram, flooded with perfect depictions of the male body, it is unsurprising that it can have negative effects on men such as depression, lowered self-esteem and even cause self-harm including steroid abuse.
The infamous 15-year-old, known as BigNattyDaddy, openly used anabolic steroids illegally, in attempt to reach the idealistic male body that is exploited all over social and digital media. He became a viral topic on the Internet when he started posting his bodybuilding journey on his own Instagram page.
In this 7 minute BBC Three documentary below, attracting over 700,000 views just on YouTube, we get an insight into BigNattyDaddy’s world of bodybuilding and his perspective on taking performance-enhancing drugs.
He says, “Even if I face myself in the mirror, sometimes it will just ruin my day if I don’t look the way I want to look”.
There is no denying that he suffers with body dysmorphic disorder to a certain degree; a condition where one cannot control their negative thoughts towards the way they look and can spend hours each day doing so. And in BigNattyDaddy’s case, it has affected his daily functioning as he no longer bothers with his education and seems to be isolated at only 15 years of age.
If you follow my Facebook page, you would have read about a similar case in an article I shared about Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of the most famous professional bodybuilders in history. He stated that, “I was already so critical of myself, even when I was in top physical shape… I’d look in the mirror after I won one Mr. Olympia after another and think, ‘How did this pile of [bleep] win?’ I never saw perfection. There was always something lacking” (Page Six, 2016).
“Body building is about chasing a perfect physique that clearly doesn’t exist, it’s a kind of self-induced torture.”
In the documentary, BigNattyDaddy talks about the large amount of hate comments he receives on his social media. Even looking through the YouTube comments on this video, people are still mocking his physique and the way he looks, which displays the scale of hate, not only towards the boy, but in this fitness industry altogether.
Arnold Schwarzenegger also began bodybuilding at the same age of 15, with claims that he too used steroids at this age, since he admitted that he has used steroids before. However, Schwarzenegger is known as a huge inspiration to people within the bodybuilding community and is praised for his accomplishments. So, what makes BigNattyDaddy approach different to Schwarzenegger? Does it have anything to do with the emergence of social media and the ability to easily comment opinions online?
BigNattyDaddy states that, “Body building is about chasing a perfect physique that clearly doesn’t exist, it’s a kind of self-induced torture you know. You’ll never really be able to find that perfect body. I’ve always been obsessed with the way my body looks and the image of my body and how people see me”.
He said he was inspired by Bostin Lloyd, who goes by the name BigJuiceDaddy on Instagram, known for promoting the use of anabolic steroids in extreme doses. He uses explicit language on his social media pages and seems to talk in a jokey way, giving the impression that he doesn’t really care about the dangers and possibly life-threatening risks his influences may have on individuals.