Week #6 Annotated Bib.

Annotated Bibliography

Grossman, Kate.  “Bigorexia: Reverse Anorexia.”  About.com Men’s Health.  21 July 2006.  30

            Sept. 2008 .

 

This article discusses a fairly new disorder that is being called “bigorexia,” or reverse anorexia.  The disorder is most common in male weightlifters.  Their tendency is to become obsessive about weightlifting and body image to the point that they may have what most consider a perfect body and still not be happy with the way they look.  Many of these men will wear clothes to hide their body and stay away from activities where they may have to show their body, such as swimming.  Men with this disorder have reported that they spend five or more hours per day thinking about the fact that they perceive their body as imperfect. 

            I plan to use this article in my research as I try to unveil a possible deeper reason for why people go to the gym.  My original thoughts were that some men were simply vain, but after finding this and many other articles on muscle dysmorphia, my eyes have been opened to a new facet of this subculture.  This will fit in well with the psychological analysis that I plan to include in my mini-ethnography.  I may also be able to work this article into the benefits versus risks section of my paper because clearly there are more than just physical risks of the subculture.

 

Hamill, B.P. “Relative Safety of Weightlifting and Weight Training.” Journal of Strength and

            Conditioning Research 8.1 (1994): 53-57

 

            This journal article compares the safety of weightlifting to the safety of sports for junior high and high school aged children.  It argues that weightlifting is no more, and is possibly less dangerous than school-sponsored sports programs.  The author created a study done in the form of a survey.  In the survey, he asked how often injuries were sustained during instructional weightlifting versus those that were injured while playing a contact sport such as soccer or football per one hundred hours of participation.  Injuries were also categorized and defined for those taking the survey so as to clarify any questionable terms.  The results showed that for every one hundred hours of participation, weightlifters sustained .0012 injuries among the 4,698 participants, and winter sports athletes sustained .0600 injuries among the 3,230 participants involved in the study.  The article also touches on some long-term effects of weightlifting on the body, especially when it is started at a young age.

            I plan to use this journal article when I discuss the risks of weightlifting.  In this study, the participants were involved in weight training that was instructional, for safety purposes.  However, many do not receive formal training on how to lift weights and operate the machines in a weight room, therefore causing injury to be more common.  I will use this article as supporting evidence that instruction should be given to any new gym member about the equipment, which some gyms do require, and also as evidence that risks still exist and that necessary precautions should be taken when serious weightlifting is being done.

Box #18

One very obvious focal point of most gyms is the mirror, or rather, mirrors.  They typically cover almost every wall of the gym.  It almost makes the place have a new dimension because you can see everything at so many different angles.  My first thought was that these mirrors exist to allow the vain muscle men to admire themselves as they work out, which after doing some interviews, is in many cases true.  Some also mentioned that it allows them to see other men or women that are “checking them out” while they lift weights.  Others, however, claim that they use the mirrors to make sure they are using good form and doing exercises correctly, which maximizes their results.  Several men that I talked to seemed very interested in helping me see why form is so important and how the mirrors help them accomplish this.  This definitely made sense to me after talking with my informants, and I may try to rephrase my question about the mirrors to make sure that my original thoughts do not affect how my informants respond to my questions, even if I simply adjust the tone of my voice when I ask.  

In Class 8/25

Last summer my entire extended family and I went to Tennessee for a week. The huge, three story log cabin was the most beautiful piece of architecture I had seen up to that point in my life. The cabin was a part of a whole community of cabins similar in look, but differing in size and structure. The air outside smelled like nature. You could smell the dirt and wet grass and feel the coolness of it rush into your nose. Inside the cabin, it smelled like finished wood; not a strong smell, but a pleasant sort of home-away-from home type of smell. The inside of the cabin was quiet. Few sounds escaped the rooms. But outside, the sounds of families playing together, kids jumping in the pool at the bottom of the hill, and men chatting on the porches sipping cans of beer, filled the air. It was a welcome place.

I did not feel much of a culture shock upon arriving to Tennessee. I live in the secluded countryside back home, so this peaceful, wooded place was just the right fit for me. I had always dreamed about living in a cabin like the one we stayed in that week, so there was almost a familiarity about the place because of how I had always pictured myself in a cabin.

Week 5

I think I have a pretty good plan to finish my project.  I have done some interviews already, which have been helpful, and I have collected some information from the internet as well.  I will also be collecting some fitness and bodybuilding magazines because I feel that the two will be quite different as far as advertisements and advice found within the articles of the two different types of magazines.  I have also started getting into a couple of chat rooms and talking to bodybuilders or just men and women who go to the gym often.  I ask them many of the same interview questions that I have done in person, but I also see where they take the conversation.  Many of the men I have already talked to display a sort of pride and maybe some slight vanity in the way they see themselves.  I have had many interesting conversations that have been both informative and have helped me get to know more about the attitudes of this gym subculture.  I also still need to look up some scholarly sources on psychology, which is the “deeper” subject within my subculture, whereas fitness and staying healthy is the “apparent” subject.  My only question is how much scholarly research you want in our final project versus how much personal interaction you want to see with our chosen subcultures.

Box #15

I am taken back to a small shack of a house in the Dominican Republic.  I walk in, led by a woman looking much older than her years.  She spoke only Spanish and I struggled to remember the last four years of my schooling in the language.  She led me back to a room, one of the only rooms in the house, where I saw an old man of ninety years laying on a dirty bed wheezing with every breath.  As I continued to strain to understand her quickly spoken Spanish, I heard her tell me that this man was her father, and he had been sick for many years with chronic bronchitis and was paralyzed on the right side of his body.  My job was to help her bathe him.  We donned rubber gloves and uncovered his frail body from the sheet that lay over him, which unveiled the many open sores that plagued his body.  He stench of the room become stronger and my head began to feel light.  We bathed him gently with wet cloths and when we finished, dressed his wounds as best we could.  The sights, sounds, and smells of that house and that room will stay with me forever.  

Box #12

Some of the privileges I enjoy are because of my own personal effort. One such privilege is the academic scholarship I was awarded during my first year of college. I worked hard in high school to earn a good GPA, and it paid off extremely well and helped keep me out of debt my first year in college. Another privilege that I have earned is the trust of my parents. Because I kept to their rules in high school, they now trust me very much and give me more freedom when I am at home. A third privilege that I enjoy is being able to buy anything I need. I work hard each summer to earn money so that I can live comfortably during my time here at school, and since my parents do not pay my college tuition or general expenses, I truly have to earn every bit of money I receive.

Being a child of a middle class family, there are some privileges that I did not have to earn. These include having a nice country home to live in, having things such as TV that are not essential for living, and having religious freedom in this country. I did nothing to personally gain any of these things. I was simply born into a situation that allowed me to live as I do.

I do not feel that these privileges will do much to affect my fieldwork because of the subculture that I have chosen. The only way I can think of would be how the people I will approach to interview will see me. If they have any stereotypes of “people like me,” a Caucasian, teenage, female, they may respond differently to my questions or simply my being there in the gym.

Week # 4 Blog

As of now, from the research I have found, I have come to several conclusions.  First of all, that a great number of people that workout at a gym several times a week use supplements to improve the effects of their workout.  Of the twenty-three people I have polled so far, over half have said that they use creatine, protein, or another type of supplement with their workout.  I expect to find many others that are the same way as I continue my research.

Second of all, I have concluded that gyms can be found in any type of neighborhood.  I have been in gyms that are in the middle of a poor area and those that sit in the middle of some of the more affluent areas of a city.  I do not yet know the socioeconomic status of the people who actually use the gyms though, so it is possible that even gyms in poorer areas are still occupied by the middle class.  I believe that the price of being a gym member can make those who use a gym selective.  Most gyms are too expensive for someone living on a low hourly wage to afford a membership.

In Class Writing..."So What"

My culture is important because within the last decade, America has become a very obese country and people are now looking for ways to fix what they have eaten themselves into. The logical choice seems to be hitting up the gym now and then, which some do. However, many are looking for a much quicker fix to their weight problems and are using supplementation to get it. People see ads of men and women with flat abs and firm bodies claiming to use a product while they exercise which has allowed them to lose pounds almost instantly. I want outsiders to know the dangers and benefits associated with certain types of exercise and supplementation. I feel that many people have been mislead and are now facing the long term consequences of their actions.

Week #3 Blog

So far, I have visited one field site and interviewed one informant.  I have also started an internet poll to help fuel my research.  In my poll I ask basic questions to find out the number of people that use supplements, how they found out about them, and how my informants view themselves.  When I did my first interview, the man I talked to seemed very confident.  He works out at a private gym six times a week and uses a protein supplement after his workouts.  I chose him because he fits what my stereotypical view of a “gym rat” is: tall, muscular, and attractive.  Of course I will interview others that do not fit my stereotype, but for my first interview, he seemed a good candidate.  When I walked into the gym I took some detailed notes on the structure of the gym, the things I sensed when I first walked in, and some other general things I noticed as I was there interviewing, such as the mirrors that surrounded the entire lifting area.  I have already begun some research on supplements such as creatine and how the bodybuilding websites portray them versus how health care professionals do. 

 I think that there is a difference between academic and non-academic research.  I feel that academic research leaves out certain sources that would be considered unreliable, such as websites like wikipedia, which can be edited by anyone.  Non-academic research could include any source despite its validity.  

In Class box #11

I chose the gym for several reasons. First of all, I am an outsider, so I will be more likely not to overlook things. Secondly, my boyfriend is most definitely a religious gym-addict and part of me does not understand his obsession. The third reason is that, being a nursing major, I am very interested in the medical aspect of lifting and working out in gyms. There are health risks, hygiene issues, and also many benefits that I would like to explore. My fixed positions could be the fact that my boyfriend is one of the subjects that I will be studying, but also my experiences in the past with people who fit the "gym rat" stereotype.

Some ethical issues I may run into are finding out things about my subjects that may be illegal, such as steroid use, especially if those subjects are involved in competitions outside of their personal gym, as many are. I will also have to deal with the fact that I may disagree with the personal choices of many of my subjects as far as supplement use and their dangers versus their benefits.

Some problems I may encounter are getting people to answer my questions honestly, and getting people to take this study seriously. People tell me all the time that I don't look like I could be in college, but I need them to take me seriously as I do my study.

My Subculture

For my subculture project, I have chosen to study people who work out at gyms religiously.  I plan on doing interviews at three types of places:  college campus gyms, gym chains (such as YMCA’s), and privately owned gyms.  It has been quite a while since I personally stepped foot inside a gym, but I am expecting to get the same types of stares that I have received in the past when I worked out often.  Part of my interview questions will include the interviewee’s perception of me when they saw me enter the gym.  Since I am a fairly small individual, I expect there to be some pre-conceived ideas about why I would come to a gym.

 Some things I hope to learn through visiting these sites and doing interviews are how many of the people use supplements such as protein shakes and creatine to boost the results of their workout.  I would also like to get the perspective of gym employees and what they see at work.  Does sexual harassment occur?  Do they nickname or tease any of the members?  What kind of methods do they use to win over the competition among other gyms?

 I am open to learn anything I can about this culture of fitness, but there are those few targets that I would like to hit, as discussed before.