ABSTRACT
The body-building world may seem strange, the champions are both adulated and considered ‘monsters’. Here we find the conclusions of Duret for whom ‘internal recognition and external rejection’ are part of the logic of the gym. Women’s bodybuilding pushes this logic to its paroxysm, for ‘Being a bodybuilding woman, especially a champion, condemns out of this milieu to be cited not for the ideal beauty sought but as a monster of ugliness’ (2005: 42). This article will be devoted to analysing the entry into a group of body-builders. Far from wanting to seduce newcomers, the coach subjects them to a double infernal trial. One becomes body-builder after months of intensive work, financial, food and personal sacrifices. Body-builders sacrifice everything, so much so that Ewald and Jiobu (1985) show that they forget their family duties, their health, or their work. They are willing to sacrifice their mental health or physical well-being for success, accepting draconian diets, overtraining, weight control, injuries (Wasielwski, 1991; Johns, 1997). Daily meal planning, scrupulously followed, is part of their daily routine. One of the early learning of novices is that of purity or impurity of food.
