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from Section 3 - Exploring the Motivations Behind Exercise Addiction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 March 2023
This chapter is a personal account of the immense pressure on bodybuilders to succumb to the ‘gym lifestyle’ and to take steroids. The author was able to resist this pressure and become a ‘natural bodybuilder’, although navigating the path between wanting to excel and being frightened about the consequences, while also experiencing a mental health disorder, was challenging. The choice that she made meant that her transformation took longer than that of some of her competitors who were using steroids. During this time she witnessed many people succumb to that lifestyle, including a significant number of women who were dabbling with steroids without awareness or understanding of their long-lasting effects on the body and mind. She asks whether it is worth taking such risks, only to be judged and criticized, deemed by the judges not to be good enough, or in some cases even to be disqualified from shows.
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