Corpo e excelência: uma etnografia sobre práticas de self-enhancement e intensidade no bodybuilding

Abstract

This ethnography aims to understand the daily life and lifestyle of bodybuilding athletes. We transcribe the trajectory of selected actors, addressing the relationships they weave among themselves and with society in general. We used interviews, observant participation in selected locations, virtual ethnography, among other varied qualitative methodological tools. It was possible to accompany athletes on trips to the gyms and certain social gatherings on the weekends, in addition to participating in virtual communities. Thus, each axis of this work is articulated with the objective of understanding the various aspects that make up the lives of these people. At first, we discuss what it is like to enter the sport, in order to provide explanations about native categories, considering aspects such as the stigma of the muscular body and the body techniques of the athletes. Then, we elaborate the emotional dimension of the lifestyle, which is the striking element for both the transformation of bodily life; of the same importance is the existence of a biochemical language of emotions, used to explain behavioral changes. Thereafter, we pay attention to the ways in which sociability around medicines is brought together, in order to reconstitute, an alternative treatment proposed by interlocutors. Finally, we will analyze nutrition and its science from the point of view of the actors, demonstrating how the body and brain are built simultaneously. We conclude that, behind the intensity and risk, we are facing a new embodiment regime, after all, the biochemical performance dictates and directs the construction of the body and person. From this angle, the science of enhancement and its power produce, regulate and become a lens through which athletes see and interact with the world.