Fit Villains: Selfish, Shameless, Sassy, Fitness.

We focus a lot on female body image here, but increasingly men are struggling with body acceptance. With rock hard abs and shirtless celebs everywhere, men are feeling more and more pressure to be ‘perfect’. 

This was a great post from my friend Angie Gooding (Body Image Specialist) on men and the Adonis Complex. 

Via Angie Gooding

According to Chris Bell who directed the documentary “Bigger Faster Stronger”, “The Adonis Complex is a psychiatric disorder that occurs predominantly in men. It is associated with muscle dysmorphia, where the afflicted person feels that his muscles are underdeveloped and small when they are in fact large and strong, sort of like anorexia in reverse.”  Just as many women feel the pressure to be thin and beautiful, many men feel the pressure to be muscular, lean, and toned. The media glorifies this look, and many men work to achieve this look despite how dangerous it may be for them. 

Men who feel the pressure to be “perfect” are more likely to exercise excessively, groom excessively, abuse dietary supplements, become preoccupied with their looks, are more likely to experience anxiety and/or depression, and are more likely to abuse anabolic steroids.  Currently, the statistic is that 10% of high school teenage boys have experimented with or consistently use steroids. 

Many times, the pressure for a muscular physique escalates into an eating disorder including anorexia and bulimia.  In fact, 1 in 100 men between the ages of 20 and 30 has an eating disorder.  The eating disorder symptoms that men experience are similar to the symptoms that women experience.  According to Theravive.com, “Samplings of symptoms for men with anorexia are food rituals, preoccupation/obsession with food, depression, isolation, anxiety about sexual relations, loneliness, low self-esteem, tiredness, and muscle weakness. Symptoms for men with bulimia include repeated binge eating, hiding or hoarding food, weight fluctuations, depression, fatigue, perfectionism, and dental problems.”  Eating disorders and The Adonis Complex affect both gay and straight men equally.

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