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Bulking up too much

Roelly Winklaar, Dexter Jackson and Brandon Curry power up in the bodybuilding competition at the Arnold Classic Africa sports festival in Sandton at the weekend. Pic: Ihsaan Haffejee. © The Times.
Roelly Winklaar, Dexter Jackson and Brandon Curry power up in the bodybuilding competition at the Arnold Classic Africa sports festival in Sandton at the weekend. Pic: Ihsaan Haffejee. © The Times.

We can all remember back in the day when action movie stars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme were the epitome of masculinity.

Not only did we gush at their action-packed stunts on Hollywood blockbusters, but also their perfectly sculpted and chiselled bodies were something a lot of young men aspired to have as well.

While working out and creating a toned body has a lot of health benefits, there are some men who take it to the extreme, to a point where it becomes a disorder.

Many people are familiar with the concept of body dysmorphia, which affects mostly women, and is normally associated with a lot of young women having eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia, mainly because of the belief that one is fat when they are in fact not. But did you know that men can also have a form of body dysmorphic disorder, where they bulk up their bodies too much because they believe they are just too small?

"The condition is called muscle dysmorphia, or bigorexia, which is under the umbrella of body dysmorphic disorders, but is the flip side of anorexia and bulimia, in that the sufferer believes they are physically inadequate, and need to bulk up more muscles, despite their veins popping out," says psychiatrist Poppy Motene.

"The condition sees many young men being extreme gym [fanatics], and excessively exercising and consuming a lot of supplements, because what the mirror and their minds tell them are two completely different things."

One of the people who can identify with this feeling of constant inadequacy is 23-year-old part-time model and gym fanatic Anda Bongoza, a Newtown resident who says that he is never satisfied with how his body looks.

"People tell me that I physically look good all the time, but every morning when I look into the mirror I see the opposite of what they are actually telling me, so I try to at least get in a heavy two hours a day at the gym, which involves 30 minutes at 5am in the morning before I go to work, and again at 6.30pm for an hour-and-a-half after work.

"The gym mirror and the mirror at home can tell me two different things, which can be frustrating. I love how I look after working out, but the minute I get home and look in the mirror, I feel that I'm less toned than when I left the gym, which angers me," he says.

Bongoza admits he started working out heavily as a result of his low self-esteem issues.

"I initially started training because of the sports that I participated in during high school, which were athletics and rugby. I've always had confidence issues, but I started realising that for some reason with all the training that I did for sport, every time I looked at myself in the mirror I'd find myself smiling at the amount of muscle growth I had accumulated, and throughout the years that has had a positive impact towards my self-esteem."

This obsession with working out has had a negative impact on Bongoza's life, as he admits to missing out on career opportunities, and is constantly thinking about gym and lifting weights.

"I've had instances where I would go for a fitting for fashion shows, and being told by designers that I'm just too bulky for them. Sometimes even going out with friends can be a pain, as I have to try and squeeze in a nice work-out session before I go out, or I just will not be comfortable.

"Weightlifting has become my life. I enjoy seeing my body grow, so much so that when I climb on the scale in the morning and realise that I have lost a kilogram or two, I become totally frustrated. I think about lifting weights all the time, I watch weightlifting videos on YouTube and all I think about daily is growth and how I can improve my physical appearance."

Despite all of this, Bongoza says he does not think he has bigorexia, something Motene says she is not surprised by.

"One of the most difficult things about muscle dysmorphia is that its sufferers often refuse to admit to having a problem.

"While it would be difficult to diagnose a patient without a full physical and mental evaluation, I would say that based on the symptoms outlined to me, Bongoza has some cause for concern."

To further clarify how one can tell if they may have bigorexia and need help, Motene says it's important to look out for these red flags:

- Thoughts of being preoccupied by working out or the next trip to the gym;

- Constant need for reassurance about one's appearance;

- Isolation from friends and family for fear of judgment;

- An obsession with the mirror;

- An obsession with the bathroom scale;

- An excessive use of supplements and/or steroids;

- An obsession with food portions or not eating food prepared by anyone else; and

- A gluttonous attitude about building muscle.

Motene says that the causes of muscle dysmorphia are unclear, but that one needs to seek therapy if they suspect they may be affected by the condition.

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