Tampa Bay Online carries a piece on teen bodybuilding, which at face value should present an activity for health, self-esteem, and socialization. Obviously there is some risk, as with sports in general.
One risk is the exposure to PEDs and steroids. Among the problems delimited in the story were the troubles with adolescent steroid use.
...Camona, of the American Council of Exercise, said supplements don't
have a lasting effect, so competitors looking for an edge could turn to
banned performance enhancers such as steroids.
In some bodybuilding circles, steroids are the ultimate answer. In May, a national professional bodybuilding competition in Belgium was abruptly canceled when every contestant withdrew to avoid dealing with the arrival of random drug testers. Two weeks ago, Polk County sheriff's investigators seized an enormous steroid stash. Among the items confiscated: amateur bodybuilding trophies won by husband-and-wife defendants.
Baker said it's much more likely to hear talk about steroids in bodybuilding than other high school sports. "Bodybuilding is that, probably, times 10," he said.
Another risk to teens, would be a morbid interest in physique, leading to body dysmorphia.
That doesn't surprise Ennis, who said he considered shutting down the Mr. and Miss Falcon event at Leto in the mid-1990s because he suspected students were using steroids. Instead, he said, he redirected the bodybuilding contest and made it less competitive.
It's about looks
Entering a high school bodybuilding contest is no easy decision. Female students have to be willing to go onstage in no more than a bikini or sports bra and micro shorts; boys wear compression shorts or less. They perform a routine in front of their peers, flexing all the major muscles, from abs to the gluteus maximus.
Samantha Hensley, Durant's Miss Cougar 2008, thought she had the nerve even though she weighed just more than 100 pounds. She loved working out before the competition and seeing her muscles develop.
But when Hensley hit the stage, some in the audience booed. Text messages and jeers from other students after the win were ruthless, as were the comments she discovered on Facebook, where someone posted an unflattering picture from the event and called her anorexic.
"I don't know if it was worth it. It's so hard when everyone's so mean," said Hensley, now a student at Florida Southern College. She attended this year's competition, and was disappointed to again hear boos targeting some contestants.
No matter the sponsors' healthful intentions, the high school bodybuilding contests "amp up" the pressure for teens to focus on body image, said USF's Professor Thompson.
"You can pitch this as fitness, but what they are being judged on is not their heart rate. It's about how they look," said Thompson, co-editor of "The Muscular Ideal" (American Psychological Association, 2007).
What ever happened to Ken White - Mr. Tampa?
Posted by: Matthew | 07/14/2009 at 23:51