Abstract
This paper is a study of bodybuilders’ body culture in gym space, starting from the question, “What kind of world are bodybuilders confronting in gym space?” In particular, this paper examines three phases that make up gym space: physical phase (physical practices of bodybuilders), relational phase (interactions among bodybuilders), and collective phase(collectivity that the interactions induce as a whole).
This research has found that while bodybuilders in gym space sincerely face their own bodies through weight training (physical phase), they adhere to a norm that forbids them to face anything other than their own bodies and to keep social interaction with others to the minimum necessary (relational phase). Also,
the research shows that such a system of physical practices and interactions brings about an implicit unity among bodybuilders, which at the same time, constructs the body as the sacred of supreme value for bodybuilders and invites a unique world in the gym space that could be called a sacred church for facing the body (collective phase).
This paper then discusses bodybuilders’ body culture in gym space by contrasting the above analysis with Wacquant’s study of boxing gyms. As a result, it indicates that bodybuilders’ body culture in the gym space is both individualistic and communal at the same time. Also, this paper argues that in bodybuilding gyms, bodies become the central singularity of the space, and from its physical phase, the relational and collective phases emerge as empathic and bodily linkage.
