Annotated Bibliography

Barnhart, Adison. Personal Interview. February 20, 2018.

I interviewed Adison Barnhart over email on February 24, 2018. I asked Adison questions about how she felt social media affects her as an NPC bikini competitor, why she chose to compete, and what keeps her motivated. Adison said that social media keeps her motivated and is a good tool for her, but it also can cause negative thoughts and cause her to doubt herself as a competitor. She stressed the importance of taking social media presence with a grain of salt because people can portray perfection without showing their struggles. She admits that her social media focuses mostly on her highlights, but says that she faces struggles and feelings of unhappiness just like the rest of the world. She thinks that social media causes people to become envious in all areas of life, not just specifically the bodybuilding industry. She states that naturally as humans, we compare ourselves to other people, and she allows this reaction to fuel her motivation to compete and ultimately better herself.

Clark, Nancy. “The Training Edge The Latest for Fitness Professionals.” Social Media and Body Image: #Fitspiration at its Worst, magazine.nasm.org/american-fitness-magazine/issues/american-fitness-magazine-spring-2017/nutrition-the-science-of-nourishment.

In this article, Nancy Clark dives into the new trend of ‘Fitstagrams” and how they affect body image. I personally have a fitness instagram account where I post workout video, my fitness tips, and transformation picture. I have several girls message me asking how I transformed my body and saying that they strive to have my physique, but what they don’t see is the hours of work I put in every day, the sweat and tears, the emotional damage of being in a calorie deficit, and the money and effort I pour into what I am doing. This article does a good job of showing that fitness instagrams are someone’s highlight reel. They are showing the best photos of themselves, and I am guilty of this. Clark discusses how fitness instagrams can motivate a lot of people, but for some people it can actually lead them to crash diets and hours of cardio a day because they quickly want to obtain the results of whoever’s body they desire. It is impossible to achieve someone else’s physique, everyone has different genetics and it is not healthy to strive to be someone else. Clark also discusses how fitness instagrams usually have no science to back them up. If you truly want to change your body you have to make sure you are seeking help from someone who is educated in what they are doing, not just someone who looks good in their photos.

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In this study, Tajrobehkar researches how the expected feminine norms of society affect women bikini competitors. He expected to find that the bikini competitors felt as if the lacked feminine norms of society to conform to bikini competition regulations, but he was surprised to find that the women felt differently. Most women find a lot of self-confidence and femininity after competing, and the women that choose to compete in these competitions desire the look that they achieve. Social media and society in general like to portray women as tiny, skinny, and toned but not too muscular. The women that compete in the bikini division are muscular, but they are proud of this and they don’t feel as if it makes them less of a woman.

Rosdahl, The Myth of Feminity in the Sport of Bodysculpting, http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=c2bdb503-3761-44e0-9bdb-4520f2cff298%40pdc-v-sessmgr01

Rosdahl begins this article by saying “There is something profoundly upsetting about a proud, confident, unrepentantly muscular woman. She risks being seen by her viewers as dangerous, alluring, odd, beautiful or, at worst, a sort of raree (sic) show.” This is referred to as “the problem” of women that participate in bodybulding. This article caught my attention because of the wording used to describe the ideal women. In my opinion, this is why a lot of women have body image issues. They are not sure whether to be skinny, muscular, thick, or whatever else is trending on social media at the moment. I choose to be muscular because I love weightlifting, not because I am trying to achieve a certain physique. If this offends or intimidates someone, I quite frankly don’t care. We live in a world of social media and unrealistic expectations, and it’s impossible to make everyone happy. This article explores the mystery and paradox of a muscular and strong woman, and shows many different takes on the topic.

Somers, Heidi. “My Fitness Journey | How I Lost the Weight.” Youtube, July 24, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOC3r9DGMhU&t=845s.

Heidi Somer’s youtube video takes us along her fitness journey, and has over 2 million views. She decided to do an NPC bikini competition after competing in crossfit for years but realizing she wanted to do something more extreme. She no longer competes, but still maintains an impressive physique, and influences millions of people on youtube through her informational video and vlogs.

Heward, Jen. “Bikini Competition: My Story.” Youtube, February 23, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckKHV-VmK4w.

Jen Heward discusses her reasons for competing and her overall experience in her youtube video. with 79,000,000 views, she is able to reach a large audience and give her advice. She stresses the importance of competing for yourself and no one else. She felt outside pressure to compete, and quickly found out that the sport was not for her. She said competing was a new challenge for her at first, but then she got burnt out which is common for bikini competitors.

Chamberlain, Taylor. “COMPETING IN BIKINI: everything you need to know” May 17, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxrlOWpdTK0&t=730s.

Taylor Chamberlain, an IFBB Bikini Pro, discusses how important it is to be mentally ready before jumping into a prep for a competition. As someone who struggled with eating disorders, she wanted to make sure she mentally could handle the sport, which took her nearly 5 years. A lot of girls develop eating disorders during prep because they want to go to all lengths to be the best. Taylor states that competing makes you analyze your body more than ever before, so it is not a good idea for someone who has a bad body image to compete.

“Fitness and Figure Competition.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_and_figure_competition.

This Wikipedia source gives a lot of useful history regarding NPC bikini competitions. Competitions started in the 1980’s and before this it was uncommon for women to bodybuild or lift weights. Wally Boyko produced the first women’s fitness competition in 1985. The competition was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the sport has been growing ever since then. As bodybuilding for women becomes more common, there is less of a stigma centered around women who life. Women bodybuilders are typically confident, strong, and independent women, and others may view them as manly or bulky, but they tend to not care about the opinions of others.

“My Experience as a Bodybuilding Bikini Competitor.” TingFit, 3 Dec. 2015. www.tingfit.com/bodybuilding/my-experience-bodybuilding-bikini-competitor/.

Ting Wang describes her full bikini experience in this article. She discusses finding a coach, following a strict diet, weight training, posing, the cost of competing, and much more. NPC bikini competitions are built for extremists. There are no shortcuts, the women that pay for a quality suit, hit their diet spot on, train smart, and stay dedicated throughout the whole process are the women who are champions.

“The Naked Truth – My First NPC Bikini Show Experience!.” @KiraCrushFitness, 15 Sept. 2014, kiracrush.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/the-good-the-bad-and-the-cropdusting-my-first-npc-bikini-show-experience/.

Kira goes in depth in this blog, explain her whole NPC bikini competition experience. A lot of people are unfamiliar with the time and effort that goes into these competitions, and she shines light on this. She included a list of all the supplies that she packed which is really helpful to first time competitors. She discusses the process of getting spray tanned, posing, and her results on stage. She mentions that she was disappointed with her performance, which is typical with competitors, but it is hard to believe that someone that prepared months for this thought they weren’t ready. This just goes to show that bodybuilding is mainly a mental sport.