Gibson Holahan

     Muscles, sweat, and the crowd cheering in the sold out stadium.  Titans weighing in at 300 pounds or more with with single digit body fat take the stage.  This is not the  spartans and this is much more brutal, This Is Bodybuilding!  The competitors eyeing their enemies looking for any weak spot so they can strike and win this event.  In the heat of the moment one mistake means elimination and tension between the athletes increase and the competition continues on.  One of the competitors goes down with a torn calf and the crowd boos as he limps of the stage.  Bodybuilders have to endure a lot of pressure on the stage but out of the spotlight they risk their life to be the best through substance abuse.  This is just one example of the many harmful acts that tarnish the reputation of the sport and the fitness industry.

 

    Examining the documentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger,  “Pumping Iron”,  there is a lot besides his widespread use of steroids.  Arnold Schwarzenegger for example, he attends a ballet class to prep for his next competition.  However, Arnold during this scene a viewer sees the life of Arnold beyond the stage as he disappoints the instructor again, because his legs were too stiff during a turn.   He may seem like a beast, but the more graceful on stage means the more points from the judges. The documentary feature’s the rivalry between Arnold and Lou Ferrigno (another famous bodybuilder) competing for the title of Mr Olympia in South Africa.  Arnold plays psychological games with his competitors, and even goes as far as insulting Lou during breakfast in front of his family.  In the last years competition, Ken Caller steals Mike Katz lucky T-shirt right before they go on stage.  Ken Caller ends up taking the title that year.  These are a few of the reasons that there is so much more to bodybuilding that meets the eyes.  It's not just about how much muscle one has, but more about how you compose yourself on stage.  

    The purpose of this documentary is to resolve the dispute on bodybuilders and steroids.  This documentary was both a narrative and informative film.  During that time many people were worried that steroids were going to impact their life by putting pressure on others to attain this ideal physique which is  not attainable without the use of steroids. This films audience consisted of anyone wanting to better their knowledge of the sport.  The film also included a lot of pathos because the main character Arnold is so passionate towards bodybuilding.   However, ethos is quite the opposite, because the camera does not show the abuse of steroids through the documentary.  When it comes to bodybuilding one of the first things that crosses one's mind is steroids.  The film does not include anything relatively close to this subject.  This was all part of the plan to change the viewer's perception towards bodybuilding.   

 

    Bodybuiding.com is website that provides supplements and information on how to improve your physique.  How do these supplements give one the edge over others and why is there so many of them?  These are frequent questions that are asked when dealing with this website. Supplements should not be used by the casual user to get a better physique unless they are planning on competing in the near future. More than half of the supplements are made in three counties in Utah, because the FDA does not inspect the supplements in these counties. Senator Oren G. Hatch of Utah in 1994 allowed for three counties to produce life-saving, happy-making, and sleep better fast pills without the FDA reviewing the ingredients in the pill.  He claims that he is protecting the supplement industry and the integrity of their products.  However, most of these pills are no more than sugar and a plastic coating.

      In a way bodybuilding.com directly supports this misconception of this industry.  A lot of bodybuilders admit to taking steroids, but when it comes to protein or creatine they can't say they use these supplements.  Eating a lean steak which includes both supplements as well as branch chain amino acids is much more effective than protein powder.  Then why is bodybuilding.com encouraging people to take supplements? 

     The answer is money the supplement industry is worth Seven Billion and thats just in Utah alone.  Even Arnold Schwarzenegger tells us that it is better to eat your protein than drink it, which means eat whole foods instead of protein powder.  Some bodybuilders now are supporting the profitable industry by opening up their own supplement companies or they are endorsed by bodybuilding.com to represent their brand of

Bodybuilding .com’s audience is targeted for beginners.  The company’s name bodybuiding.com is lacking ethos due to the fact that their audience is not educated about the indusrty.  The audience is for people who want results fast.  This is evident with their workouts titled, Get Abs in 2 weeks, or Get that summer bod in just One month.  These titles do not attract the gym rats or the experienced veterans because they already have a good physique and they know that building muscle takes a lot of time.  

    Bodybuilding.com does a great job using pathos to their advantage. This is seen always cheering the reader on with encouraging comments at the end of a workout plan.  Bodybuildings.com use of pathos has contributed to a very positive community.  The problem is underneath these positive messages is what supplements the author recommends or takes for this particular workout.  So it's almost like they are saying you can do it only if you buy these supplements.  Logos is in bodybuilding.com, but it's been tarnished with opinion based comments and facts that aren't even supported.  Every body is different, it responds differently to what workout or diet one accomplishes. When a workout guarantees bigger arms it is not necessarily true.  The goal of bodybuilding.com is to accumulate a profit which is demonstrated by there use of soft selling and clickbait such as the workout titles mentioned above.

 

    Some magazines such as Men's Health, show chilled with a perfect physique pictures of men that have a 6 pack of abs and are shredded.  However, most of these men are taking and abusing steroids. Scientist have proven that a male in his first year of weightlifting he can only gain 15-20 pounds in a year.  The fact that Men's Health is stating Gain 20 pounds of muscle in a month is quite ridiculous and impossible.  Men's health magazine and many more fitness magazines are responsible for some disorders such as bigorexia and anorexia.  People now believe they will never be good enough and this is a direct cause of the popularity of these unrealistic images that movies, magazines, and tv shows flood into society.  A year ago this problem is getting so out of hand that BBC did a documentary on a man that is risking his life every day to get bigger.  

    Men's Health has theses crazy headlines get abs fast or have the best sex of your life and why?  Because they are selling information by subscription and it doesn't take 10 articles to explain how to get abs. So the writers come up with articles that is more appealing than fact based for the reader. Basically you can say the content of the magazine is more to entertain the audience than an actual reliable reference.   Besides the subscription based revenue they also have advertisements that also pull in money for the magazine.  Companies  advertise the supplements in many different ways. One of the ways they can promote a certain brand is by putting that supplement in the diet of the Rock, an actor who is know for his role in action movies,  prepping for his new movie. 

     In the end, the supplement company or health magazine just care about the profit and not what they are selling.  Men's Health main purpose is make a profit and not necessarily help the reader.  They show a lot of pathos in text and always have words of encouragement to build a relationship with the audience.  Their logos and ethos are minimal.  Workouts are more so what has been working for the author’s body and again all body types are different so the workout might not necessarily work for the reader.  As a business, Mens Health has been very effective and has made 187.9 million in just ad revenue in 2015 and has been growing each year.  As a database for health they have been extremely ineffective and have only been providing entertainment rather than informative information in order to sell more copies. 

 

     Bodybuilding.com, Men's Health, and the film Pumping iron all have  presented their audiences with lies.  The documentaries main objective was to hide the truth that involved the usage of steroids in the sport bodybuilding.  Bodybuilding.com and Mens Health magazine’s main goal is to make a profit.  Almost like any other business, they befriend their audience and customers to soft sell products.   The fitness industry, is sickening it's filled with profit thirsty companies and one has to be careful because it's easy to mistake fact from pseudoscience especially when it deals with the betterment of yourself.