What do people think of weightlifting?
June 10, 2011 5:08 PM Subscribe
What is the general public perception of weightlifting and/or bodybuilding in the USA? Do men and women view it differently?
Oh, and re: genders. Men and women view in differently in as much as men feel more positive about enhancing muscularity, and both are convinced that men and women need to train incredibly differently because one type of training will get you "long and lean" and another type will get you "bulky."
posted by Anonymous at 5:37 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by Anonymous at 5:37 PM on June 10, 2011
Anyone fitter than me is obsessive, anyone less fit than me is a slob.
posted by joannemullen at 6:05 PM on June 10, 2011 [21 favorites]
posted by joannemullen at 6:05 PM on June 10, 2011 [21 favorites]
Are we talking competition bodybuilding or just folks going to the gym to look better naked?
posted by munchingzombie at 6:11 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by munchingzombie at 6:11 PM on June 10, 2011
My sense is that the general perception of bodybuilding is negative. I think most women would assume that bodybuilders are overcompensating for something, that they take steroids, and that they are not-very-bright and kind of narcissistic. I don't think, though, that weightlifting is viewed nearly as negatively.
But now that I think about it, it may just be that "bodybuilding" is a word for "weightlifting" when it's done by dumb, overcompensating narcissists.
posted by craichead at 6:19 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
But now that I think about it, it may just be that "bodybuilding" is a word for "weightlifting" when it's done by dumb, overcompensating narcissists.
posted by craichead at 6:19 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Are we talking competition bodybuilding or just folks going to the gym to look better naked?
Well, what I'm looking for is what Jane/John Q Public would answer when asked "What do you think about weightlifting?" or "...about bodybuilding?" Would it be generally negative or positive? What would the stereotypes be? Would people associate it more with action heroes or dudes wearing zubaz? That sort of thing.
posted by unixrat at 6:31 PM on June 10, 2011
Well, what I'm looking for is what Jane/John Q Public would answer when asked "What do you think about weightlifting?" or "...about bodybuilding?" Would it be generally negative or positive? What would the stereotypes be? Would people associate it more with action heroes or dudes wearing zubaz? That sort of thing.
posted by unixrat at 6:31 PM on June 10, 2011
I think it totally depends on how your questions are phrased. If, like in your example, you use the terms weightlifting or bodybuilding I think a lot of people would be turned off. Here, in Colorado, where most everyone is uber-fit, I think loads of people go to the gym and lift weights as part of their fitness routine. But, I can think of only one person who I know personally who would say they weightlift - where weightlifting is their primary goal. Everyone else lifts weights so they can be a better climber, kayaker, etc......
posted by fieldtrip at 6:37 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by fieldtrip at 6:37 PM on June 10, 2011
Upon reflection, this might actually just be my circle....I do see guys at the gym who are obviously very serious about lifting weights (almost no women).
posted by fieldtrip at 6:38 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by fieldtrip at 6:38 PM on June 10, 2011
"Bodybuilding" is a term I can't imagine someone seriously applying to themselves in real life. Either it refers to a competition, or it's a vaguely negative term that has the connotations of narcissism and superficiality that have already been noted. (Think of the "pump you up!" guys on Saturday Night Live.)
I don't know if "weightlifting" is seen so negatively. There's no a stigma against the actual act of lifting weights, as far as I know. But people would probably be more likely to say they were "working out" or "going to the gym." The fact that they might have been lifting weights as part of this would be kind of a detail. Maybe this is because people want to avoid anything that sounds even remotely like "bodybuilding."
I have no idea whether men and women view these things differently. I certainly don't know how women view it, since I'm not a woman. I also don't know how "men" view it, since I'm not "men"; I'm just one man.
posted by John Cohen at 6:49 PM on June 10, 2011
I don't know if "weightlifting" is seen so negatively. There's no a stigma against the actual act of lifting weights, as far as I know. But people would probably be more likely to say they were "working out" or "going to the gym." The fact that they might have been lifting weights as part of this would be kind of a detail. Maybe this is because people want to avoid anything that sounds even remotely like "bodybuilding."
I have no idea whether men and women view these things differently. I certainly don't know how women view it, since I'm not a woman. I also don't know how "men" view it, since I'm not "men"; I'm just one man.
posted by John Cohen at 6:49 PM on June 10, 2011
Well, what I'm looking for is what Jane/John Q Public would answer when asked "What do you think about weightlifting?" or "...about bodybuilding?" Would it be generally negative or positive? What would the stereotypes be? Would people associate it more with action heroes or dudes wearing zubaz? That sort of thing.
I think the distinction is important.
Male competition body builders are thought of as dull roid roidheads where as female competition body builders are the stuff of fem-dom fantasy or man-hating lesbians. The bodybuilder in the gym who doesn't compete is more highly thought of because they are taking care of their bodies. Though there are a lot of different opinions.
If you take someone to your neighborhood gym and ask for their opinion you will get an entirely different reaction than if you show them a cover of Bodybuilding Magazine. This doesn't invalidate your question, just additional data in response.
posted by munchingzombie at 7:07 PM on June 10, 2011
I think the distinction is important.
Male competition body builders are thought of as dull roid roidheads where as female competition body builders are the stuff of fem-dom fantasy or man-hating lesbians. The bodybuilder in the gym who doesn't compete is more highly thought of because they are taking care of their bodies. Though there are a lot of different opinions.
If you take someone to your neighborhood gym and ask for their opinion you will get an entirely different reaction than if you show them a cover of Bodybuilding Magazine. This doesn't invalidate your question, just additional data in response.
posted by munchingzombie at 7:07 PM on June 10, 2011
The American women I know disparage bodybuilding since they think it will deplete their breast fat. Done in moderation, the increase in muscle tone can actually make the figure more feminine, but no one cares what I think.
posted by Renoroc at 7:44 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Renoroc at 7:44 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Body building" to me is attempting to look good by having a lot of muscle, possibly with the aim of participating in a "body building competition". I usually view these people the same way I view people who compete in beauty pageants. It's nice to look good, but it's a little frivolous to make it into a full time job.
I would tend to use "weight lifting" as a synonym for "weight training" or just "lifting weights" (at the gym). This is neutral-positive, for my gym-going friends it's just something they do for a couple hours every week, like showering or house cleaning or other normal tasks.
And then there's "weight lifting competition" where people compete to see who can lift the most weight. There we're right back into frivolous territory, which is OK for a hobby but weird if you take it too far.
posted by anaelith at 7:48 PM on June 10, 2011
I would tend to use "weight lifting" as a synonym for "weight training" or just "lifting weights" (at the gym). This is neutral-positive, for my gym-going friends it's just something they do for a couple hours every week, like showering or house cleaning or other normal tasks.
And then there's "weight lifting competition" where people compete to see who can lift the most weight. There we're right back into frivolous territory, which is OK for a hobby but weird if you take it too far.
posted by anaelith at 7:48 PM on June 10, 2011
"weight-lifting" is just part of a decent, smart exercise routine. I weight lift. I'm a chick. I wish my biceps were bigger.
"body building" is a different kettle of fish, for both men and women. It goes with 'roids and fake-bake. We have a competitive female body-builder in our gym.... I think she does both. We call her 'ass-pants'. Because of what she wears.
posted by kestrel251 at 8:29 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
"body building" is a different kettle of fish, for both men and women. It goes with 'roids and fake-bake. We have a competitive female body-builder in our gym.... I think she does both. We call her 'ass-pants'. Because of what she wears.
posted by kestrel251 at 8:29 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
"Bodybuilding" = practice of 'overcompensating' men of below-average height (or, yuk yuk, penis length). Not unlike owning certain cars.
posted by kmennie at 8:33 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by kmennie at 8:33 PM on June 10, 2011
Weightlifting is performing Olympic lifts (the clean and jerk, and the snatch). Bodybuilding is lifting weights for fitness or for "looking better naked." Even though almost everyone who lifts weights is bodybuilding, somehow the word has taken on a negative connotation and nobody calls it that anymore. I guess it's similar to how few liberals call themselves that anymore.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 8:50 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by Thoughtcrime at 8:50 PM on June 10, 2011
Bodybuilding women are called 'gross' if their muscles are big. Which bugs me.
posted by bq at 9:06 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by bq at 9:06 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm a competitive weightlifter and in my experience the public perception of weightlifting in the US is that it is the same thing as bodybuilding. Unless the person I'm talking to has some kind of direct contact with weightlifting as sport (either through training themselves or having friends who do it), virtually everyone whom I tell that I'm a weightlifter will proceed with the conversation as though I've claimed to be a bodybuilder ("Oh wow, so you wear a bikini on stage for competitions?")
posted by telegraph at 9:21 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by telegraph at 9:21 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think for the most part bodybuilding winds up in a comparable slot as beauty pageants--there's a small, supportive community who think it's the bees knees and a lot of outsiders who think it's vain and silly and possibly crazy.
The reputation of weightlifting (competitive or otherwise) is closer to any other quirky sport. There's a woman in my office who is a weightlifter and while it's surprising, because she's a slight woman in her forties, nobody is any more derisive of it than they would be if she were a champion archer, say.
posted by thinkingwoman at 9:55 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
The reputation of weightlifting (competitive or otherwise) is closer to any other quirky sport. There's a woman in my office who is a weightlifter and while it's surprising, because she's a slight woman in her forties, nobody is any more derisive of it than they would be if she were a champion archer, say.
posted by thinkingwoman at 9:55 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Stereotype time.
I am only dimly aware that there's a difference between weightlifting and bodybuilding. In many circumstances I would use the terms interchangeably.
If I had to draw a cartoon image to represent each, I guess my mental image of weightlifting is more a gigantic eastern European guy in a wrestling singlet picking up one of those huge long ... (barbells? Not even sure if that is the right term) long pole with weights on each end. Whereas my mental image of bodybuilding would be more Arnold Schwarzenegger posing in a bathing suit with oiled skin, flexing his biceps.
If someone tells me they are "very into weightlifting" or bodybuilding -- suppose this is online, where I haven't seen them in person -- I envision someone who is visibly musuclar, spends a lot of time at the gym and thinking about what to eat, eating powder-based foods, and whose conversation focuses on training techniques. I also imagine a person who talks and thinks a lot more about their body than people I usually hang around with.
In women I find this sort of admirable, in an "I would never do that" way; plus being a muscular woman sort of goes against gender norms so that takes an extra level of commitment.
My negative associations with bring "very into weightlifting" apply more to men. I've known some guys who were very into getting muscular who were not nice people, who used their muscularity to intimidate others, so hugely muscular guys raise a little warning flag for me. Another negative association might be that it could be a little bit... vain? That's more true for men than for women (since being muscular is within the gender norm for men). Also see above about talking more about one's body than most people I'm friends with.
Of course, there are positive associations too - being big into weightlifting takes discipline, etc, so that's positive. And I've known nice people that were into it, and who weren't bullies or vain. I know that lifting weights is supposed to be good for women to help avoid osteoporosis. And having a hobby you're really committed to is admirable, even if it's one I am not into myself.
I know plenty of people who work out at the gym, and who lift weights in the more everyday sense - not in the "I'm big into weightlifting as a lifestyle" but in the "I lift weights as part of my strength training", it's just exercise rather than being a hobby unto itself. In those cases it seems like a nice normal thing, great for them, etc. and doesn't carry any of the stereotypes I mentioned above.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:50 PM on June 10, 2011
I am only dimly aware that there's a difference between weightlifting and bodybuilding. In many circumstances I would use the terms interchangeably.
If I had to draw a cartoon image to represent each, I guess my mental image of weightlifting is more a gigantic eastern European guy in a wrestling singlet picking up one of those huge long ... (barbells? Not even sure if that is the right term) long pole with weights on each end. Whereas my mental image of bodybuilding would be more Arnold Schwarzenegger posing in a bathing suit with oiled skin, flexing his biceps.
If someone tells me they are "very into weightlifting" or bodybuilding -- suppose this is online, where I haven't seen them in person -- I envision someone who is visibly musuclar, spends a lot of time at the gym and thinking about what to eat, eating powder-based foods, and whose conversation focuses on training techniques. I also imagine a person who talks and thinks a lot more about their body than people I usually hang around with.
In women I find this sort of admirable, in an "I would never do that" way; plus being a muscular woman sort of goes against gender norms so that takes an extra level of commitment.
My negative associations with bring "very into weightlifting" apply more to men. I've known some guys who were very into getting muscular who were not nice people, who used their muscularity to intimidate others, so hugely muscular guys raise a little warning flag for me. Another negative association might be that it could be a little bit... vain? That's more true for men than for women (since being muscular is within the gender norm for men). Also see above about talking more about one's body than most people I'm friends with.
Of course, there are positive associations too - being big into weightlifting takes discipline, etc, so that's positive. And I've known nice people that were into it, and who weren't bullies or vain. I know that lifting weights is supposed to be good for women to help avoid osteoporosis. And having a hobby you're really committed to is admirable, even if it's one I am not into myself.
I know plenty of people who work out at the gym, and who lift weights in the more everyday sense - not in the "I'm big into weightlifting as a lifestyle" but in the "I lift weights as part of my strength training", it's just exercise rather than being a hobby unto itself. In those cases it seems like a nice normal thing, great for them, etc. and doesn't carry any of the stereotypes I mentioned above.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:50 PM on June 10, 2011
Hi. I'm a little bit of American Jane Q. Public. I was just thinking about your question, and I realized something interesting about my own reactions, which I think may be fairly typical:
bodybuilding: mostly for self-absorbed obsessives who love themselves way too much on the outside, and too little on the inside. It's highly unlikely that anyone I would consider sensible would do this.
weightlifting: (one word) similar to bodybuilding, but also a serious sport worthy of respect. I can understand why a sensible person would do this, though it's not my cup of tea.
weight lifting: (two words) a smart thing for sensible people to do as part of a healthy fitness routine.
doing some weights: (without the "lifting") a smart fitness thing even for people who are not normally associated with "fitness" or "exercise": as in, "Weights for Seniors."
So, the details of the grammar matter a lot. "Repetitively picking up heavy things" for the purpose of strengthening muscles, in moderate doses and balanced with other sorts of fitness activities, is very beneficial, and people who do it are smart. Some people like it a lot and make it a hobby, or their sport-of-choice. No problem there. But there are a few who become obsessive, who make it a Big Thing in their lives, become addicted to it like a drug, turn it into a religion of superficial self-love, and morph into Lumpy Doofus Meathead. Not pretty.
posted by Corvid at 12:04 PM on June 11, 2011
bodybuilding: mostly for self-absorbed obsessives who love themselves way too much on the outside, and too little on the inside. It's highly unlikely that anyone I would consider sensible would do this.
weightlifting: (one word) similar to bodybuilding, but also a serious sport worthy of respect. I can understand why a sensible person would do this, though it's not my cup of tea.
weight lifting: (two words) a smart thing for sensible people to do as part of a healthy fitness routine.
doing some weights: (without the "lifting") a smart fitness thing even for people who are not normally associated with "fitness" or "exercise": as in, "Weights for Seniors."
So, the details of the grammar matter a lot. "Repetitively picking up heavy things" for the purpose of strengthening muscles, in moderate doses and balanced with other sorts of fitness activities, is very beneficial, and people who do it are smart. Some people like it a lot and make it a hobby, or their sport-of-choice. No problem there. But there are a few who become obsessive, who make it a Big Thing in their lives, become addicted to it like a drug, turn it into a religion of superficial self-love, and morph into Lumpy Doofus Meathead. Not pretty.
posted by Corvid at 12:04 PM on June 11, 2011
The American women I know disparage bodybuilding since they think it will deplete their breast fat.
I have never heard any women, American or otherwise, talk about "breast fat." ( I am an American woman.) That said. Weightlifting = good, tones muscles, relieves stress, good complement to cardio. Bodybuilding = oil and muscles on stage, weird dance routines ( if this question is about perceptions between the two terms).
posted by sweetkid at 9:39 PM on June 11, 2011
I have never heard any women, American or otherwise, talk about "breast fat." ( I am an American woman.) That said. Weightlifting = good, tones muscles, relieves stress, good complement to cardio. Bodybuilding = oil and muscles on stage, weird dance routines ( if this question is about perceptions between the two terms).
posted by sweetkid at 9:39 PM on June 11, 2011
I've known women to be leery that too much strength training would make them lose their curves, ie, their bust. Along with the standard fear of getting bulky or man-like, sigh.
Agree with most of what was said above--bodybuilding makes one think of oiled up vain Ah-nold type masculine beauty pageants, weightlifting makes people think of gigantic 'roid-fueled shrieking competitive men into a somewhat niche thing, like wrestling or MMA sort of culturally, and strength training or "toning" is what sensible fit people add to their gym routines. Note these aren't my opinions...schroedinger pretty much has it. People are still kinda freaked out by weights it seems sometimes, but that said I think they're also becoming trendy (lotsa internet geekery on forums helps!)--maybe not this year's answer to the Couch to 5k trend, but there is a small but viable sense of enthusiasm growing. Or maybe that's just me and folks I know.
posted by ifjuly at 8:20 AM on August 8, 2011
Agree with most of what was said above--bodybuilding makes one think of oiled up vain Ah-nold type masculine beauty pageants, weightlifting makes people think of gigantic 'roid-fueled shrieking competitive men into a somewhat niche thing, like wrestling or MMA sort of culturally, and strength training or "toning" is what sensible fit people add to their gym routines. Note these aren't my opinions...schroedinger pretty much has it. People are still kinda freaked out by weights it seems sometimes, but that said I think they're also becoming trendy (lotsa internet geekery on forums helps!)--maybe not this year's answer to the Couch to 5k trend, but there is a small but viable sense of enthusiasm growing. Or maybe that's just me and folks I know.
posted by ifjuly at 8:20 AM on August 8, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Basically, the position of the general public in the US is one of extreme ignorance.
posted by Anonymous at 5:35 PM on June 10, 2011