The perfect storm: a meta-ethnography of the motivations, behaviours, and experiences of competitive bodybuilders

Studies investigating competitive bodybuilding have primarily done so from a pathologizing perspective, and have often considered aspects of the competitive bodybuilding lifestyle in isolation, therefore overlooking the broader motivations underlying individuals' engagement in the sport. The current study addressed these limitations by using a meta-ethnographic approach to review the existing competitive bodybuilding literature as a collective. Synthesis of 20 published studies relating to competitive bodybuilders' motivations, behaviours, and experiences resulted in the construction of five third-order constructs: a journey of self-discovery and improvement, gaining a new identity, enacting control, conditional and unconditional social support, and decisional balance. Encapsulated as a 'perfect storm', the results offer novel conceptual understanding of how the interplay of personality traits, life experiences, and situational factors drive competitors to begin and maintain their participation in competitive bodybuilding, the social support they experience, and the role of control in competitors' motivations, harm management, and justificatory processes. From an applied perspective, the study has implications in terms of both support provision and harm management.

Automated summary

Studies on competitive bodybuilding often pathologize the sport and overlook the broader motivations of individuals. This meta-ethnographic review of existing literature provides a novel understanding of the motivations and experiences of competitive bodybuilders. The study reveals how personality traits, life experiences, and situational factors influence competitors' participation and motivations.