2025/02/27 by Ellie F. Willmott, Sam N. Thrower, Andrea Petróczi · 1 voice
Health Professions · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Physical Education and Pedagogy #Sport Psychology and Performance #Sports, Gender, and Society
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/2159676x.2025.2470211
openalex publication_date 2025/02/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
To date, most research amongst competitive bodybuilders has focused on highlighting the demands of competitive bodybuilding, competitors’ emotional and behavioural responses to these demands, and the subsequent psychosocial outcomes, with limited attention to the process of coping. The current study aims to address this gap in the literature by providing insight into how competitors learn to manage and cope with the demands of their sport. Using a multiple-case study design, five high-profile competitive bodybuilders (with over 211,000 Instagram followers and 82,000 YouTube subscribers combined) engaged in semi-structured interviews and provided Instagram and personal journal data. Using reflexive thematic analysis, three overarching themes were constructed: (a) learning by trial and error, (b) understanding the self, the substances and the process, and (c) flexible guiding priorities. These findings have implications for informing future harm reduction initiatives amongst competitive bodybuilders (e.g. accelerating the experiential learning process), as well as enhancing social support for competitors (e.g. encouraging communal coping). Furthermore, this study illustrates the value of combining traditional methods (e.g. semi-structured interviews, journals) and social media data (e.g. Instagram posts, vlog-style videos) when conducting qualitative case studies in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of interest.