Men and body image: do you have an Adonis complex?

When working out becomes a problem

Gym membership in the UK has risen steadily in the last 10 years, with a recent survey by Sport England finding 4.2 million of us visit a gym at least once a month.

Clinical psychotherapist Dr Roberto Olivardia says there is nothing wrong with working out.

But if your self-esteem depends entirely on your appearance, and your exercise regime disrupts your social and working life, you may be suffering from a body image disorder.

'Engaging in dangerous practices such as fasting, dehydration, and steroid use are red flags that the pursuit of muscularity has become excessive,' he says.

Obsessive behaviour

Former fitness instructor Adam Campbell's exercise regime became obsessive when he went to university.

'I'd been weight training since I was 14 when I was very skinny and decided I wanted biceps. Building myself up brought me recognition from my peers.

'But I put on weight at uni, living on beer and pizza. And when someone said I was looking a bit chubby, I was gutted. Soon I was working out for four hours every day.'

As well as injuring himself through overexertion, Adam developed an eating disorder.

'I'd binge on junk food like burgers and chocolates. I once had 1.5 kilos of chocolate in one go. Half an hour later, I was on an exercise bike. I'd binge, feel guilty and work out even harder.'

Adam didn't recognise he had a problem until he began training as a fitness instructor after graduating. Now he exercises sensibly but suspects some men who train at his gym have body image disorders.

'You get huge guys coming in every night training for three or more hours.'

Men and muscles

People with eating disorders have a distorted image of their true size (body dysmorphia).

Research from the USA shows that many body-builders think they are puny. At its most extreme, this is known as muscle dysmorphia or 'bigorexia' (reverse anorexia).

But Dr Olivardia says that almost all men equate muscles with masculinity.

Most of the 1,000 men he and two other psychologists surveyed for their book, The Adonis Complex, said that they would ideally like to have 28lb more muscle than the average build.

And a 2006 study of 507 adolescents by the Centre for Appearance Research found that while the same sorts of factors produced disordered eating, "For girls, it's about being very thin. For boys this was about being muscular in tone,' says lead author Dr Emma Halliwell.

Clinical psychologist Dr Louise Payne says such studies show how important looking good is to teenagers' sense of self-esteem and acceptability.

'Our society is saturated with images of the people we ought to find attractive, and there is considerable pressure on adolescent boys to conform to these ideals,' she adds.

Addressing the problem

Dr Olivardia warns that it is difficult to tackle men's anxieties about their body image, because they fear being labelled effeminate.

'We need to ensure that men who admit to these problems are not criticised,' he says.

'Men must learn not to be taken in by images in the media. You shouldn't feel bullied into looking perfect.

'Being a successful man is about far more than having big muscles.'

What are the risks of reverse anorexia?

Anorexics have low body fat and could be starving themselves of essential nutrients, increasing their risk of heart disease and osteoporosis (bone thinning disease).

Over-exercising can cause injury such as strained muscles and ligaments.

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