Ideal Body and the Gym: A Psychoanalytic Reading of the "Fitness" Body

• Grant number: 25/10842-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Psychological Treatment and Prevention
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Henrique Dionisio
• Grantee: Leonardo do Prado Sudaia
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The issue of the body and body image is a subject of study in various fields of knowledge, among which psychoanalysis stands out with its own way of conceptualizing it. If each historical period has its own culturally imposed ideal body, in so-called postmodernity the body is viewed as an object to be narcissistically and socially invested in, linked to an idea of health and "fitness," with bodybuilding serving as a privileged means of conforming to this ideal. In this context, this research aims to identify and understand, from a Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalytic perspective, the possible psychic suffering arising from an individual's relationship with their body and body image. Such suffering may be triggered by their involvement in the bodybuilding community, highlighting the role of social media-ever more present in people's daily lives-in this phenomenon. To this end, active bodybuilding participants will be selected to answer a questionnaire with openended questions, in order to collect data that can be generalized and serve as support in clinical practice when dealing with similar situations that may lead to suffering in an individual's life.