The potentials of body-shaping
and the effect of psychic factors
Alexandra Béres
I. Reasons for choosing this topic
I have been specifically interested in body-shaping for eight years now. Being a contestant myself, in the first four years I had the opportunity to experience the process on my own body. That was the time when, in paralel with going to contests, I started training both child and adult fitness contestants, and began to watch over their body-shaping. However, in the past four years, I consider it my most important task to ”fight” for everyday people’s health, wellness and self-confidence.
My experience shows that besides the specific fitness workout-program and diet, there is an other important factor that affects the changes in the shape of our body, and that is the change in the psyche, and its effects on body-image.
During the times I was preparing for different contests, I had to realize that with strong will and determination I was able to affect the time spent on reching my ideal contest-weight. In other words, I was able to reach my ideal weight by the day of the contest regardless of the amount of time spent preparing (six weeks to two or three months). This conclusion was later reassured by two of my strongly focused students.
This experience made me more concious of what was happening, and I started to look closely at the matter from other aspects as well. I noticed, for instance, that during the fat-burner classes for the wider public, my students’ well-being was interestingly and intensively affected by the diet at a very early stage. Their body-images positively changed after the first week, however there couldn’t have occur any noticeable change from the aspect of actual fat-burning.
Starting this survey I was motivated by my curiousity about finding a realistic base to this experience, since discovering and describing such a factor would affect the process of solving the weight-problems of many people.
According to the above mentioned, the hypothesis is the following:
II. Hypothesis
- body-shaping and a healthy diet together change body-image and body-scheme, and they positively affect the acceptance of one’s body
- as an outcome of workout and diet on body-perception, impending and stimulating psychic processes are created, which affect the compound process of body-shaping.
- the self-perception on different measurements of the body changes shortly after the first week of the program: SPA-level changes positively while there is no significant change in actual antropometric measures.
The survey aims to reveal those psychic factors that strongly affect the process of fat-burning.
Studies about women and their body-image have shown the same results for years: even those women who are considered ’fit’ practice too much criticism toward themselves and are not satisfied with their bodies. (Vogel,1998) Growing interest in fitness during the 80s resulted in a need for new places where women can spend their freetime building their bodies and still have a good time. Despite the success of the ’movement’, many scientists of the 90s blamed fitness (developing into a whole new branch of sports) of being the cradle where modern stereotypes of womanliness and beauty were born. Those surveys, however, that study body-image in relation with fitness as a movement-system and social environment on its own right, paying proper attention to the role of the trainer, are still a missing part of the topic’s literature.
On one hand, one cannot question that the trainer’s personality, look, and opinion might reinforce the socially accepted fake ideals in students’ minds. On the other hand, however, we can agree with those professionals, who insist that the teacher/trainer has an exceptional opportunity to make a positive impact on students’ body-images and confidence, and to turn their attention from the urge of losing weight and the constant criticism of natural features. I consider it one of the most important roles of a trainer to fight against fake ideals that discourage women with different body-types to accept their private workout-programs. (Vogel,1999)
The ideals of the media is of total controversies: hard, but shapely, fit, but feminine, strong, but thin. Naturally, women’s attitudes towards these ideals are not less controversial. These facts provide the base for the everyday battle of body-acceptance. (Marcula ,1995) The level of accepting ourselves plays a critical role in the process during which students choose a place and environment to work out. Their choice is strongly affected by their body-acceptance and their fear of not being ’ideal’ enough in the eyes of others. (Bindarwish,2000)
Correction-analyses show that SPAS, the dissatisfaction with our own bodies and eating disorders are strongly related: girls’ body-image is an important pre-determinator of the future malnutrition. Based on these researches, we can agree that sports have a great effect on women’s self-acceptance, body-perception and healthy nutrition. (Reel, Gill, 1996)
The base of my research is provided by literature on self-perception and self-image, therefore it is essential to outline the most important parts of technical literature.
On body-scheme we understand the functionally structured whole of perceptions that exists between the human body / body parts and the outer objective reality. (Rókusfalvy – 1981)
The expression and idea of body-scheme was first discussed by Schilder (1923). According to him, body-scheme is an inner picture or pattern that improves during life, and that reflects our own body and physical self. It contains the relations between the body and its parts, their measurements and proportions, and the whole of the perceptions’ functionally structured system regarding the relations between the body and the environment. (Schilder – 1923)
Head (1924) declares that ”every noticeable change enters the mind in a way that it already contains its relationships with a thing that happened before. When changing our place, we keep rebuilding our own everchanging postual model. Every new pattern of movement is inscribed on this ”scheme” and the cortex relates to these when it gets a new impulse in a changed situation. As soon as this connection is complete, we recognize the situattion”. (Head – 1926) Head provides us with two kinds of scheme: postual and surface scheme. He belived that postual scheme provides the basis for recognizing different situations and directions of movements. Surface scheme localizes the stimulus.
Nowadays the idea and meaning of body-scheme is being thought all over again. Kudar (1979) belives that the functioning or temporal misfunctioning of the scheme is often shown in young male athletes during their adolescence, when they undergo a sudden growth or increase in weight: they get disturbed in the punctuality of their movements. A misfunctioning, fake body-sheme results in the inability to do a pattern of movements that have been properly done earlier.
Body-scheme is the subjective realization, the model of the dimensions of the body and body parts. Motoric out-put and movement-plan have very similar features to this.
The decisions are also affected by outer conditions like comparison-objects and the body’s different positions. In general, we estimate the length of arms differently in vertical and horizontal directions, and we usually underestimate the span of the two arms.
Body-awareness is different in everbody and it also differs from the body’s and the body parts’ measurements in every person. (Baumann – 1974)
Secord and Jourard (1953) wrote a questionnaie to measure body- and self-image. The questions are divided into two: self-image is studied from 29 aspects, and there are 45 success-scales to measure the subject’s satisfactional level regarding his/her own body parts and fuctions. The questionnaire measures the evaluating aspect of ones self. I find it really helpful in my own work.
Body-awareness has many different aspects and a deeper, more colourful meaning in Hungarian than it has in English. It concentrates all the experience of the self that are based on our thoughts and impacts about our own body, and the evaluation. (Kudar – 1977) In relation to a sportsman’s performance, Jourard (1976) evaluated the importance of body-awareness.
”Dancers and athletes naturally feel their bodies’ condition a lot more sensitively than us. They cannot give a perfect performance without training, and without the feeling that they are properly trained and prepared. They feel when their muscles are stiff, if they lack energy, if they ate more or less than required.” According to Jourard, psychotherapists are looking for such technical methods that can awaken ’dull and stiff’ body-awareness.
Fisher (1970) shows us that different body parts appear with different significance in people’s minds and body-awareness. In other words, we pay more attention to specific body parts and care less about others. As he says, different parts of the body hav different psychological meanings. Body parts that are described with a kind of stress and liveliness tend to be connected to conflicts, attitudes and characteristic features. After many surveys and experiments, Fisher connected the awareness about particular body parts with specific topics that generate the sense of conflict.
THREE GROUPS OF PEOPLE WERE PUT IN THE FOCUS OF MY PSYCHOLOGICAL SURVEY
Groups / Age / Sport-ageWomen in Fitness / 8 / Average
23.20 / Dispersion
3.88 / Average
9.38 / Dispersion
2.85
Female Students of MTE
(individual sports) / 32 / 20.28 / 1.48 / 8.05 / 1.58
Women who do not do sports / 34 / 21.85 / 5.34 / - / -
Chart 1
As a disadvantage in the creation of such a survey I have to mention the fact that there are only a few highly motivated, succesful, adult female fitness contestants in Hungary.
Questions of the Survey
In response to the month-long special diet and workout-program,
1. Does the level of body-knowledge (the difference between real and estimated body-measures) and body-ideal discrepancy (the difference between estimated and ideal body-measures) change?
2. How is attention divided between different areas of the body, and do the patterns of body-awareness change?
3. Which of the following aspects of body-awareness is the most affected by the program:
- private- (showing the person’s inner changes)
- social/public- (showing the outer changes)
- or body-competence (describing the overall wellness of the body)?
4. Accepting body-concept or self-concept: according to our survey, which is more affected by the appearing weight-loss following the diet?
Methods of research
1. The Method of Estimation and Antropometric Measures
Nineteen circumferential and longitudinal measurements, body weight and the percentage of body fat were estimated and compared to realistic numbers of the antropmetric measurements. The ideal measurements of different body parts were also examined from the following aspects:
· female ideal
· and ideal of different sports
2. Body Focus Questionnaire ( Fisher, 1970) /Hungarian form/
(Hungarian abreviation: TKK, Kudar, 1977, 1994)
)
3. Body Consciousness Questionnaire (Miller, Murphy, Buss, 1981)
/Hungarian form, Kudar, 1999/
)
4. Body Chatexis Scale (Secord- Jourard, 1955)
/Hungarian form,Pressing, Lukács, 1988/
The above mentioned process was repeated after a four-week diet. We focused on the differences between the outcome of these two surveys.
Outcome of the psycholgical research
The level of body-knowledge is described by the fact that 11 out of 19 circumferential and longitudinal measures were underestimated.
1. Measures in the length of upper limbs and in circumferential measures of the lower limbs were both underestimated.
2. A typical overestimation was shown in the following measurements of the body: breadth of hips, shoulders and trunk, length of the lower limbs and height
3. Weight and percentage of body fat were also overestimated
Despite our expectations the body-concept (affected by the diet/weight-loss) changed in a peculiar way. (As shown in Chart 2 below)
Chart 2
REAL / ESTIMATED / IDEAL WOMAN / IDEAL SPORTSWOMANBEFORE / AFTER / BEFORE / AFTER / BEFORE / AFTER / BEFORE / AFTER
waist / AVERAGE / 65,73 / 64,07 / 64,71 / 63,85 / 61 / 61,28 / 62,43 / 61,14
DISPERSION / 4,07 / 3,7 / 5,47 / 3,29 / 2,08 / 2,36 / 2,64 / 1,57
length of hands / AVERAGE / 18,1 / NO CHANGE / 17,57 / 13,14 / 17,57 / 13,14 / 17,57 / 13,14
DISPERSION / 0,92 / NO CHANGE / 6,42 / 1,95 / 6,42 / 1,95 / 6,42 / 1,95
length of forearms / AVERAGE / 26,14 / NO CHANGE / 30 / 23 / 30 / 23 / 30 / 23
DISPERSION / 1,18 / NO CHANGE / 7,64 / 3,56 / 7,64 / 3,56 / 7,64 / 3,56
length of upper arms / AVERAGE / 34,85 / NO CHANGE / 36,36 / 26,57 / 35,64 / 26,57 / 35,64 / 26,57
DISPERSION / 1,56 / NO CHANGE / 9,73 / 4,79 / 8,69 / 4,79 / 8,69 / 4,79
length of upper limbs / AVERAGE / 77,67 / NO CHANGE / 77,28 / 61 / 76,57 / 61 / 76,86 / 61
DISPERSION / 4,26 / NO CHANGE / 19,1 / 9,2 / 18,87 / 9,2 / 18,73 / 9,2
length of trunk / AVERAGE / 42,14 / NO CHANGE / 67,71 / 56,28 / 67 / 56,28 / 66,71 / 56,28
DISPERSION / 1,46 / NO CHANGE / 12,51 / 6 / 12,5 / 6 / 12,45 / 6
length of thighs / AVERAGE / 51,28 / NO CHANGE / 49,71 / 45,86 / 49,71 / 46,14 / 49,43 / 46,14
DISPERSION / 1,68 / NO CHANGE / 6,99 / 9,48 / 8,59 / 9,28 / 7 / 9,28
length of shins / AVERAGE / 43,43 / NO CHANGE / 38,5 / 37,14 / 38,21 / 37,14 / 38,21 / 37,14
DISPERSION / 3,2 / NO CHANGE / 8,47 / 5,61 / 9,55 / 5,61 / 9,55 / 5,61
height of ankles / AVERAGE / 6,94 / NO CHANGE / 7 / 6,14 / 7 / 6,14 / 7 / 6,14
DISPERSION / 0,69 / NO CHANGE / 1,73 / 2,19 / 1,73 / 2,19 / 1,73 / 2,19
length of lower limbs / AVERAGE / 102 / NO CHANGE / 105,14 / 93 / 107,14 / 93,71 / 106,57 / 93,71
DISPERSION / 2 / NO CHANGE / 136 / 10 / 17 / 9,99 / 17,76 / 9,99
circumference of forearms / AVERAGE / 23,36 / 21,75 / 10,43 / 15,57 / 10,71 / 15,57 / 11,57 / 16,14
DISPERSION / 0,8 / 3,16 / 2,44 / 1,62 / 2,21 / 1,62 / 1,81 / 1,86
circumference of upper arms / AVERAGE / 26,36 / 26,33 / 24,14 / 27,43 / 23,14 / 26 / 26,71 / 29,57
DISPERSION / 2,35 / 2,48 / 4,63 / 2,88 / 5,38 / 2,7 / 4,75 / 3,5
circumference of thighs / AVERAGE / 53,18 / 52,82 / 43 / 51 / 39,43 / 48,14 / 43 / 50,86
DISPERSION / 4,34 / 4,35 / 13,3 / 8,28 / 9,53 / 7,58 / 9,36 / 6,81
circumference of shins / AVERAGE / 35,73 / 35,24 / 27,71 / 32,86 / 26,43 / 32,57 / 28,71 / 33,57
DISPERSION / 1,45 / 1,33 / 6,87 / 6,8 / 7,55 / 6,6 / 7,25 / 7,32
circumference of head / AVERAGE / 53,6 / NO CHANGE / 41 / 48,57 / 41 / 48,57 / 41 / 48,7
DISPERSION / 0,76 / NO CHANGE / 8,1 / 4 / 8,1 / 4 / 8,1 / 4
circumference of chest / AVERAGE / 85,8 / 83,6 / 91,28 / 85,28 / 94,43 / 85,28 / 93,86 / 85,43
DISPERSION / 3,77 / 3,46 / 6,39 / 7,52 / 4,93 / 7,52 / 5 / 7,52
breadht of shoulders / AVERAGE / 39 / 38,97 / 45 / 45,57 / 42,86 / 44,85 / 46,28 / 47
DISPERSION / 2,2 / 2,4 / 3,83 / 5,97 / 4,67 / 6,96 / 4,85 / 6,53
breadth of hips / AVERAGE / 27,9 / 27,85 / 34,14 / 34,28 / 33,28 / 33,85 / 32,86 / 33,85
DISPERSION / 2,53 / 2,27 / 5,67 / 8 / 6,2 / 7,9 / 5,73 / 7,9
height / AVERAGE / 166,98 / NO CHANGE / 169 / 169,43 / 171,7 / 172,14 / 171,14 / 172,14
DISPERSION / 4,23 / nem vált. / 4,55 / 4,39 / 2 / 2,48 / 1,86 / 2,48
weight / AVERAGE / 58,89 / 58,31 / 59,29 / 57,71 / 56,28 / 57,57 / 57,14 / 57,71
DISPERSION / 6,47 / 6,37 / 5,82 / 5 / 3,9 / 3,15 / 4 / 3,09
body-fat% / AVERAGE / 13,52 / 11,47 / 14,28 / 12 / 14,43 / 12,43 / 9,71 / 9,29
DISPERSION / 3,41 / 3,38 / 0,47 / 2,7 / 0,53 / 1,9 / 0,75 / 1,38
Estimations of body-measures have changed during the program: estimated longitudinal measures proved to be shorter than the subjets’ actual sizes (as shown in Chart 3 below).