I have always
considered the world of bodybuilding to be just that, a world of its
very own. However, after looking deeper into this domain, I believe
that I am slowly coming to the realization that the reason why people
body build is a very worldly and transcending experience.
Bodybuilders such as Roxanne Edwards live in the very same world we
do, they have their worries, fears, expectations, hopes and desires
just like anyone else. However, much like Roxanne's case, they are
extenuated through her body, the act of building muscle and working
out. It is often their appearance that makes the so called “normal
people” in our culture to misinterpret and fail to understand the
person behind the physic.
Before listening
to Roxanne's interview with DIS Magazine, I found myself quite
captivated by her photo gallery online. Alarmed may be more akin to
my initial reaction. Roxanne's body image presents a very different
appearance to what society regards to be the normal image Roxanne
takes this ideal of what a female is expected to be and flips it
entirely on it's head. I found this to be exceptionally true in a
snapshot of Roxanne's almost entirely exposed back. In this picture
her face is hidden and we have no choice but to focus on her body.
Such an image of a female would generally suggest a model posing for
beauty and sex appeal, however, Roxanne's muscular build and tone
bleeds into the physical ideal of the man in society. We, in turn,
become confused by this image. The expectation of female subtleties
is somehow meshed into the hard physic and likeness to male
"machosim".
It was not until
the conclusion of the interview that I truly understood the meaning
behind that exposing picture of Roxanne Edwards. Roxanne is
presenting herself as she wants to be seen. It is her image of how
she feels on her inside that has been worked, and laboriously formed
through hard work and training. In Roxanne's words, “What made me
start working out is I wanted to look good naked.” She wanted to be
comfortable with how she looked, essentially having her physical self
and mental self in sync. Although Roxanne is seemingly quite happy
with her personal appearance, it is not without hardship. Much of her
tribulations and her personal feelings on many aspects of today's
society is outlined throughout the interview. Speaking as broadly as
her workout Regimen to her very specific and calculated approach to
vitamins, and supplements and other various compounds used in her
diet.
What I found
most intriguing is how Roxanne responded to a specific question asked
to her during her interview. The interviewer asks if Roxanne feels
more “superhuman” especially in the context of other females that
do not work out. Roxanne's response is simple. She is “Not
superhuman, but a more open human.” That her decisions and
revelations that she has made through the course of her body building
career has allowed her to “...view the world from a different
vantage point.” I feel that this reaction from Roxanne has
something to share with Arnold Schwarzenegger's brief interview in
the video segment of “Pumping Iron”. Arnold explains how it is
those who push that extra rep and the ones who always goes past the
threshold and have a strength of mind greater than their bodies are
the ones who will succeed in bodybuilding. It is those people who
have a vision in their mind to work and do whatever it takes to
attain it, much like Roxanne's vision of her own body. Body building
is much more than just working out beyond the norm. It is truly a
transcending and all consuming experience that meshes the internal
view of and individual with their physical hard selves.
