Exploring the World of Bodybuilding

You could put me out of business.

'Cause you specialize in muscly people.

Yes.

Which I'm not.

Yes. I gathered that the minute the shirt came

off.

The world of extreme bodybuilding, a subculture of people who

push their bodies to the limits of human capacity.

But just how far were they prepared to go?

And was I prepared to go there, too?

I began in southern California. My contact, the number

two amateur in the world, Australian Guy Grundy.

The location, a photo shoot for Pump Magazine.

I'm Guy Grundy. How you doing, mate?

Guy Grundy.

Nice to meet you.

Louis Theroux.

How you doing, buddy?

Good. You look great. Can we admire your physique?

Of course. That's why I do what I do.

Yeah, yeah. Can we just really look at that?

Wow.

How does that make you feel, being able to do that?

I've got no complaints. I'm living... The life I live's a dream.

In what way?

Um, you know, I come from Australia and I've always wanted to, um,

come to America, be in a magazine, shoot with the top photographers.

You know-

Like Dave

... look at girls like this, get to touch them and stuff.

Easy. Hey, so, um, I want to share that dream.

Mm-hmm.

I see a bit of potential there. Definitely potential.

Really? Feel it.

Are you gonna wear your shoes, Karen?

No.

You're not wearing much in the downstairs department.

You mean I have a small penis? Wait a minute.

No, no, no. You're we- You... No, I mean you're not wearing much.

Well, I haven't got the sock in yet, goddammit. Karen, give me the sock.

I didn't say you didn't- ... have much. I said you weren't wearing much.

I wasn't wearing much. Okay. That's all right, then.

People say bodybuilders have small penises, then a jockey has a big penis.

If you look at the size of a jockey, he's only a little man, so it's obviously

gonna look big on him. Now, bodybuilders are so much bigger-

Yes

... so it's gonna look smaller.

Guy, I didn't say anything about your penis.

You did, and I've got... It's a big penis, goddammit.

Looks good.

Go over her like you're gonna kiss her. Come lower. Yeah, that looks stupid.

Come up. Like that.

That is good, isn't it? Guy, do you find as a bodybuilder,

people actually

just like looking at you?

Some do, some don't. They're more just in awe or that's just...

It's like seeing a, a one-legged person.

It's just something they're not accustomed to seeing.

Yeah.

Hey, in all seriousness, Karen, do you, you as a woman, find that sculpted

physique, big muscles, more attractive than a skinny guy who's a

little bit, like,

pale and a ti- maybe a tiny bit flabby?

You know, like-

Yes, I find it more attractive.

He's upset now.

Come here, Louis.

No, no, no, I'm not.

Come here, bro. It's all right. I find you sexy, buddy.

Yes.

Yeah.

You wanna know why I started doing weights?

Because I'd go to the beach and see muscular men with good-looking

women, and

basically I thought, "Well, if that's how you get good-looking women,

hey, I want

good-looking women."

The, um,

the thing earlier about preferring men with muscle-

Yes

... was that a joke? Or w- w- was, was that serious?

No, actually I was very serious.

Oh, you weren't just saying that 'cause Guy was there?

No.

Thanks, Dave.

Take it easy.

Looking big obviously worked for Guy.

You must be fighting women off with a stick.

If I make it clear that I'm available, like, you know what I mean, then it is

easier for me. Yeah.

I wanted to see if I had what it took to follow in his footsteps.

He invited me along to see his agent to assess my potential.

Hi.

Hi. How are you doing?

Hi. How are you doing?

How are you doing, mate? Good. How you doing?

Good. Come on in.

I'm, uh, Louis.

Louis, nice to meet you. Mark Mihalik, Flex Broker.

Nice to meet you, Mark. Flex Broker.

Okay. You are Guy's agent.

Yes, I try to be.

What is it that Guy's got

that you're selling?

Guy. I mean, his personality, the persona he's created for himself,

just, uh, who

he is.

I want you to see what I've got, right?

Can we go somewhere and you'll just sort of assess me?

Sure.

Okay. So I don't really work out, so, but, um, this is what it

is, okay? You ready?

I, I think I am.

Well, if you worked out, you could definitely get some sym-

symmetry. Absolutely.

But if you'd like to show your legs-

Yeah. Okay

... and put them up against Guy's, 'cause Guy's got some great-

Okay. Guy, do you want to?

Do you want to?

Guy's got great quads.

Have you... Have, how do you know Guy's got great quads?

Everybody knows Guy, Guy's got great quads.

Really?

Oh, yeah. Look at him.

I don't know which ones Guy's quads are.

All right.

Look at the sweeps

right here. He's got beautiful sweeps on both sides.

If you turn around to the side, you can also see right here the ham

development,

which is very, very good here.

Yeah.

If you turn completely around, you'll be able to see how it...

Right here, and it then goes right down to the calves,

which are pretty nice.

Look at those calves.

They've been better.

Amazing.

I've seen those calves better.

Amazing.

Mm-hmm.

Now, I want you to assess in all the same

things that you did with, with Guy.

What do you see here?

Okay. Well, you have, you have no real quad development.

I literally almost don't have that muscle.

No, you have the muscle. It's just not developed.

You haven't trained it yet.

Yeah.

You haven't developed it yet. You know, you just have average,

regular person legs.

Are you sure you, you're not making a snap judgment?

It's two different things. You're talking apples and oranges.

Is there a market for this?

Not now.

No.

So let's say I got the body, you know, what kind of work could I get?

Range can be from anywhere from the big screen TV,

to print work, right down to Playgirl or Muscle Worship.

Playgirl or Muscle Worship. What is that?

Muscle Worship is a phenomenon, uh, where male

and females enjoy the feel of muscle.

I've been offered from $200 to $1,000 for someone to, um, so you come back to a

motel room and, um, let me feel your arm.

Just feel your arm?

Yeah. I've had other

top professional bodybuilders that are gay saying, "You know,

there's a guy that'll

pay us an X amount of money if we do stuff together in front of him."

Like what?

Like, you name it. Just from cuddling to kissing,

and the more you do, the more

you'll, you'll get.

Let's say you and I cuddled- ... in front of a guy.

How, what do you think I could get?

It'd totally depend on the person.

Would you be up for that, Guy? We could make a lot of money.

I don't know. Let me, let, let... My career's going pretty well at the

moment.

We could just, like, we could, you know, we could just massage each other, you

know, like-

You wouldn't even cuddle me a minute ago.

I think we could go-

Now you want to massage me. What's going on?

No, that's amazing.

People pay big money for clothes, too, I mean.

Oh, and I make $500 a month on, um, used workout clothing.

Really?

Yeah. People just want to buy and used pho- like-

Like dirty underwear?

Yep.

People do. Yeah.

What could you get for my underpants?

You're-

In-

In England, you're pretty well-known. You could probably get a fair bit.

Are you really well-known in England?

Mm-hmm. You could get a-

Reasonably, yeah.

Okay, good.

BBC Two. What could you get for my underpants?

It would depend on what, uh, special, um,

uh, gifts you'd give with it.

And people do ask for the anything.

Soiled underwear, they've asked.

And, like-

You mean what?

Soiled underwear, anything. People ask for-

Soiled, like, as in you've defecated in it?

You, does that mean go to the toilet in them?

Yeah.

Yeah. Or the other thing in them. Anything.

It's, it's, it's-

And you, and you did that?

No, no, no. But they're the things that people want.

And believe me, a lot of people do it.

And if you can do that with a clear conscience, just like

if you can pose for

someone with a clear conscience, then more power to you

Thank you very much, Mark

Thank you very much

It sounds like I could be sitting on a little bit of a goldmine.

You know what? You just may be.

Yeah

If you just make it a little rounder.

Yeah. Yeah. Or a little bit more... It could happen.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Next morning, and it was time to try and build some

muscle.

After you, Louis.

Okay, so this shop sells supplements and stuff for bodybuilders.

Yep.

So for me, is there anything that's really gonna

speed up the muscle-building

potential?

Things like your pro hormones, which is the anabolic.

This, which is a time-release testosterone

booster.

Testosterone, that's the male hormone.

Exactly, which builds muscle.

So let's say I took these things and, uh, and, and worked out with you for a

little while.

Mm-hmm.

That would help?

Definitely, yeah. You'd find the growth rate would be

accelerated, for sure.

Okay, I'm sold.

How would you feel if you looked like me?

I, I wouldn't feel too c- comfortable with myself. You know?

I, I wouldn't, wouldn't be wanting to take my shirt off

or anything like that.

Not that you've got a bad body, it's just like, um...

You've driven a Porsche type thing, which is the way I look at my body, 'cause

that's my ideal body, and then driving a, a lesser type of a car.

Which I'm not saying that yours is a lesser, but it's the way

that I view things,

do you know what I mean?

If you're driving a Porsche, what am I driving?

A Mini?

With some racing stripes.

Now, shall I ta- I wanna take my, um, anabolics.

Yeah.

'Cause this isn't steroids, but it's the closest legal thing,

isn't it?

That's true.

If I take these, right, and I've eaten most of this at breakfast,

how soon could I notice the muscles if I don't work out at all?

Never.

If you don't train,

nothing else matters. That's child-proof. You've gotta push it down.

This is like training right now.

You got it?

Push down to...

There we go. Pretty difficult.

Ready?

Go.

Do I look different?

If you did take steroids-

Yeah

... would you inject them?

Yeah.

Every morning?

Oh, no. It, it... Some guys... But if, if I was to use

steroids,

I'd be a very mild user.

And I have once, would've, if I had've ever tried it,

I would've tried it once to

use a lot, and, and didn't really notice a great deal of

difference.

Do you know what I mean? But, um, a lot of women take,

would take four to five

times of the amount that I take.

Would take.

Yeah. Would, would take.

So where do people get their steroids from?

Where do you get... If, if you wanted to get, um...

If you took heroin or cocaine, where would you get it from?

A drug dealer.

Exactly.

Yeah. But these are prescription drugs, aren't they?

A lot of the ones that people take are, um, veterinarian stuff.

You mean, like, the stuff they give to animals?

Yep.

Really?

Which is exactly what they give to human beings.

The only-

You might have taken that.

I could have taken stuff that was for sheep, yes.

No.

For horses.

I wasn't sure I wanted to turn myself into a sheep, but the

time had come to pump some iron at the world famous Gold's

Gym.

You ready to rock, Louis?

Yeah.

This is where you, you either make it or you break it.

I'm a bit nervous.

Take a few big breaths. Get the chest out. Bit of attitude.

Now to see if I had the right stuff. I had an appointment with a

Gold's in-house trainer, an ex-Marine drill sergeant.

This would be my first workout.

You ready, boss?

Yes, I am, boss.

Okay.

You are Frank Casavettes.

Yes, sir. I sure am.

And, um, you are an elite trainer of bodybuilders.

I train bodybuilders and, uh, performance athletes.

You're not... Like, may I look at your muscles?

Yeah, yeah.

You're, like, muscular-

Yeah

... but you're not a bodybuilder.

No, I'm not a bodybuilder. I train bodybuilders, but I'm more of,

I have more of a,

a performance, uh, athlete body.

Yeah.

More of a boxer's body. I train as a boxer.

So if you'd like to, we can do that, too.

Are you quick?

I'm all right.

What, who is that over there?

I, I saw that one coming. I saw that one coming.

Can you tell, looking at me, that I'm not a bodybuilder?

Yes, sir. I sure could. 'Cause you're lean and you,

and you look fit. You, you...

Everybody doesn't have... Bodybuilders, to be honest with you, is not the

healthiest people. Okay? Their, their diets are terrible

because they have to cut out the carbohydrates,

and they're superficial strength only.

They're very weak in the core, most of them are.

In a way, they're wimps.

Uh, in, in one aspect of it. I wouldn't call them that.

All right, we're gonna start off with a basic

exercise to get size. Hit it.

Come on. You wanna be a bodybuilder? This is where it starts.

Good.

Look, my vein's popping up a little.

Here you go, baby. Let me get a heavier weight.

I'm getting tired just holding this.

Yes, sir. Now give me a curl.

Come on. Squeeze. Hit it.

One.

What's happening to me?

You're being turned into a machine. A machine.

Don't-

I can't stop.

That's it.

That's it. 'Cause I want you to save it for the next

exercise.

Come on, big Lou.

I've got nothing left.

I need help.

Oh.

Good job.

You let me dangle there for a second.

I want you to feel that. It's good to feel that. Good job, big Lou.

Thank you. Yeah.

Good job. Excellent. Maybe we could go in competition in a

couple years together,

huh?

You never know. How long would it literally take me

if I worked, I put in all the

dedication, took whatever and, whatever I needed to take-

Well, what I would-

... to get to c- competing level?

I could have you probably in, in a year to go to your first amateur

competition. It would be a natural show.

What is a natural show?

A natural show means that you are drug-free.

That seems to imply that the shows that aren't called natural shows,

then there are

people taking drugs.

Well, uh, it implies that. It implies that.

I've got a thigh workout with Guy Grunty later on this afternoon.

Any tips for getting through that?

Only do three sets. Three sets of 10.

Don't go any higher than that or you won't be able to walk for a couple

days.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thanks a lot.

My pleasure.

Dismissed.

45 minutes into my training, and I was already finding it heavy going,

but at least I wasn't the only one.

Ah.

Shit.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

You're really punishing yourself there.

It's the only way it works.

Are you a bodybuilder?

Next year I'm planning to. Being as I'm natural, 'cause I'm over 40,

which is a

masters,

and then natural 'cause without any drugs.

Have you thought about going the drugs route?

I'm a real anti-drug

person in general, so that stuff...

You know, I see these guys dying at 30.

Who dies at 30?

Oh, there's been

s- a few people that have had heart problems,

you know, in their early

30s and-

From steroids?

Well, everybody knows that's what it is, but

don't think anybody's gonna admit it,

but that's-

How you doing, baby?

Ready for some legs? Yeah. You ready? I'm ready to rock. Let's do it.

Your legs are so muscular.

Yeah.

It looks like you might chafe between your thighs.

Oh, they bleed.

Really?

Well, have a look.

Doesn't that hurt?

Oh, you get used to it.

I was a little alarmed by what I'd heard earlier.

Just a day at the office.

And again. Last one.

I decided to confront Guy.

Let it sit.

And the gentleman here was saying there'd been a couple of deaths

related, he

thought related to, uh, drug use.

Just bullshit.

Who, who is he? That guy there? He was no one.

Is that not true?

See, I don't mind talking about the negatives

of the sport, 'cause there are a lot

of negatives of the sport. But the thing to remember

is I'm not trying to tell

anyone to do this, you know. You're asking me why I do it,

and I accept all the

risks and all the dangers.

People do worry about the health factor.

Not really. They, no, that's bullshit. They just wanna put you down.

In what way?

Oh, steroids, the deaths, the roid rage, all the other bullshit that goes along

with it. All day long we're asked questions by

idiots that have got no idea, but

they all think they're experts. Do you know what I mean?

But they're not just asking at the same time, they're telling you you're an idiot.

Can you imagine every minute of your life someone saying that you're a stupid

journo, you're a stupid pommy journo.

Sooner or later, no matter how calm a person you are,

you're gonna slap someone

because you think, "How many times must I listen to these

bombastic questions?"

Well, listen, I'm sorry. I don't, I hope you don't think that I was-

Oh, no, no, no

... uh, asking-

Just, just so people understand why-

Yeah

... bodybuilders get, get a little bit, um, aggressive towards the same

question every single day.

It was time to move on. I had the feeling I'd touched a nerve.

If I ask why you do it, it's not because I think you shouldn't be

doing it or that

you don't have a right to be doing it.

It's because I'm trying to understand,

you know, what makes you do it and why you enjoy it.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

No, I fully understand. Just as, as I said, just at times you just,

sometimes you

don't wanna be a bodybuilder. You just wanna be thought of as just, hey,

Guy, the

normal person. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

You know, it's all I can say is I'm very content and happy.

Good.

All right, buddy.

See you later, Guy.

Oh, you will.

Yeah. Thanks again.

Not a problem. My pleasure.

Okay.

I shall drive home safely.

I left feeling discouraged. With the risks and commitment involved,

I was

no longer sure I wanted to become muscly.

But I had another lead.

An even more extreme branch of the muscle subculture.

Female bodybuilders.

I couldn't become one, but I could become one of their fans.

My initiation: a muscle worship video shoot at the

home of Mr. Charles Peoples.

Hey, Charles.

Hello.

How are you doing?

All right. How are you?

You look great.

Well, thank you, but she's infinitely better looking.

Yes. This is your place?

It's, uh, it's the family estate.

That makes it sound quite grand.

Well,

it is what it is.

Well, first of all, what's happening here? I understand there's a film going on.

Oh, there's always film going on here.

What sort of a production is it?

It's an adventure featuring muscular women doing

heroic-type things.

Yeah. Could we get a, a little tour around?

Mm-hmm. We have, uh, 65 acres here.

We've got woods, we got fields.

Yeah.

We don't just do movies here, we do all sorts of photography.

Anything promoting female muscle, I host things like that here.

Really?

Oh, yeah. So-

So what, what... I mean-

There's stuff going on here all the time.

What's on... what's in it for you, though? You getting paid?

No. No.

So you're just doing it to promote the cause of women's muscularity?

Absolutely.

You have a lot of fitness equipment here.

Mm-hmm.

Is this all yours?

Mm-hmm. This is my living room.

This whole room is almost like a, a shrine to hard women, isn't it?

Oh, yeah. Can you deal with hard women?

I think I can deal with it, yeah.

Can you deal with Tatiana?

Yeah. Well, how do you mean deal?

Deal with her.

Yes.

She's, she's over there. Go deal with her.

How do you do?

She's a star. Hi.

I'm Louis.

Hi, Louis.

Tatiana, you look very tall.

I am.

Can you-

I'm taller than you

... stand up? I want to see how tall you are.

Wow.

Why don't you stand beside him?

Amazonian.

There we go.

Let, let her stand.

It's pretty good.

Amazing.

Well, look at her.

Yeah. Look at that.

Is she spectacular or what?

Yes. Amazing.

Now, the-

Absolutely amazing. Look at you, you're enormous.

Thank you. You say that in a good way, don't you?

Yeah. Totally. Are you a bodybuilder? I take it you are.

No. Never touched the stuff.

Yeah.

No, but do-

Yes

... yeah, you are. Well, perhaps I'll see you later.

Okay.

Amazing.

It was nice meeting you.

Yeah. You too.

Have fun.

Yeah. Will do.

Wow, she's, uh, she's really something.

Do you go out with bodybuilding women?

I'm friends with a number of bodybuilding women.

You never see a woman bodybuilder who's alone.

Women bodybuilders have no trouble whatsoever finding a male

companion. Never.

Mm-hmm.

The problem is is there aren't enough muscular women to go around to all the men

who find them desirable.

'Cause you're hogging them all.

No. If I... One mission-

Is it, is it Charles-

One mission in my life I've always stated is that there aren't enough muscular

women in the world, and I would like to be, uh,

responsible for helping

contribute to the increase of their number.

And I'm sweating in this thing, and I've got to change.

All right, you better change.

Thank you so much.

See you out there.

Take care.

Okay.

So what is the p- first, uh, the first scene?

It's a kill.

Action.

Cut. It's good to look at muscles.

I know. One of these days,

the rest of the world will wake up to this.

Problem is most of the world hasn't really seen it the way it should be seen.

Action.

Would you like to be, uh, you know, wrestling with, uh-

I wouldn't have a problem with it, no. Of course not.

Yeah, I'd love to be down there. And the target market of these

films would all like to be down there.

Die!

Cut.

Okay. That wasn't too bad, you know? Good. All right. Let's go.

Is there anything we could do that would give me a little b- bit of a

flavor of how to appreciate a muscular woman?

Yes. We could take a look at Stacy Garanzini

over here.

Guys, you know what we're gonna do with this

scene?

The female body is about curves. Problem with our mainstream

media is they wanna show women as stick figures without any curves.

There's absolutely nothing attractive about a straight line.

It's not really fair to say that mainstream is interested in just

straight lines,

'cause the mainstream look is what Claudia Schiffer,

people like that.

Yeah, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford-

Tell you what

... Pamela Anderson. Um, let me sum this up for you.

Stacy, I would stack up against any of those

women, and those women

really would have no chance as far as desirability in comparison to

Stacy.

You'd really take someone like...

I mean, no offense, Stacy, but you would really take Stacy over, say,

Claudia Schiffer or, or Pamela Anderson?

I would take Stacy over all three of them at once.

I understand what you're saying, but in a sort of deep way, it doesn't

float my boat.

You've been conditioned. You've been brainwashed.

Mm.

Can you overcome that? Well, I think if you open your mind and try

and understand

what these women are doing, I think you can overcome that.

What are you thinking?

I'm thinking for the majority of, uh, aficionados of female muscle,

that's probably one of the most erotic scenes you can imagine.

I don't want to be lewd about it, but are the guys who are watching this video,

are

they enjoying it just on the aesthetic level-

No. No

... or are they enjoying it with a box of

Kleenex?

Well, I'm sure some of them are doing that.

I wanted to experience what the solitary viewer could only fantasize about,

and I was in luck. Four killings later, and Charles arranged a part for

me as another hapless victim. I was about to feel the

power of a muscly woman.

How do I look?

Smiffy ready for action.

You wouldn't, um, actually

hurt me, would you?

Hurt you?

No, I'm not gonna hurt you.

Okay.

We're gonna act.

Yeah, it's acting.

Yeah.

Oh, because the guy with the legs around his

neck-

Was he hurt?

Didn't you hear about him?

Oh, shut up.

Have you found the right tree, Steve?

Yes, we did.

Okay.

Oh, that's pretty tight.

It's good though.

Okay.

I'm out.

Charles is so jealous of me right now.

Charles, are you looking at me with green eyes?

Oh, don't worry, I've got my session coming up too.

I've got my moment tomorrow.

Action.

Ugh!

Ugh!

Ugh.

Ugh! Ah!

Ugh.

Ugh. Ah! Ah.

Ugh.

Ah.

Ugh.

Ah.

Ugh.

Roll him down the hill.

Wow. That was great.

Oh, okay.

I, I gotta give it to you, man. You know, you, you gave it, uh, 110%.

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Yeah, that was, that was awesome.

Good.

All right.

You really mean that?

I do.

Thank you.

I do.

I'll tell you what, that bordered on...

That was a Kleenex moment I guess, as you were calling it.

For you?

Huh?

Um, for anybody. There was no, there was no pretense left.

Oh, stop.

I mean, I tell, I guess it's an honor, but it's something odd about being a-

I mean, I know, I know what you're trying to get from

people but-

... figure in one of your fantasies

Well, I guess what we're doing is equating a killing to, uh,

to sex and, uh, lovemaking here. That wouldn't have been the same with one

of

those, uh, toothpick models, would it?

What?

Oh, come on, they couldn't thrust like me.

They couldn't thrust like her.

No. Well, I enjoyed doing that, Charles.

Thank you very much-

Yeah

... for fixing me up. I hope it changed your perspective a

little bit.

Yes. Yes, I think it did. So you won't speak ill of female muscle

any longer?

Oh, no, no, no.

No, no, no. You'll tell other people about it.

Maybe you can wake them up about female muscle.

Tell them it's not as abhorrent a thing as they might have thought.

Hey, thank you.

Bye bye, Will.

Yeah.

Take care.

See you later, Charles.

And work on these arms a little bit. You still got some surplus space there.

Okay. Cheers.

I was starting to see the appeal of the feel of a powerful woman.

I wanted to go further.

Tatiana called. She invited me along to a private session

with one of her

fans who was going to pay to wrestle her in a hotel room.

Hello.

Hi.

How are you doing?

I'm fine. How are you?

Good. Nice to see you.

Nice to see you, too.

Shall we go?

Let's go.

This guy's just paying you to, to arm wrestle him?

Yep, that's what he likes.

Wow. H- and for how long?

About an hour.

And how... And you... Can I ask how much that, that costs?

Um, everyone's different. Um, for me, it's usually about 300.

$300-

Mm-hmm

... just to arm wrestle a guy for an hour.

You also do other things other than arm wrestling?

There are all different kinds of sessions.

Um, there are guys that like to see posing, which means

that they would just

love... Instead of seeing a female bodybuilder

untouchable on stage, they'd love

to see one up close.

Wearing what?

Some guys like dresses, some like, um, bikinis, others

like lingerie. Um, some like just tights and underwear.

It's really about them and what their fantasy is.

Shall we head over to the desk?

Yeah, I'll go pick up my key.

Is, is it... Can we talk about what we're doing,

or should we-

No.

No.

No. Hi. I'm here to pick up my key. Last name Butler.

You're all set, Ms. Butler.

Thank you.

These private sessions, why do the bodybuilders do it?

For one thing, it's a source of income.

So it's just to do it for money, really.

Yeah.

Because, because, because you're not making a huge amount

doing the shows.

No, definitely not.

Are you sure this guy is, uh... Is he gonna be cool about doing this?

Actually, I'm a little nervous because of the fact

that usually you get a

confirmation call, and I didn't get one, so I just have to wait and

see.

There we go.

It's no reflection on you, but it's a little bit...

Something's a little bit seedy about it, isn't there?

Just as anything. Just as anything.

There's, there's a good side, and there's a bad side.

Especially in today's age, it's just all about what you like, and the

sad thing is there are a lot of men that feel like they really like a

muscular girl, but they can't express it because their

friends are gonna make fun

of them or, you know, or something like that.

So this is what they do.

It's 10 to 5 now.

If he hasn't shown up by now, he probably is not gonna show up.

Um,

but, you know, even the cleanest of things you might not

want to be filmed on TV

doing. So what we can do is I can actually, um,

show you some of the things that we do.

Okay.

Yeah.

So do you think you can take me?

Yeah.

Honestly?

Yeah.

Ready?

Yeah. And then I'm just sort of looking at your

muscle.

And most of the time look at the muscle, and then of course the trash talk starts.

Come on.

Oh my gosh, is that all you got?

Ah.

Come on, stick boy. You can do it. Take me down. I'm a girl.

I'm just a little wimpy girl. Come on.

Come on. Come on.

You're scaring me.

Come on. Come on.

You can do it. Come on.

Oh,

God.

This is usually the time, like when they lose,

you start stroking their ego.

You were good. You really were.

Really?

Yes.

Was I?

The best. Simply the best.

That's how you mean?

No, you were.

You were.

Okay.

There-

Are you doing it now or not?

No.

Well, we've still got 40 minutes of the session

left.

The other thing we do is, um, is lifting.

Where am I going? Ah.

See, it's fun, isn't it?

Oh, God. Do they ever lift you?

A lot of them are considerably smaller than me, so they can't.

I just haven't got the strength.

You're not making me feel very good.

Okay, this one's not as fun.

Ah. Is there an erotic element? I mean, it does feel like,

you know, there's something a bit sexy about it.

There is. You just have to know which way to go and how far to take

it.

Do some people want to take it further?

I think like once or twice I've gotten someone who wanted to take it farther, but

I'm so nice and so clean about it

most people feel really embarrassed even asking, and that's how I want to keep it.

You're the only person so far we've spoken to who's talked about this aspect of it.

I mean, is that a, um-

Oh.

That's probably because I'm a baby in the field, and I'm probably not supposed to

talk about it.

Really? Why, because it's looked on... Is it, is it frowned on?

Just for those who, who probably don't understand,

who have never actually done

one.

But this is part of the scene.

I, it's... I think so. I think it's part of the scene.

It's not a bad part of the scene at all.

Like you have these really cool guys that like to walk around taking pictures.

They'll give flowers and stuff like that.

And some people may make fun of them, but I think they're really cool.

I think they're really sweet. And I don't care who you are.

I don't care if you've got one eye going this way, one eye going that way.

I think it's really neat that you even think of me in that way.

Good session.

Thank you.

I can sort of see the appeal.

You know? It's, uh, just so unusual to be, uh, thoroughly dominated by a

woman. Thank you so much for giving me

that little peek inside the

world of, uh, private sessions.

My pleasure.

I should probably let you go then.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thanks.

Back to work.

I know.

Yeah.

I have people to train.

Okay.

See you later.

See you later.

Bye.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun

I was beginning to think I had real potential as a fan.

For my final test, Charles invited me to the Jan Tana

Classic,

a bodybuilding contest where all the hardcore aficionados of female

muscle were gathering.

I found Charles setting up his stall. There he is.

Hi, how are you?

Good to see you again. So what is your stall selling here?

Well, we have a, a number of designs of, um,

shirts.

But, uh, you know, I don't like to talk about our being a

company that sells

a product as much as we are promoting a concept.

I almost like to consider myself an activist.

I, I think that, uh, admiring female muscle is nothing

that anybody should be

ashamed of. My, uh, one, um, consideration that I

always feel that a fan should have is never, ever

embarrass

the people you- that you're admiring.

And, um,

that's something that I try to adhere to, but there are a number of fans who in

their ardor or lack of judgment or lack of tact, uh, tend to do

that.

Is there anywhere we can go to meet some of the, you know, the people, the fans and

whatnot?

Oh, yeah. You can go to where everybody's gathering

right now, which is the

lobby of the hotel where all the athletes are staying.

Muscle women are awesome.

What, what did you say? I said muscle women are awesome.

Did you think...

What did you think?

I liked it a lot. It's why I'm here.

How do you do?

Hi.

Louis.

Hi, Louis.

What's your name?

Mark.

Mark. What are you doing here?

Uh, well, I'm, uh, yeah, gonna enjoy the show.

I take, uh, pictures of the women on stage,

and I try to get

photo shoots with them.

So are you a fan of female bodybuilders?

Well, I think they look like goddesses.

It's just that, that combination of, uh, beauty and strength is,

uh, is very thrilling.

So describe to me your ideal woman.

Big, well-developed all over, well-shaped arms and legs.

Uh,

a combination of muscular chest with a, uh, uh, with a

breast is, is very appealing.

Um, Louise, one of my favorites. She's very big-

Yeah

... but, uh, her body parts flow together very

beautifully, I

think. Uh, yeah, this is a shot from last year.

Pretty amazing.

We'll get some good shots.

Okay.

See you later.

Bye.

Maria, you haven't been weighed in, have you?

What's in your ear?

I'm talking to one of the competitors in there.

Um-

So you're on constant call?

Yeah.

Which one, huh?

She has, um, the biggest legs in the bodybuilding

world.

Does that ... See, to me, that's too much. I don't mean to offend.

Is she your wife?

Yes.

Really? Can we meet her?

I'll ask her. Maria, uh, you haven't been weighed in, have you?

How can you communicate by remote like that?

Uh, it, it's, it's two things. She's thirsty, and she's ta- she's

talking to me now. Yeah, I'm here. Uh, have you been weighed in yet?

Say again.

So you said you're married?

Yeah.

How long have you been married?

Uh, just about a year. Just a year and one month.

And how did you meet?

Uh, we met at the Arnold Schwarzenegger

Fitness Convention in Columbus, Ohio.

So you must be in heaven now, 'cause aren't there a lot of fans of

female

bodybuilding who, who have to pay lots of money-

Yeah, right

... to get a woman to be interested?

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

You're in heaven.

Yeah, I have been for last year and one month.

Maria.

Maria, how do you do?

Good. How are you?

Pleased to meet you.

Your name?

Louis.

Oh, Louis. Nice to meet you.

Louis from the BBC. Yeah.

Yes. Oh, wonderful.

Yes.

Okay.

And you're from Argentina?

Yeah, I'm from Argentina.

See, Louis, she's not that big.

No, no- No, it's just in the photo you look, I mean-

Oh, yeah

... really big.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I know. You know, photos sometimes ...

Yeah.

Neil told us a bit about your love story. Isn't that nice?

Thanks, Arnold Classic. You know, thanks, Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know?

Yes, yes. He got you together.

He says he got a nice show, but, you know, I meet my husband there, so,

you know, it's great.

Yeah.

Thanks, Arnold.

She's a super girl. See? Right there.

Yeah, super girl.

Yeah.

Yes, that says super girl.

I was intrigued by Neil and Maria's relationship.

I went up to their hotel room to find out more.

How do people react to you in general?

It can be different things. I mean, I have, um,

I have, I have a lot of gifts by my mail from

guys.

I actually have had from UK too. They send me flowers.

Uh-

What about just in the supermarket?

Different things.

Like what?

Like, "Excuse me, sir."

It must make you feel quite hurt.

Well, a lot, a lot. But, but sometimes you have to ignore it.

How do you feel about that, Neil?

I think a lot of it is,

uh,

deep-seeded rude behavior.

You know, I, I'm being hurt as a woman.

They don't even take the time to see who you are.

They just go ahead and accuse you or judge you like they are God,

and they tell who you are.

It sort of seems as though

mainstream society doesn't really

like the muscular, the extremely muscular women's look.

It is not truth that society doesn't like it.

It's not all the guys,

uh,

f- have the freedom to express themselves.

Like, you know, between 100 people, you're gonna have

95 guys that they love bodybuilding, but they're not gonna show it,

that they like

it.

They're not gonna show it.

Why?

Because they might, they feel they are afraid of to being discriminated.

Very well.

Well, we're ready to go then.

What do you think so far?

I think the dedication that it takes is absolutely astounding.

Yeah.

The only thing I worry is that I do worry that, okay, s-

let's say some of the

women are on steroids, without making any accusations.

I always thought that was really bad for you, you know?

Yeah.

Why are you laughing? Steroids-

Because it's nothing bad for you.

Really?

You make it bad if you abuse with it.

Yeah.

You know? It's like a alcohol. If you take a little sip of something,

it's good.

But if you take a lot, it's really bad.

It can, you have cirrhosis, and you can just die by liver attack or,

you know.

Steroids is kind of old school.

Uh, I don't think many people use it that much anymore.

In fact, I guess the price of it has come way down

because of that.

Really?

Maria, Neil, and I headed off for the big event.

At the convention center, the crowds were beginning to assemble.

I wanted to get backstage to see the bodybuilders getting ready.

Contest organizer Jan Tanner had offered to take me. How are you doing?

Good. I'm looking for Jan Tanner. Yes. She's right out front.

She's right out front. Jan Tanner.

Louis, hello.

How are you doing?

I'm fine.

Nice to meet you.

Come on down.

Okay.

All right. I love your accent.

I like your accent. You can feel the energy building up.

Well, you can.

You seem very relaxed.

Oh. Well, you know, I've been doing it for 13 years.

Yeah.

But I'm excited.

Yeah.

When the show starts, the music starts,

that's when I really start getting excited.

There's people in the dressing rooms now.

Yes, yes.

Let's see what's going on. You stay here, Louis. I'll be right back.

Okay. What room is that? This is your dressing

room.

Louis, may I introduce you to the girls?

Yes, please.

Hello, girls. This is Louis. He came all the way from London to meet

you girls. They're filming, uh, for the B- BBC, right?

Yes, indeed.

Yes.

How are you doing?

Hi.

Hi, Maria.

How are you,

Louis?

So Louis, what do you think?

Amazing. Amazing. We met th- this gentleman earlier.

He, he must be enjoying himself right now. Yeah.

He's a big fan.

May I ask what you're doing?

We're, um, oiling up for them to go out on stage.

And you're using vegetable oil?

She prefers this.

Yeah.

Ooh.

And what's your name?

Sharon Dunn.

Sharon.

Mm-hmm.

Have you just always liked muscles?

Yeah. I love it. I get addicted to it.

Which aspect?

Um-

You want oil?

You like looking the best that you've ever looked,

and it's hard to accept yourself

any other way.

Ladies, five minutes. Let's go. Five minutes

How you doing?

I'm doing okay. I'm a little anxious for the night to be

over, but-

Are you?

Yes, I am. It's been a long time dieting.

Has it?

Yeah.

How long have you been dieting?

Usually I diet about 20 weeks for a show.

Do you basically look the way you do in order to compete, or is this...

If you, if there were no competitions, would you look like this anyway?

Oh, I look like this all, all year round because, yeah. Oh,

I love the look.

It's different. I try to stay feminine in the off season.

I don't really try to look like a man, so you know, I always wear

makeup. I always wear dresses.

Good luck.

Uh, it was nice meeting you. Thank you.

Yeah, you too.

Okay. Let's talk to you later. Bye-bye.

John, if you're back there, we need to bring,

round out all the heavyweight women

and have them come, come backstage now, please.

How are you doing?

Good. How are you?

Feeling good?

Yeah, I'm feeling good. Excited-

Yeah

... like always, you know. But-

I was gonna ask you, you know, about how you got into, um, into the

bodybuilding, you know. Whether, you know, what were your reasons for doing it

originally?

Well, it's a lot of reasons. It's, I just like, uh,

I just like the way it looks,

you know, in the female. I think it's, you know...

I know it's, like, out of the, uh, the average girls, right?

But uh, I think it looks sexy, too. I think the, the idea of the amazon and,

you know, the small waist, big muscles in a, in a girl looks good.

Heavyweight women, line-up time, please.

With the women about to begin their posing,

I headed for the wings to watch the

contest.

Y'all look great, ladies. Everybody looks great.

Nice.

Hi.

Whoo.

Hey.

I've got the power.

Hey, hey, hey.

Another quarter turn, please.

I can break your grip like a snap, a crack.

The rhyme's gonna kick like a

You okay?

A beatbox.

You okay?

Layin' down the double rhyme, double on a hell of a flow.

Best to let me rock the mic from coast to coast.

Rhyme for rhyme, baby, I write off the top.

Double and fuck it, live the life. Crazy, got brainy, got plenty to say.

I'm so

Another quarter turn, please.

Really, really, really.

How

you feeling?

Feeling pretty good. Better it's over. She's on stage, so.

Yeah.

The, uh... Maybe the worst is over.

It's, um,

it's not natural, is it?

What?

To look like that.

No, but Maria always says she doesn't want to

be the average

girl sitting on a couch eating, watching TV.

Do you see a certain masculinity in it?

Um, not her. Maybe others.

Yeah.

But you know, I'm probably biased and-

I don't mean in a bad way necessarily.

I mean, she,

she's clearly a woman.

I've got the power.

Weren't they fantastic?

Good job, ladies.

As the heavyweight women filed off stage, I knew I'd reached the end of the road as

a fan. The judges were picking the winners, but to me, the

result didn't matter.

Muscle worship was not for me.

I went to see Neil and Maria one last time. How

are you doing?

Good.

Um, can I have a little go?

Sure. You want to start in the middle and stretch to the sides.

Um, it's a bit like painting a house.

Do you have an idea of whether you're a finalist or not?

No, I'm not.

You're not?

No, I'm not.

Why?

I, ask the judges. I don't know.

I've racked my brain trying, trying to figure it out, and, um-

We never know. We're just gonna do some pictures outside

now, but, you know.

But, uh-

You don't even get to do your routine?

No, so I prepared my routine for nothing.

It's just in case, uh, we're gonna get ready for next year,

see what happens.

Hopefully we make it. We're going out.

Who are they for, the pictures?

For me. For us.

Herself.

Oh, yeah.

Because, you know, she's in shape, and-

Yeah

... we, we make some eight by 10s out of them.

We got, you know, some pictures. Bye, guys. See you later.

For Maria, the contest was over, and it was time for me to head off, too.

With my misgivings about what I'd seen, I went to say goodbye to the

champion of female muscle, Charles Peoples.

There were women backstage with stubble and deep voices.

That is a, that is a great detractor.

Yeah.

Uh, that's, that does come from the drug use.

If you want to talk about the drugs, yeah, that is a problem.

I don't know why you say it's a problem, exactly.

'Cause to my mind, bodybuilding as it exists at

venues like this could not exist without the drugs.

No, that angers me. That angers me when you say that.

Why?

'Cause I can show you examples of women who have muscle mass without using drugs.

The central issue is the public being able to accept a different

look in females, and I'm not talking about the, the en- en-

enlarged

mandibles and the stubble. But that's the thing

that the public still can't deal

with is, is a woman being stronger and larger or more

defined than they're used to seeing a woman.

It is quite shocking, though, sometimes, some of it.

Well, see, I'm glad about that, because the more of you who prefer the

conventionally acceptable women leaves more of the

Stacys for the likes of me, you know?

Can I tell you what, though? It was literally one of the most amazing

things I've

ever seen in my life.

Well, see you later.

Thanks a lot, Charles.

Take care. Bye-bye.

Maybe I was just too conditioned, but I was happy to leave muscly women to

Charles and his fellow aficionados.

It was time to head home, but before I left, I wanted to drop in

and say

goodbye to my old friend, Guy.

Hey, Guy.

Hey, Louie, what's up, baby?

How are you doing, man? Shall we hit the road?

I want to tell you about my adventures.

Yeah, sounds good.

I was at this bodybuilding competition, the Santana Classic.

What was amazing was how much dedication these women put in, and for

so little reward, really.

Oh, the reward- the rewards are pathetic.

It's a crazy sport, especially for the women there.

It's, like, even harder because, um, like, I look like a man no matter what.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

I'm not changing the way that people perceive me.

I may look freaky to some people, but in the end, I'm still a man.

With a woman, it's just like they go through a different

boundary.

Do you know what I mean? Where they've got lot...

They're so muscular, people have trouble r-

recognizing whether they're a man or a

woman.

Mm.

And deep down, i- for every woman, that's got to be a certain amount of a

problem.

Do you know what I mean? Like, one day, you just got to wake up,

look in the mirror

and go, "Jesus Christ, what have I done with myself?"

So what is it that... If you could define the one thing

that actually where you

think, like, "This is it. I feel fantastic.

This is bodybuilding at its best," what is that moment?

Just the satisfaction in looking in the mirror and saying, "Fuck, you know, I've

done this. I've achieved this. And I've turned,

turned this scrawny little body

into something that I can be proud of."

What about 20, 30 years down the line?

You know, maybe I'll say, "Goddamn, I was an idiot." But hindsight's something

we've all got, you know what I mean? And I can't...

I can predict a certain path down the future, but, um, you know, I'm gonna show

this video to my grandchildren when I'm older.

I'm gonna say-

Yeah

... "This is what your grandpa did," you know

what I mean?

And, and they'll say, "Well, you're kind of famous, you know, Pop."

And that,

that'll make me feel good, you know what I mean?

What, even if you've ruined your health?

If it happened, I'd accept the consequences because I've

lived a great life.

But I know for a fact, from what I've seen,

that it's not gonna happen.

All right, buddy, well, it's a pleasure meeting you.

Yeah.

Hope you got a good insight to what's going on in bodybuilding.

No, excellent. Yeah.

Anyway. All right. Well, hope this show comes out well.

Make sure you send me a video because, uh,

I do like to look at myself.

Yes, of course you do. Are your thighs chafing right now?

They're ch- 24/7, as Americans say, non-stop.

See you later.

Yeah, you take it easy.

All right.

Okay. Go.

No fair.

Did I win that?

No. I thought you were giving up. That was

cheating. That's okay. I'll give you that

one.