NEW YORK — Like many high school athletes, Bobby, 16, a junior from Long Island, has spent years whipping his body into shape through protein diets and workouts.
Between rounds of “Fortnite” and homework, Bobby goes online to study bodybuilders like Mr Greg Doucette, a 46-year-old fitness personality who has more than 1.3 million YouTube subscribers. Bobby also hits the gym as often as six days a week.
“Those guys made me realize I wanted to get bodies like them and post stuff like them,” said Bobby, who has the compact frame of a gymnast. (The New York Times is not publishing the surnames of minors or the names of their parents in this article to protect their privacy.)
He makes sure to hit the fridge, too, grazing on protein-packed Kodiak Cakes and muscle-mass-building Oreo shakes. He consumes so much protein that classmates sometimes gawk at him for eating upward of eight chicken-and-rice meals at school.
But Bobby isn’t getting buff so he can stand out during varsity tryouts. His goal is to compete in a different arena: TikTok.
Bobby now posts his own workout TikToks. Shot on his iPhone 11, usually at the gym or in his family’s living room, the videos are devoted to topics like how to get a “gorilla chest,” “Popeye forearms” or “Lil Uzi’s abs.”
Bobby said that he had occasionally fallen behind on his schoolwork because he dedicated so much time to weightlifting and prepping high-protein meals.
“When Bobby first started posting his videos, our family did not even know what he was doing for months, as he was extremely independent and did stuff on his own,” said his father, 49, who is a correctional officer at Rikers Island. “He doesn’t really talk much about what goes into his videos, but I know he takes his time with them to make sure they’re perfect.”
Bobby’s father can, in some ways, relate. “When I was younger, I remember seeing the men’s fashion magazines and seeing the jacked, buff guys on there and wanted to look like them,” he said. “It took me a while to realize that those men’s bodies were most likely unattainable.”
But unlike his father’s experience, as Bobby’s body mass grows, so does his online audience. “Young guys see me as their idol,” said Bobby, who has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok. “They want to be just like me, someone who gained muscle as a teenager.”
Among his disciples is Tanner, 16, a high schooler from Arkansas, who reached out to Bobby on Instagram. “Thank you for inspiring me,” Tanner wrote.
More athttps://www.todayonline.com/world/what-bigorexia-1839886
Between rounds of “Fortnite” and homework, Bobby goes online to study bodybuilders like Mr Greg Doucette, a 46-year-old fitness personality who has more than 1.3 million YouTube subscribers. Bobby also hits the gym as often as six days a week.
“Those guys made me realize I wanted to get bodies like them and post stuff like them,” said Bobby, who has the compact frame of a gymnast. (The New York Times is not publishing the surnames of minors or the names of their parents in this article to protect their privacy.)
He makes sure to hit the fridge, too, grazing on protein-packed Kodiak Cakes and muscle-mass-building Oreo shakes. He consumes so much protein that classmates sometimes gawk at him for eating upward of eight chicken-and-rice meals at school.
But Bobby isn’t getting buff so he can stand out during varsity tryouts. His goal is to compete in a different arena: TikTok.
Bobby now posts his own workout TikToks. Shot on his iPhone 11, usually at the gym or in his family’s living room, the videos are devoted to topics like how to get a “gorilla chest,” “Popeye forearms” or “Lil Uzi’s abs.”
Bobby said that he had occasionally fallen behind on his schoolwork because he dedicated so much time to weightlifting and prepping high-protein meals.
“When Bobby first started posting his videos, our family did not even know what he was doing for months, as he was extremely independent and did stuff on his own,” said his father, 49, who is a correctional officer at Rikers Island. “He doesn’t really talk much about what goes into his videos, but I know he takes his time with them to make sure they’re perfect.”
Bobby’s father can, in some ways, relate. “When I was younger, I remember seeing the men’s fashion magazines and seeing the jacked, buff guys on there and wanted to look like them,” he said. “It took me a while to realize that those men’s bodies were most likely unattainable.”
But unlike his father’s experience, as Bobby’s body mass grows, so does his online audience. “Young guys see me as their idol,” said Bobby, who has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok. “They want to be just like me, someone who gained muscle as a teenager.”
Among his disciples is Tanner, 16, a high schooler from Arkansas, who reached out to Bobby on Instagram. “Thank you for inspiring me,” Tanner wrote.
More athttps://www.todayonline.com/world/what-bigorexia-1839886
