10 min read
Summary
What does 'bigorexia' mean?
🌪️ Being bigorexic: an irrepressible need to train.
🤕 Sometimes at the expense of health.
👫 Bigorexic: an impact on personal and professional life.
👤 Who is affected by bigorexia?
What are the symptoms of bigorexia in running?
🏃♀️ Physical symptoms
🧠 Mental symptoms
How is bigorexia treated?
👨⚕️ Bigorexic: a psychological support on par with addictions
🥼 Adjusting your practice to take care of your mental strength.
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Do you always push your limits further? Do you feel guilty about missing a running session? Or you never miss a workout, even when injured? What if it wasn't just motivation? What if you were bigorexic without knowing it? Explanations.
What does 'bigorexia' mean?
We talk about 'bigorexia' when physical exercise becomes an obsession, a dependence comparable to an addiction. Also known as sportoolism or Adonis complex, this pathology mainly affects endurance sports or intensive bodybuilding.
According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) definition, bigorexia has been recognized since 2011 as a behavioral addiction. It is characterized by excessive sports practice, despite deleterious consequences on physical, mental strength, or social health. It can also be accompanied by a distorted body image and a constant need for control over the body.
🌪️ Being bigorexic: an irrepressible need to train.
At the core, there is a healthy desire: to move, to push yourself, to feel good in your body. But among people with bigorexia, this desire turns into obsession. The runner no longer runs for pleasure, but out of need, even compulsion.
This behavior is partly based on the brain's dopaminergic circuits. Physical effort releases endorphins, which provide a sensation of euphoria and temporary relief. The brain ends up craving more, just like in a classic addiction.
🤕 Sometimes at the expense of health.
When you continue to run with a stress fracture, a chronic tendinitis, or a state of advanced exhaustion, something is wrong. In the case of bigorexia, pain and injuries do not hinder practice. On the contrary, they are sometimes minimized, denied, or ignored.
This constant overtraining can lead to serious issues: joint pain, sleep disorders, hormonal imbalances, eating behavior disorders (like reverse anorexia) or even a psychological collapse.
👫 Bigorexic: an impact on personal and professional life.
When training comes before everything, even relationships or work, it goes beyond the realm of leisure. Bigorexia can cause isolation, family conflicts, or loss of bearings.
The affected individual may lie to those around them, hide their workouts, or withdraw into a world solely focused on performance. Some people spend several hours a day exercising, sometimes sacrificing sleep or social life. Sports become the only source of validation and identity.
👤 Who is affected by bigorexia?
Considered a disease, the exact prevalence of bigorexia remains difficult to establish, but some studies estimate it affects between 1 and 3% of the population, with an overrepresentation among regular athletes.
Men appear to be more often affected than women, especially in bodybuilding, where the pursuit of muscle mass can turn into obsession. But women are not spared, particularly in endurance sports or weight control.
Social networks sometimes reinforce this distress by normalizing an unrealistic body image and extreme sports practice.
What are the symptoms of bigorexia in running?
Are you wondering if your passion for running is going too far? Some physical and mental signs can raise a red flag for you.
🏃♀️ Physical symptoms
Bigorexia leaves visible traces on the body. Even if they are sometimes minimized or interpreted as 'evidence of dedication', these manifestations are alert signals not to be overlooked:
Persistent pain (tendinitis, stress fractures, exhaustion)
Repetitive injuries, but without interrupting practice
Sleep disorders, chronic fatigue
Decreased immunity
Uncontrolled body changes (mass gain, weight loss)
Hormonal imbalances (amenorrhea in some women, decreased libido, mood disorders etc.)).
🧠 Mental symptoms
Most often, it all starts in the mind. Bigorexia insidiously sets in, modifying the relationship with yourself, with sports, and with the body — to the point of taking over completely:
Anxiety at the thought of missing a workout
Feelings of guilt or irritability on rest days
Need to train more and more, at the expense of everything else
Obsessive pursuit of performance or body control
Denial of pain or risks
Social isolation
Difficulty moderating practice even when there are medical recommendations.
How is bigorexia treated?
Bigorexia is not a fate. Like any addiction, it can be managed with the right tools and appropriate support.
👨⚕️ Bigorexic: a psychological support on par with addictions
The treatment is primarily based on psychological follow-up, often provided by addiction specialists or psychologists specializing in behavioral disorders.
The goal is not to stop sports, but to regain a more serene and balanced relationship with physical activity. Cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBT) can help identify obsessive thoughts and rebuild a more accurate body image. Working on the underlying causes — self-esteem, need for control, anxiety, or associated eating disorders — is often necessary to break free from dependence in the long term.
🥼 Adjusting your practice to take care of your mental strength.
Alongside psychological work, a gradual adjustment of sports practice is recommended. This can include:
the introduction of real rest days
diversifying activities (yoga, walking, non-competitive activities)
reconnecting with the pleasure of moving without aiming for performance or intensive sports
monitoring by a sports health professional
support from the social and family circle.
Some practitioners must also go through a partial withdrawal phase, which can be difficult, but necessary to regain mental and bodily balance.
Understanding bigorexia goes far beyond spotting someone who trains a lot — it requires recognizing how deeply this mental health condition can affect someone’s body image, self-esteem, daily functioning, and overall quality of life. Often considered a form of muscle dysmorphia — a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — bigorexia shares similarities with other serious conditions like eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, and disordered eating patterns, yet remains distinct in its focus on muscularity and fear of being perceived as too small.
People affected by bigorexia can become preoccupied with a perceived flaw in their body size or body shapes, engaging in compulsive exercise, extreme diets, or even using anabolic steroids to reach an idealized physique. These behaviors may stem from complex risk factors including exposure to unrealistic standards on social media, past trauma, or internal pressures related to body weight and appearance.
If the symptoms of bigorexia — like obsession over muscularity, anxiety when missing workouts, or increasingly rigid eating routines — are affecting wellbeing, reaching out to a healthcare professional is essential. Early support can help differentiate between healthy training and a developing mental disorder, enabling targeted strategies that protect both physical and psychological health. Recognizing and addressing bigorexia reminds us that the pursuit of fitness should never come at the cost of our humanity and wellbeing.
Being passionate about sports is not the same as being bigorexic. But when pleasure turns into obsession, it's time to question oneself. Bigorexia is still not well known, but solutions exist to escape the trap of excessive training. Don't stay alone: talking, consulting, adjusting, is already the beginning of feeling better.
Lou
Published on , updated on
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