God Bod
I’ve been toying with the idea of getting back into zine making, with a focus on fitness, art and culture. I’ve made a handful of zines as both an educator and an artist, and the process has always been rewarding. I think the reason zines are so successful both inside and outside of the classroom, is that they’re fairly easy and economical to make, while also serving as a medium that’s typically more experimental and freer than traditional drawing and painting.
Zine libraries are becoming all the more popular in art venues and libraries; but if you’re looking to purchase zines for your own collections, one of the best places to do so is Printed Matter in New York City, a nonprofit book and print shop that offers a wide range of publications created by artists.
In stock at Printed Matter (as of this post) is the zine Janet by artist and anthropologist, Io Ilex Perl. It’s a sixteen-page booklet full of intricately rendered drawings referencing a photograph of amateur bodybuilder Janet Kaufman, which were published in the reader mail section of the November 1998 issue of former bodybuilding magazine, FLEX.
FLEX was a popular magazine among bodybuilders from spring of 1983 to when it ended circulation in 2018, and merged with Muscle & Fitness. Janet Kaufman has been competing in bodybuilding competitions since the late 1980s. Her accolades include winning the Light-Heavyweight Class at the 2007 NPC Masters National Bodybuilding Championships.
Like a bodybuilder repetitively lifting weights, Perl flexed her draftsperson’s muscles in replicating Kaufman’s likeness so many times throughout the zine. Her drawing and video art practice involves a devotion to portraying extreme physical disciplines like bodybuilding, body suspension and boxing through the lens of an artist. I definitely plan on discussing some of her other compelling bodies of work in a future post.
Alongside one of the drawings of Kaufman is a quote from St. John of the Cross, which reads: “All that the imagination can imagine and the reason conceive and understand in this life is not, and cannot be, a proximate means of union with God.”
I am Jewish, so I’m not too familiar with St. John of the Cross, or most Catholic scriptures for that matter; but I find his quote compelling, especially in light of how Perl juxtaposes it with her imagery of bodybuilders.
I spent a significant chunk of time pondering over this quote. From my novice interpretation, St. John of the Cross is prompting Christians to embody an active purification of the senses and spirit, in order to obtain a truly authentic union with God.
As most people who are not familiar with a topic do these days, I scoured the internet for threads of understanding, and the best summation I came across was from writer Tom Mulcahy, who notes that: “Understanding is to be replaced by faith, Memory is to be emptied and forgotten and replaced by hope, (and) The will is to be emptied of all desires save that of loving God with all our heart, mind and strength.”
This essentially means cleaning one’s physical and mental facilities of all distractions, addictions and vices, which hinder an individual’s ability to focus on supernatural knowledge and virtues. In this regard, I’d initially conclude that bodybuilding would particularly be an endeavor that’s antithetical to the concept of spiritual purity; in part because bodybuilding is reliant upon corporeal desire, as well as the use of anabolic steroids.
However, some might suggest that building physical strength and the virtues of active purification are interlinked. It is indeed true that bodybuilding is far more than just seeking a specific type of corporeal aesthetic. It requires a significant amount of dedication, focus and devotion; and is a ritualistic practice that prompts a concerted abstinence of specific bodily and emotional urges.
Interviews with Kaufman (and any other bodybuilder for that matter) elucidate the strict mind and body commitment that’s required to develop and sustain her status in the sport. For example, she’s up at the crack of dawn, trains multiple times throughout the day, sticks to a “clean diet” that is high in protein and goes to bed early. While St. John of the Cross would more than likely disagree with the comparison, this unwavering schedule and process is akin to the tenets of active purification.
Throughout Christian texts (and quotes by popes, preachers and saints) the body is often considered a temporary vessel, and in order to make room for the holy spirit, we should work diligently and passionately to refine specific traits and attitudes that embody virtuous aspects which bring us closer to God. Prior to the age of enlightenment, several religious philosophies were concentrated in the idea of holy suffering, or asceticism, which is the denial of worldly pleasures through rigid self-discipline.
Bodybuilding could be interpreted as ascetic (i.e training to failure and/or discomfort and the removal of certain bodily pleasures and excesses like sleeping in and culinary indulgence, save for the occasional “cheat day”); but working out at large, especially strength training, is not self-punishing. The release of endorphins and the reward from a hard and taxing workout, often leads to euphoria. The challenges and rewards of exercising might also have an impact on a person’s ability to express empathy, which is the ability to understand and share another person’s feelings. A paper published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Frontiers, posits that: “It is widely known that exercise has a beneficial effect on human behavior, and recent studies have shown that empathy is no exception. It may be suggested that if exercise activates the mirror neuron system while exercising, individuals may experience increased levels of empathy while exercising.”
Anecdotally speaking, exercising has reinforced my commitment to supporting the right and necessity for everyone to thrive; and advocating for greater disability-rights across culture. It has also given me an even stronger perspective on bodily integrity and the importance to build up healthy lifestyles for all body types through self-love; rather than shame people via pious and stringent ideologies on how they should look and act. Those who can lift heavy weights and run several miles are privileged to do so. No matter how hard we try to delay it, there comes a time when all of our bodies will falter. It’s beneficial for everyone to employ some form of exercise and resistance training into their daily lives, but the methods for doing so are diverse and nuanced.
There needs to be an all embracing attitude towards fitness that doesn’t stigmatize and alienate. Working out should be viewed as an empowering act of both self-love and selflessness. Having access to fitness equipment that can be modified, and coaches that understand individualization and the spectrum of disability, is indicative of a moral commitment to take care of one another. This tenet of compassion via strength can be traced to several spiritual practices and beliefs. Even something as seemingly dogmatic as organized religion imparts fluctuating and progressive ideas and methods for giving and receiving righteous care.
From the age of enlightenment (formally discussed in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1762 publication, Emile) onward, the process of building strength through exercise has been noted as a means to achieve righteousness and shape moral character. A principle called “Muscular Christianity” coincided with the Bronze Era of Bodybuilding during the late nineteenth-century. The term was proliferated by the writings of English author Thomas Hughes, who states in his 1861 novel, Tom Brown at Oxford, that: “the least of the muscular Christians has hold of the old chivalrous and Christian belief that a man’s body is given to him to be trained and brought into subjection, and then used for the protection of the weak [and] the advancement of all righteous causes.”
When Cardinal Robert Prevost ascended to become Pope Leo XIV, an endearing article was published mentioning that his personal trainer Valerio Masella didn’t realize he was training such a high profile Catholic client. The article states that: “A typical workout for someone of Prevost’s age, 69, was a mere warm-up for the little-known American cardinal…Although it is hard to define an age group for personalized programs, Prevost’s plan was more befitting of men aged 50-55. Masella would train him two or three times a week in sessions lasting up to an hour.”
There’s far more to unpack and understand from the world of bodybuilding and fitness training in general than the outward appearances of its notable practitioners. If we consider that our muscular bodies are vessels for radical and righteous love, we can harness that power to lift ourselves and others upward and onward. We can apply the passion, dedication and empathetic aspects of exercise as a way to get in touch with our humanity, be a pillar of support in our community and find spiritual or otherworldly meaning and experience in life itself. That to me, is a quintessential example of pure strength and devotion.
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