At 13 or 14, many young French people already dream of building muscle. But this trend, transported by influential people and social networks, that Dops according to the self -confidence of its followers, is not exempt from drift.
“I wanted to start since my 14 years,” said AFP Jules Vaillant, 16, training on a carpet in a room in the Fitness parks sports group, in Saint-Oue-Sur-Seine, in the suburbs of Paris.
“As soon as I was older, my father came directly to register,” says this high school student, must be at least 16 years old to attend most sports rooms, which pays a student subscription at 25 euros per month.
Like him, many teenagers begin very young to lift weights. In 2024, bodybuilding was one of the three most chosen evidence in Baccalaureate, according to the National Council for Exams.
Sometimes 13 years
According to the research center for the study and observation of living conditions (Cédoc), 19% of 15-24-year-old children practice physical aptitude or bodybuilding, girls and children, twice as much as the national average.
“It increases from one year to another. Our population is launching,” confirms Jean-Philippe Ferrier, marketing director of Fitness Park, who claims 950,000 members in France and says that he saw that the participation of members under 20 years went from 4% to 9% in one year.
The majority begins to bodybuilding from 13 or 14 years, following tutorials on YouTube or Tiktok, where the videos of tips are thousands.
“Many people write to me by message: ‘Hello Tibo, I am 13 years old, I would like to start bodybuilding, what can I do to build muscle at home'”, testifies the tibo of the AFP Inshape, First YouTubeur in France (26 million subscribers) that specialize in bodybuilding.
However, Tibo Inshape warns: “Start with light weights to understand your movement” and avoid injuring yourself.
“Lack of supervision”
Health professionals require surveillance.
“It is an activity that is good for health when it is well practiced,” said Philippe Geiss to AFP. He regrets a “lack of supervision” of adolescents who begin at home or in the gym, which exposes them to a risk of injuries.
“Sometimes they are compared to people who take doping products,” abounds the tibos inshape, arguing that adolescents “can be encouraged to want to go faster than music accelerating the results.”
Jules Vaillant, 16, has experienced it. “I increased the load too much at the same time, and suffered too much pressure on the wrist,” he said, suffering today for tendonitis.
The rooms, such as Fitness Park, claim to offer an evaluation with the coach to the new members, but in fact, several young people interviewed by AFP say they did not benefit from it.
Improve self -image
The beauty standards transmitted by social networks are not at all in the growing madness of this activity. Many teenagers explain bodybuilding to begin with aesthetic reasons.
“Social networks will often offer them images of tanks, which refer to unattainable standards,” analyzes Laurence Corroy, a professor at the University of Lorraine (EST), a specialist in relationships between young people and the media.
“It is even more painfully experienced” in adolescence, he recalls.
After three years of training in the gym, Fabian Erazo Gil took a step back: “There is no need to physically torture” to feel good in his body, he admits.
Source: BFM TV
