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An Ethnographic Study on the
Gym Culture in Pakistan
HASSAAN HAROON

Today we live in a society where there exist two types of people. Some people loathe exercise,
for them it is an utter nuisance and involves way too much hard work, while for others it is a
routine, a part of their existence. In this paper I will be talking about the people who fall in the
latter category.
We have been hearing that people in Pakistan are now becoming increasingly conscious about
their appearance. This ideaology is not just restricted to females, but males are equal
participants of this race. The main focus of this report is the male population who are going to
extreme levels to appear as attractive and 'manly' as possible. Numerous TV shows, articles,
and online blogs about weight training and exercising techniques, new gyms and fitness centers
opening up all over the place, have made men more conscious about themselves. initially
people used to go to gyms for health purposes, which included both physiology and physical
appearance both, but now with increasing globalization, this increased consciousness is
changing its course. What was initially seen as a combination of Physiology as well as physical
appearance is now considered as physical appearance ONLY, mostly due to the social construct
in Pakistan. Men, specially young boys aged between 18 and 25 are now more concerned about
how they appear. Most of them wish to have an ideal body which is promoted by the global
media. A man appears perfect when he is muscular, has broad shoulders and a thin waist. Such
a body can be seen everywhere on media, be it on TV (ads, wrestling arenas, sports shows, etc.)
billboards, magazines, internet and the list goes on. Considering everything mentioned above,
this paper will be answering the questions that what are the norms that prevail in the gyms in a
Pakistani society, the misconceptions people have regarding the gym culture, the factors which

bring young boys (aged 18 to 25) to the gym and why is this trend increasing over the course of
time?
Karachi Club has invested huge amount of funds into the construction and maintenance of
gyms and fitness centers. A lot of members visit the gym regularly and so I thought gents gym
at KC would be most convenient for me to conduct my research. Over the past one week I have
spent a total of 10.5 hours in the gym – 1.5 hours every day, from 7.30 pm to 9 pm. My
research consists of participant observation i.e. I was a part of the activities in the gym, along
with 2 interviews. My one interviewee was a man who actively uses these facilities and the
second one was the trainer at the gym. The gym is located in the sports complex, adjacent to
the tennis court, within the premises of KC. It is an enclosed, air conditioned area with large
windows which are normally covered with blinds to maintain privacy. The theme which runs
through the gym is mostly blue and grey, from the seats of the bikes, to the wallpapers and
mats; everything is in a light blue color. There is a desk near the entrance for the fitness trainer
and the wall beside the desk has an LCD. At the moment, the gym is equipped with latest cardio
machines, ellipticals, treadmills, bikes, exercise mats and balls, dumbells, and rods. The gym
supervisor ensures that a hygienic environment is maintained for the members using the
facilities and for this purpose staff is hired to clean the machines after a member has used it.
Overall, the gym can be considered as providing standard fitness facilities to its members along
with some form of entertainment.
Almost all the young boys in the gym wore sleeveless tshirts with sweat pants, while those
mostly above 30s were often seen in polo shirts and joggers/tennis shoes. The average exercise

and weight training time ranges between 1 and 1.5 hours. Generally, all the men working out in
the gym preferred some kind of entertainment. Most of them had ear phones plugged in which
kept them isolated, while others relied on the songs being played on the built in sound system
inside the gym, for their entertainment. Men in the gym tend to interact with each other not
only during the non-exercise times but also while exercising. In fact interaction was pretty much
noticeable, especially if they were working out on adjacent machines. A lot of them have
developed a strong bond over time. The group workout to individual workout ratio that I
observed was 3:1 with three people working out in groups or pairs and one working out
individually. Also, the workout duration for those performing exercises in groups was
comparatively longer than the individual men. Another apparent norm was that the boys
particualrly involved in weight training and muscle building, in the gym were helpful and
supportive towards each other. For example they helped the beginners with the new machines
if they did not know how to use them as well with the angles, and also gave those boys extra
tips for strength training. Moreover, I observed the stereotypical role of men nurtured in our
society, during the hours I spent in the gym. In Pakistan and in most of the countries in the
world, men are viewed as strong and tough beings and thus are expected to behave
accordingly, which is why around 75% of the young generation in the gym were found in the
strength training area mainly to gain mass compared to only 25% of them in the cardiovascular
training area to shed pounds and tone their bodies. The latter population of the gym belonged
to an older age group ( mostly above 40s) who are solely concerned about their physiological
health rather than to achieve the ideal body shape.

I interviewed a guy with an average weight, in the gym who had been using the facilities since 4
months now. When asked why did you join the gym? He replied, “I am not naturally a broad
person and I don’t even buy into the ideal body shape as they show on the media, but at the
same time, I often used to be self-conscious about my appearance when I went out with my
muscular apparently ‘’fit’’ and" attractive" friends. I spent my last teenage years cursing my
lean, slim body. Despite of such hatred for my body, I never tried working out to gain mass,
largely because I was way too conscious about going to the gym, because people would judge
me. We have this misconception in our society that every person at the gym is there to lose
weight and nothing else. Leave others, when I first joined the gym, even my parents reminded
me that we don’t need to lose weight, we have a normal weight so why bother about it.
However, what brought me to the gym was that like every other men I wanted to look attractive
too, and since our society focuses entirely on the physical appearance to refer to someone as
‘attractive’, I came here and joined the race where everyone is struggling to become eye-
catching.’’ When I asked him how his life has changed over the span of these four months, he
responded that, “I just feel better about myself. Now my goal is not just to gain a certain
amount of weight in the right places, but also to feel stronger and more confident about myself.
My knees feel stronger when I ride a bike, my core feels shredded now when I do crunches , and
my legs feel firmer when I run on the treadmill. All these feelings give me confidence that I am a
healthy person, not just physically but internally. Everyone needs to understand that gym is not
just a place to shed those unwanted, stubborn pounds, but it is a place where you can actually
feel good about yourself.”

When I asked the trainer during the interview, what do you think about the men who come
here? He answered; ‘gym is a place particularly for the upper middle class and the elites. Men
from rich families come here to lose weight, tone up their bodies, as well as for strength
training. That is obviously because the membership for the Club is way too costly, so people
from the lower middle class can obviously not afford it, but I have worked as a trainer in other
gyms as well, my observations regarding the males coming there was the same. People from
other classes cannot make it to the gym because of financial issues. People from the lower
middle class can go to parks to exercise and the poor ones barely get food to eat, why would
they want to lose weight.’
These interviews sort of helped me to clarify the point I am trying to make. What I have drawn
from them is that there are certain preconceived notions which we have attached to the ’gym’.
By ‘we’ I mean the Pakistani society. Firstly the aged people do not exercise because according
to them exercising and fitness programs are for the young ones. However they fail to realize the
importance of old age exercise and its benefits for their physical and mental well being.
Secondly nearly every citizen possesses this idea that gym is a place solely for over-weight,
obese people. Skinny, slimones do not need to work out because they are already fit. The
problem which I feel is most prominent in Pakistan is that exercising was initially seen as an
abnormal activity and now since the trend is changing and people are coming towards this
activity, I believe it will take time to become used to this suddenly emerging gym culture. Also,
since this culture is new, the terminologies that they use to describe someone physically are
flawed too. They use words like ‘fit’ and ‘healthy’, where fit is used for the muscular males and
slimfemales and healthy for the ones who are over-weight. Thirdly and most importantly, the

false impression that gym is a place for the elites or the upper middle class holds back many
people from going to the gym.
It would not be erroneous if I say that today the desires and thoughts of the people are driven
largely by media. Pakistani men are obsessed with bollywood and Hollywood actors, wrestlers,
and sportsmen. They wish to follow them, appear like them, dress up like them, leaving behind
their own identity. I remember the time when Hrithik Roshan, a famous bollywood actor
attained the apparently ideal body, with all the features mentioned in the paper above. His six-
packs became a ‘hot’ topic. All the men particularly in the subcontinent became curious to
know more about him. Most of them wanted to follow his diet plan and fitness programs to
attain the same built as him. Similarly, on November 22nd 2015, when Salman Ahmad, a
Pakistani bodybuilder recieved Mr. Musclemania World title, young boys all over the country
began to share his videos on facebook and twitter showing their desire towards achieving a
similar body. Not just them but according to a Dawn report, Ayaz Sadiq, a speaker in the
National Assembly also congratulated Salman on his success, "It is a source of pride for us that a
youngster from the NA-122 constituency is competing in a weight-lifting and bodybuilding
competition." (Dawn.com, 2015) Seeing all the fame these celebrities with muscular bodies get,
the youth begins to internalize this ideology that one can only be successful in their lives if they
appear as attractive and appealing as them.
Furthermore, there was no trend of bodybuilding clubs in Pakistan, but now you just type
'bodybuilding clubs in karachi' and a whole list of clubs appear. This can be linked to the idea I

mentioned above that Pakistan never really had an inclination towards mass gaining, it is a
recent trend. This penchant for ideal body shape emerged as a result of the global diffusion. A
culture does not exist in seclusion from other cultures; in fact it is a result of fusion between
various traditions from around the globe, where few elements are retained while others, which
appear to be futile, are removed (Gyozo Molnar, 2013). This shows us that cultures are not rigid
and are prone to transformations. Practices which once were looked down upon, or were not
acceptable previously are now widely accepted. Though everyone in different parts of the
world may hold slightly different views about those practices, may attach different meanings to
it and may even perform them in a different way, but it is almost the same to an extent.
Similarly, the perceptions of the Pakistanis about the gym culture have immensely changed. The
opinions related to the gym culture might diverge from person to person, but there would
hardly be anyone who would frown upon this practice and that we can say is due to increased
awareness given to us by the globalization of the media.
However since everything comes with two sides, the darker side of the globalization of media
and its effect on people should not be ignored. Much has already been said about men and how
they want their body shapes to be. I do not deny the fact that today most men are extremely
concerned about their appearances, which is why they have dragged themselves to the gym but
in between all these desires to look perfect and to create a perfect body shape, men have
developed some serious psychological disorders. These disorders are not very prominent in
Pakistan at the moment, but the rate of global diffusion might bring such disorders and
insecurities to Pakistan in no time. Initially women suffered more from psychological disorders
like anorexia and bulimia, since they were more concerned about their looks. However,

eversince men has joined this race, new disorders have began to emerge. Bigorexia is the most
prominent one today. "Bigorexia is so named because symptoms appear to be the inverse of
anorexia, with sufferers believing they are too small, constantly striving to be more muscular
and often jeopardising their health as a result. The desire to exercise control over the body, the
distorted self-image, obsessive behaviours and the fundamental lack of happiness are the same
as any other eating disorder, however." (Devon, 2015)
The reason for this dissatisfaction is Globalization, without any doubt. Media glorifies the
bodies of models and celebrities thus pressurizing the men, particularly the youth to have a
flawless muscular body. They tend to develop low self esteemand a sense of insecurity about
their physical appearances because of the media, which highlights the disparity between the
bodies of the Normal men and the bodies of models and celebrities- i.e. the perfect, ideal body.
Because of this glorification which media provides, youth exhibit disorders in order to gain
muscles ultimately leading to serious health issues. Furthermore, they also become a victim of
inferiority complex because they cannot attain that perfect body image which they hold in their
mind, and because of this they start to loathe every feature of their body. Women have always
been conscious about their looks to become skinny and thin, but globalization and the media
have caused men to be equally dissatisfied about their bodies.
Thus, this paper answers all the questions I mentioned in the beginning. The gym culture in
Pakistan is in the stage of infancy, it is still in the process of development, which is why there
are differing views about it, and different terminologies that people use. Despite of this
disparity, people across Pakistan accept this culture now, and it is not frowned upon anymore.

In an article in Tribune Fareeha Mufti writes "A new obsession has gripped Pakistani society.
According to a study conducted by the BBC, Pakistan’s fitness industry is one section of the
economy that has not been affected by recessions or political instability; in fact it is
booming." and that "Studies show that almost every strata of society — from top executives,
middle class housewives to teenagers — have shown an increasing interest towards a
healthy and fitness oriented lifestyle." (Mufti, 2011)
Globalization, therefore accounts to be one of the most important factors. However it is
apparent that globalization is a paradoxical phenomena. On one hand it has led the men of
Pakistan to be more conscious about their bodies, encouraging them to workout, and stay
healthy but on the other hand it is also making them the victims of psychological disorders. The
gym culture is constantly growing because of the way global media portrays the muscular
models and celebrities as more successful in life, unconsciously demoralizing the ones who are
comparatively lean and slim.
I believe, people in our society should be informed that their perceptions regarding the gym
and about the people going there are not always correct. There is a need to educate them and
make them more aware of the gym culture and benefits of leading a healthy life, where
healthiness is referred to as physical, physiological and mental well being altogether, not just
physical. Also, if the country really wants to promote this culture, the gym membership charges
should be decreased in order to make it more affordable for all the classes which will eventually
clarify all the misconceptions prevailing within the society.

Bibliography:
Dawn.com. (2015, november 23). Mr Musclemania World 2015: Pakistani bodybuilder clinches
gold. Retrieved december 10, 2015, from http://www.dawn.com/news/1221694
Devon, N. (2015, September 22). Bigorexia: are gym-obsessed men suffering from a disorder?
Retrieved December 13, 2015, from The telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/11881644/Bigorexia-are-gym-obsessed-
men-suffering-from-a-disorder.html
Gyozo Molnar, J. K. (2013). Sport, Exercise and Social Theory: An Introduction. newyork .
Mufti, F. (2011, August 23). Fit hai: Healthy living. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from
Tribune.com: http://tribune.com.pk/story/237791/fit-hai-healthy-living/

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