Training, cult and body beauty: a research in fitness-centers

Abstract

This paper presents results of a research on the meanings of corporal training in fitness centers. The data were collected in two fitness centers of a Brazilian capital through classical ethnographic instruments. The results are related with the uses and visibilities of body through speeches and techniques of sport training, especially regarding to “sportivisation” processes and to relationships with pain and self-imposed suffering. The conclusions indicate some implications of these processes in the contemporary subjective formations.