English Essay

Boys swap study for gym to impress girls at Schoolies

THEY'RE known as "gym rats" - muscle-bound students whose homework was pumping iron so they could look their best during Schoolies celebrations.
For hundreds of teenagers celebrating the end of Year 12, the sandy strips of Gold Coast, Byron Bay, and even Bali and Thailand, have become their personal catwalks - a stage to flex their pecs.
Body image experts say young men in their late teens are more concerned with their shape than ever before, with levels of body obsession reaching those of teenage girls.
Christian Marchegiani, the boxing and conditioning coach for the Sydney Swans and Australian cricket team, who speaks to students at schools around the country about fitness, said there had been a "big shift" in gym clientele over the past few years, from people in their late 20s to early 40s to the teenagers who now populate the weights rooms in hope of bulking up.
Many trained and went on clean-eating diets in the weeks leading up to Schoolies simply to look good for beach parties and pick up girls.
"I was on the Gold Coast this year for Schoolies ... I could not believe the guys, just how young teenagers were really fit, they had good bodies," Mr. Marchegiani said.
"In the past couple of years, I've noticed guys being more aware of it, especially Schoolies, because they will be at the beach, they will be partying without their shirts on. They feel the only way they're going to be accepted or pick up girls is by looking good."
Boys attending schoolies at the Gold Coast last week told The Sunday Telegraph they had embarked on intensive training regimes and high-protein, low-carb diets in the months leading up to the party fest.

1. The source is the Herald Sun, published on the 2/12/12 by Caroline Marcus and Nathan Klein

2. Key ideas * Young men are more obsessed with their body than ever