MICHIEL BAAS BRINGS ALIVE A WORLD OF MEN SCULPTING BODIES, REDEFINING MASCULINITIES AND CONFRONTING THEIR VULNERABILITIES IN THE GYMS OF URBAN INDIA. clients, these shiny, modern institutions also hold the promise of upward mobility for the personal trainers who work there.

By improving their English, ‘upgrading’ their dressing style and developing a deeper understanding of the lives of their upmarket customers, they strategise to climb the middleclass ladder. Their lean, muscular bodies―which Bollywood has set the tone for―are crucial to this.

Diverging from an older masculine ideal represented by pehlwani wrestlers, these bodies not only communicate (sexual) attractiveness, but also professionalism, control and even cosmopolitanism. With the gym aspiring to be a safe space for women, trainers must Yet,themore things change,themore they remainthe same.

Classbarriersare lesspermeable than they appear. The use of bodily capital to breach them is more fraught with danger than one might anticipate.

And the profession is riddled with pitfalls and contradictions. them a new way to investigate India.

He walks us through the homes and workspaces of these men―yes, they are almost all men―to bodybuilding competitions and also into their most intimate worlds of ambitions, desires and struggles. An unusual study of an unusual subject, Baas unveils a fascinating world, hidden in plain sight.

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