Is Social Media Fitness Culture Doing More Harm Than Good?
When I started working out seriously last November, I expected to see a new body by January. After all, that is what the majority of social media fitness challenges all but promise. Influencers with enviable bodies, makeup, and wardrobes post the same dare: join my 30-day challenge and you’ll earn a total mind and body transformation…if you work hard enough.
I will admit that I was fairly inconsistent between November and December. However, once January hit, I felt a commitment like none ever before. For four days a week, usually after a nine and a half hour shift, I drove 25 minutes south to a minority-owned gym for Bootcamp and private sessions. Each night, I was fatigued. Yet, my optimism for the results kept me going. My goal was to lose 10lbs. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had actually gained two instead.
Frustrated, I reread the fine print that most influencers post: you get what you put in. I had put in time, genuine effort, and a desire to be better. Yet, that didn’t seem to matter. I continued consistent weight training for three months but my body composition did not alter like the before and after posts seen on countless Instagram pages.
““I began to wonder, was it my effort holding me back or a social media-influenced warped sense of reality making me displeased with natural effort?””
I began to wonder, was it my effort holding me back or a social media-influenced warped sense of reality making me displeased with natural effort?
What is Fitness Culture?
Fitness culture is a broad term that has consisted of numerous subcultures for decades. For example, in the 1980s, Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis inspired hordes of women to be “perfect.” The slender blonde beauties demonstrated how to power through aerobic classes in bright leotards with color-blocking leg warmers to match.
Today, it seems that weight training has been lifted to the top of the fitness food chain. Though weight training has been around for over a century, it was only recently where it became socially desirable for all genders to actively participate. #Strongissexy and #strongnotskinny are two common hashtags to reflect the current climate, encouraging the mergers of femininity, physical strength, and overall dedication to fitness.
Other subcultures include the communities of yogis, boxing, and pilates. Each subculture has their own dynamic. Yoga encourages its community to be one with their mind and body, whereas boxing encourages a hard-hitting personality that refuses to back down even in the face of danger.
But despite the vagueness and diversity within this term, it is “gym culture” that is thought of when we think of fitness culture. You know exactly what gym culture is if you’ve ever been on social media for even five minutes in the past five years.
It is when someone’s life centers around physical fitness, where one dedicates usually an hour or two, 5-6 days a week at their favorite gym. Ask any random regularly-attending gym goer and they’ll probably tell you that the “gym is my personality”—a common caption nowadays.
The Errors of Instagram Fitness & TikTok Workouts
Fitness posts on social media were inevitable given that these platforms were made to connect with others, all while broadcasting our personal interest. What is eye-opening about #fitspiration and #bodygoal posts is their monotony.
No matter the era, the most sought after influencers and models usually have physiques comparable to one another. These physiques mirror the desirability politics of their year, regardless if what is desirable is even attainable (and usually it’s not).
The noticeable BBL trend is trend is dying down, but the “natural” perfect hour glass figure remains. Influencers and trainers alike often post workouts adhering to this standard. Lower body is the focus, and the upper body is solely there to enhance the appearance of a small waist. The genetics needed to truly complete this look are rarely mentioned and the cosmetic assistance some influencers receive is almost never spoken of.
Instead, influencers and trainers regularly posts their workouts step-by-step, often even posting their split schedules—which days they train which parts of their body. Influencers seldom mention that posting this material online is their primary occupation; they have the availability and monetary motivation to workout 5-6 days a week for one to two hours a day. Their followers usually do not have this flexibility.
““ Influencers seldom mention that posting this material online is their primary occupation; they have the availability and monetary motivation to workout 5-6 days a week for one to two hours a day. Their followers usually do not...””
To their credit, a growing number of influencers on both Instagram and TikTok preach about the time it takes to achieve the “dream body.” Dozens of trainers and influencers alike have shared that it took them two years (or more) to obtain their ideal goal. However, the fast-paced culture we reside in continues to push the idea that time-capped challenges are most advantageous.
The Truth About Twitter
Twitter seems to be the lesser evil of social media platforms when it comes to workout culture. Users of this app are dedicated to unearthing truths at all times, especially when it comes to the health and safety of others. It is not uncommon to scroll past a thread of healthy eating advice and tangible workout types. Just as well, it is quite common to see users highlight the faults of diet culture, fitness influencers, and overall toxic gym culture. Opinions swirl left and right on how influencers can be more responsible when posting.
Still, any app has its flaws and some of these flaws perpetuate dangerous fitness ideals. Viral pictures of dramatic before and afters are prevalent on Twitter, just as with Instagram and TikTok; body-shaming is laughed at when a user says something others disagree with; and misinformation still spreads.
The Dark Side of Social Media Fitness
Social media fitness is similar to American exceptionalism. You are encouraged—expected—to be the best at all times, to come in first place even to yourself, and to never, ever quit. These cultures do not actively encourage rest as one may hope.
Even the most kindhearted influencers often talk about rest in a manner that frames the necessity as a tool for productivity, rather than an essential for internal well-being. Rest is often described as something you need in order for your body to recover, and your body needs to recover to maximize your results…and also not injure yourself.
This rhetoric is an example of just how easy social media makes it to place our outer appearance above all else. This thought process—even if subconscious for some—is reinforced by each app’s tendencies to treat commonalities as miracles.
For example, influencers who post closeups of their stretch marks or who talk about needing to take a day-long break from lifting for their mental health or body are treated similarly. Both actions garner responses from followers that praise the influencer for their bravery. Although these responses can be well-meaning, they validate that normalities like showing stretch marks or feeling fatigued and overwhelmed are matters that are usually hidden.
Therein lies the darkest side of social media fitness. It is a reflection of our culture that prides the “perfect” physiques of a select few and expects the rest of us to follow suit.
So, Does Social Media Do More Harm Than Good?
It took years for me to truly understand the fine print and unspoken truth of social media fitness: the extraordinary influence the ordinary. That’s a simple reason I should’ve understood earlier.
““It took years for me to truly understand the fine print and unspoken truth of social media fitness: the extraordinary influence the ordinary. “”
It is the hard-to-obtain physiques that garner the most attention. This is not a discrediting statement but rather one spoken with discernment. Social media fitness influencers gain a following in large part due to their uniqueness. Their bodies are not ones that you commonly see in your hometown. As my therapist put it, social media influencers and trainers usually post their most dramatically flattering results. This means that most of the before and after pictures we see are closer to one in a million, not the near guaranteed results from 30 days of hard work.
There are a few reasons for the physical stagnation in my own fitness journey, and the biggest was trying to fit in where I did not belong naturally. I wanted desperately to mirror the work ethic (and body) of the strong women we see online. It wasn’t until I began referencing social media less that I noticed an increase in happiness with my fitness journey.
While you may be the one in a million made for the social media fitness influence, you may also be amongst the just-as-special million made for a more obtainable, fit lifestyle.