How social media is influencing one’s fitness
MERIN JAMES
If you are a fitness enthusiast, then it has become a must to share your daily workout routine on social media. Though this might inspire some to follow a fitness routine, a few others are concerned with their weight. “I feel social media serves as a boon and bane equally in various matters. The fitness sector is certainly no exception to this. While considering the pros, yes it serves the purpose of motivating those who wrongly feel fitness and attaining a good physique is only for professional athletes and not for the common lad. It also serves as a side hustle, offering financial assistance for fitness enthusiasts, provided they are knowledgeable and equipped well enough to train people. The negative impact of this however is that it creates an unidentified sense of inferiority and low self-esteem among people and can force them into a state of depression when they unknowingly do workouts and CrossFit activities without proper guidance. This is a rising concern and one that needs to be properly addressed,” says Pascal Xavier, a freelancer and fitness enthusiast.
Fitness related content is one of the best performings, most viewed and shared content on social media and there is no surprise that there are dime-a-dozen fitness-related accounts and influencers generating fitness motivation and workout content. City-based model Prahitya Mahavir chips in, “Jumping on the bandwagon, other enthusiasts propagate the fitness wave by posting their own content and milestones which serve as an element of extrinsic motivation for them. On the positive side of the spectrum, social media inspires people to begin their fitness journeys provide much-needed motivation, serves as a platform for people to share their progress with their circle for accountability and encouragement. But the dark side of social media outweighs the potential benefits. For starters, the overwhelming abundance of packaged information and plans available confuses people and renders them directionless. It is impossible for people to not compare themselves to the fitness model women in bathing suits and men with Greek god physiques in their never-ending news feed stream, constantly hammering the chink in people’s armour of self-esteem. Marketers never reveal a realistic time frame for the physique goals being marketed which is the most notorious trap that the audience tends to fall into. Social media that grants people instant gratification from likes and follows, fails to grant instant fitness results. Seven years of hard work flexed in front of 7 million followers promising similar results in 7 months is the snake oil sales trick for the social media generation. In the deep end of the negative spectrum are the social media metric chasers, to whom the number of likes on their fitness posts is important than actually being fit. These poster children of social media’s ill effects tend to go so far as to editing pictures of themselves to look visually appealing and fit, almost making it fictitious to please their followers, inversing and defeating the real purpose and benefit of displaying fitness content.”
During the lockdown period in 2020, many got access to a lot of fitness-related content on social media. Though it helped them hugely, it also had negative impacts. “People were misguided by some trainers. There is a lot of fitness content and people were getting confused about what routine to follow, who to follow, etc. Fitness in social media has become a business now. Mostly, trainer shares their demo workouts and one has to buy them to access it. There is a lot of free stuff also, If I post my exercise videos, some might get motivated but at the same time, a few will be demotivated. It all depends on the individual how they look at fitness and their health,” Alkhas says.