It is 2024, and if you are thinking of starting a new fitness challenge, eat healthier to improve your health. It is a great decision and step to take. Just so you know, there is nothing wrong with doing better or setting good goals.
There are few medical treatments that have shown the health benefits of exercising regularly. You need to decide what type of exercise is best for you, but how do you decide? You can get advice from your doctor or your personal trainer. It is also good to educate yourself about fitness by reading books or following trusted exercise classes.
Many people always scroll through social media, seeing lots of engaging fitspirational posts, which might not always be the best strategy. A new study suggests that you should rethink this strategy.
What is fitspiration?
Fitspiration is a social media post that is made with the intention of inspiring physical fitness and promoting good health. You can find fitspirational posts on different popular social media sites like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube. They usually include beautiful images and videos of people giving advice on food and exercise, as well as inspirational sayings and quotes.
If you search for #fitspiration (or related hashtags like #fitspo) on Instagram alone, you will see close to 100 million posts at the moment. The majority of them show pictures of fit, attractive, and slender ladies working out while discussing fitness and maximizing health.
Why is fitspiration a problem?
The pro-fitness message that millions of individuals see might have positive benefits. But the message needs to be credible and from a valid source. Importantly, posts shouldn't provide false, damaging, or ineffective information. Which is the problem with fitpiration.
Social media fitness has effects, and according to research, when you are focused on realistic exercise goals rather than appearance, These posts have their sides and downsides for those watching, which include:
Being dissatisfied with their body
Poor mood and negative false feelings
Thinking they are not attractive
Accepting that being thin is ideal and the only beauty standard accepted.
More focused on their appearance than function and capability.
A study of #fitspiration: Do these social media updates genuinely motivate exercise?
The fitspiration hashtags that are used by Instagram influencers to rate the quality of their posts. A recent study carried out showed some disappointing results, but these weren't surprising.
100 Fitspiration influencers on Instagram were listed by the writers. The last 15 posts made by each of these accounts were checked, and these posts were untrustworthy.
- They showed nudity or revealing clothing by wearing bikinis at the gym.
- sexualized the person exercising, such as by focusing on a woman's breasts or buttocks.
- Included are pictures of people with extreme body types, like those who are excessively muscular or terribly underweight.
- They did not focus on health; their messages promoted thinness or other negative messages.
Researchers found that:
- 26% of the posts contained sexualized images.
- 22% posted nudity or images of people exercising in clothing not appropriate for exercise.
- 15% The posts featured people with extreme body types.
- 41% posted fitness-related content in three or fewer posts.
Twenty-five percent of these accounts were tagged as untrustworthy based on multiple factors. Almost all these accounts were deemed as not genuine were submitted by individuals possessing credentials associated with fitness or health, such as accreditation as a personal trainer or physical therapist.
The results raise concerns about the caliber of fitspiration content, even if the study did not look into whether the posts actually had an effect on fitness outcomes.
What does this mean for everyone?
If you are looking for fitness and health-related content, it is better to be mindful of where you seek the information. Especially if these are posts that are selling a product or service.
Conclusion
It is not surprising that, when it comes to health information, social media may not always be the best place to start. There is nothing wrong with taking steps to improve your health and getting motivation. The information you rely on to help improve your health and physical fitness shouldn't just be appealing.
Cheers to the new year and happy fitness!
