There are hundreds and hundreds of girls on Instagram posting their fitness journeys, and a few years ago, a few women decided to capitalize on it. I’m sure you’re familiar with the whole “fitspo” Instagram trend. And if you’re not, it is describing the trend of fit women posting their workouts and transformations on Instagram. While there are many girls, like myself, who are inspired by these influencers, there are also several negative consequences to this trend, including women comparing themselves to other women. This trend has lead to significant problems on Instagram and within the fitness environment. Here’s what these famous “fitspo” Instagrammers aren’t telling you:
- The workouts they post are not their full workout
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Many fitness influencers post workout videos on their Instagram in order to provide a foundation for their followers to base their workouts on. However, these videos can be extremely misleading. Many of their followers believe that these videos are the full workouts that the influencer is doing, but most of the time, it isn’t. Many influencers don’t include their complete exercises which causes their followers to doubt themselves when they can’t reach their goals only by following these video workouts. While these videos can provide a good foundation for the start of a workout, they usually aren’t exactly what the influencer is doing every day.
- Photoshop, photoshop, photoshop
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A lot of fitness influencers’ Insta feeds have pictures of their bodies or pictures of them in bikinis which causes so many girls to become self-conscious or doubt their own progress in their fitness journey. Well, I’m here to tell you not to doubt yourself because the chances are, that picture you’re obsessing over was either photoshopped or taken from an angle that is flattering to the influencer. These pictures on influencers’ feeds can be misleading or even entirely inaccurate for the influencer themselves because their job is to look good, and most of the time they use photoshop, flattering angles or filters to do so.
- How much time do they really spend at the gym?
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Chances are, you don’t spend more than 2 hours at the gym every day, but most of these influencers are there for hours at a time. On top of that, they’re taking supplements, watching their diet and doing everything they can to keep their body looking fit, because that is their job. You probably have classes, jobs, and honestly may not want to commit your life to your health and the gym, which is completely normal. But for these influencers, they have to stay on top of their health constantly to keep their followers and feed happy.
There are many more things, from sponsorships to even plastic surgery that can be included in this article, but these are most common among influencers. Fitness is something that should be important in everyone’s life, but I think that these influencers have made it seem almost impossible to reach the goals that you want for yourself, whether it be internal or external. Comparisons also have become so embedded in the way that followers look at these pages. Everyone should know that these influencers are just doing their job and making money the best way that they can and that it isn’t a true reflection of their fitness journey. Hopefully, these influencers can keep motivating you without the need for comparison, and you can go on the fitness journey that your body needs for the goals that you want.