Every day, social networks are becoming more and more popular. Anything can go viral, at any time. In the blink of an eye, we have our new instant celebrity. The same applies to fitness. Some fitness pages have become extremely popular. Many fitness professionals and fitness enthusiasts alike use social media. You can show off your workouts, your skill set, your body, or anything you can take a photo of. You can even fill your profile with a new selfie every three hours if you want. On these social networks you will find an overwhelming number of fitness pages, with photos, videos and information. Some pages provide accurate information, educated opinions, and proper exercise techniques. Others simply show how little knowledge people have about fitness.
The advantage of uploading videos and images is that you can gain exposure, the disadvantage is that you open the door to criticism. Personally, I am not criticizing anyone for working out or any other personal trainer who is dedicated to their craft. I offer help to anyone who is looking for it. As a professional, I am trained to critique forms, postures, and movement patterns. So when I see an exercise done incorrectly, it’s an instant eye sore for me. It’s unfortunate that I see so much of that. The problem is that the form is not corrected, it will further disrupt movement patterns and lead to a host of other problems. The other problem is that even if you are exercising with bad mechanics, you will notice results. Your body is expending more energy and you are still activating muscles that you were not using before exercising. Now that they are seeing results and other people are noticing them, that automatically makes them professionals. They never took the time to correct their own way, but are willing to offer advice to others.
Most of us are self-taught, which means we didn’t have any guidance or anyone to show us the right way to do things. I have made a lot of mistakes throughout my journey and have suffered a few injuries as a result. That is why security should be highly appreciated. There are some videos and images that I have seen that give me chills. Daring is one thing, dangerous in completely different. Injuries are not something you want to encounter. Even if it looks cool or fun at the time, it’s not worth it.
Another growing problem I see is when someone watches a video, the person in the video makes an exercise look easy. The person watching the video gets inspired and wants to try it out and post a video. The problem is that it’s not that easy for you. Your body isn’t ready to try, and you put yourself at greater risk of injury by trying. Everyone’s looking to push themselves to make all these great videos, but they’re not putting in the hard work necessary to get there. Take the video that was watched and the video that was made. If you can’t see how much worse the move looks then you really need to work on the basics.
Personal trainers also expose themselves to bad publicity. If a video is uploaded of a client doing an exercise incorrectly, it will damage their credentials. Even in the gym, I’ve seen trainers who don’t correct poor body mechanics. Anyone who knows anything about fitness can see it too. That’s not a good way to gain clientele or network with other trainers. Personally, those are the trainers I strive to avoid.
I understand that fitness is a new passion and that there has been progress since the search began. That is a great achievement. Don’t let your new fit attitude affect your image and video content. Let me provide some social networking protocols. Do not criticize those who do not exercise, you were one of those people at some point in your life. Don’t flood your page with selfies, they’re just annoying. If you’re going to attempt a workout you saw someone else do, make sure you can execute the movement correctly. They may be doing advanced training that you just aren’t ready for. If you’re going to post videos with bad form, at least be humble and ask how your form is. Don’t get mad when someone tells you it’s terrible. Don’t think you can be a trainer because you gained some muscle or lost some weight. It’s not as easy as you think it is.
These are all the threads I’ve seen and the comments I’ve read on social media. There is no need for all the negativity. I look for inspiration on social media and hope to be an inspiration to others on my own pages. Let’s keep fitness fun, safe and practical.