The fitness industry is growing tremendously and with it, the standards of beauty. Technology and social media have allowed us to be more connected and to do things virtually that we could have never done before. You can now workout with a trainer via a screen, you can purchase fitness workouts online and you can even find free fitness videos. But what is real and what is a lie?
Well, it is hard to say and, in a world where anybody can pretend to be a fitness coach, the golden rule is to always be skeptical! Would you purchase a car online just because the advertisement looked good? The same applies for your health and your training, just because someone looks healthy and looks like they workout does not make them a good coach. It also does not mean that their workout plan will be good and adapted to your needs.
It is easy to trust someone based on their looks, but on social media, everything is well designed, everything is edited. We have to be careful and stay skeptical when it comes to online and virtual training. Of course, a lot of people in this industry are well qualified and will do a good job helping you, but tons of people have zero qualification and call themselves fitness professionals.
What we also need to be careful about is the social pressure to resemble what we see online. Most images are edited, and do not show reality. A completely flawless body is nearly impossible to obtain, life happens, scars happen, weight gain happens, weight loss happens. Don’t be fooled by the idea of beauty that is portrayed on social media.
Every person is different as well and we often think that we need to have a certain body type that we see online, or that we need to be doing a certain type of exercise to lose weight. Your body is yours and yours only and asking it to resemble somebody else’s is unfair. There are esthetics that are unattainable because they are simply unnatural.
Anybody can show anything on social media or can show things in a way that is far from the truth. We must be careful when comparing ourselves to others, but even more careful when comparing ourselves to beauty figures on social media. It is far too easy to get lost in the impression of beauty and perfectness that is presented to us and to lose sight of the truth. Next time you see someone on social media that is presenting themselves in a perfect way, ask yourself “Is this the truth or are they hiding themselves behind filters and beauty standards?”