Introduction
Since the introduction of social media, we have been able to stay connected to our friends and families. Even though social media has proven useful, the unwanted distractions and unrealistic expectations have ruined our fitness goals.
In this blog, I have talked about how social media causes distraction, does not make you feel great about yourself and the pressure of unrealistic expectations that it puts on us.
1. Causes unnecessary distraction
While taking a break, you sometimes find yourself scrolling through Instagram or Facebook. Even though you promise yourself that you will only scroll for 30 seconds, you end up spending minutes. Combining fitness and social media can mess up your workout.
During HIIT and weight training workouts you end up spending more time than you should and that reduces the effect of the workout. These types of distractions are making you sabotage your fitness goals.
2. Looking Good Rather than Feeling Good
Social media is concerned with looking flawless all the time, even after a hard-working training session. When you push yourself too hard during a workout, it will not leave you looking picture perfect. So if you are more focused on whether your gym outfit looks good for social media posts, it leaves less time for you to work towards your fitness goals.
3. Unrealistic Expectations
The ‘before and after’ transformation photos and videos might be inspiring but have you ever wondered about the during part? While social media inspires you to do better, it does not talk about the hardworking days that a particular person spent just to look good for the after transformation photo.
There might have been bad days, or/and weeks and times when they didn’t feel progress was happening at all. The usage of editing apps to look good on social media play a huge role in setting unrealistic expectations.
Conclusion
Just like Rome was not built in a day, your fitness goals cannot be achieved in a day. Each one of us is unique, everyone has a different body type. While social media might help us stay connected to people, it also might ruin our self-body image.
Everyone has different fitness goals but constantly getting distracted by social media and focusing more on looking great than feeling great can ruin our goals. Looking at edited images of people on social media we are just trying to achieve unrealistic expectations.
Sources:
https://blog.shredify.com/fitness-and-social-media/
Image Sources:
https://www.trainerize.com/blog/the-ultimate-guide-to-instagram-marketing-for-fitness-professionals/
https://www.popsugar.co.uk/fitness/best-arm-workouts-on-instagram-46960414
https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a22848646/people-post-workouts-facebook-narcissists/
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/signs-you-need-to-take-a-break-from-social-media/
