Of all the things in the world, the one thing you should never mess with is your health. In the world of social media, the count of so-called influencers is endless. From fashion to fitness to beauty–you will come across millions of profiles loaded with Photoshopped pictures, put out to attract people. People fall into this trap very often. Scroll through even your news feed, and you’re likely to spot at least one beauty, fashion, and fitness blogger each. While beauty and fashion profiles are great to follow to pass the time, fitness accounts are tricky territories. More often than not, we follow fitness influencers blindly without realising the consequences.
Sure, their posts are meant to uplift you. But what they end up doing is incite low self-esteem, give advice which may or may not benefit you, and offer tutorials that should not be practiced at home without the guidance of a trained professional. Isn’t it better then to have a well-informed fitness trainer to guide you better? We got in touch with Nike trainer Urmi Kothari, founder of Kinetic Living, a wellness and fitness boutique, to elaborate on the cons of blindly following Instagram fitness influencers.
1. Being educated in the subject matters
“An influencer is not necessarily a coach–he or she may not be certified, educated, or knowledgeable enough to state the modifications in case you cannot do what is told or demonstrated in the post,” says Urmi.
2. It can cause serious injuries if you get the posture wrong
“When you are copying the picture or the video on your own, no one is watching you to see if you’re doing it correctly. This can lead to injuries and rather negate the purpose of that post,” she adds.
3. You need to be aware of your body
“We always overestimate our mind-body connection, especially as beginners. Unless you are a highly-seasoned fitness enthusiast or a coach, you may not be aware of your body’s tendencies to compensate for weak areas while executing the instructions in the post. So chances are, you are exacerbating your imbalances between your right and left side for instance,” she explains.
4. Weight loss is not the end goal
“The person sharing the knowledge has no idea about your fitness background, exercise summary, injury history, or even your previous day’s workout. So how do you know what you are following from the post is the right combination for you? Moreover, this post doesn’t recognise your goals. Weight loss is not a performance goal. It is aesthetically inclined and not truly relevant to progress and real change in the long run,” Urmi says.
5. The urge for validation is real
“If you are constantly looking at social media for validation through relevant videos, then comparing is inevitable. This can create unpleasant outcomes and attitude to workouts or sometimes serious injuries. It can also give low self-confidence, wherein you are constantly doubting yourself,” she concludes.
