One good scroll of Instagram and rest assured, you’ve already watched 3.5 workout videos that make you look like a lazy potato. With the current pandemic, this is a phenomenon that repeats itself every couple of hours. Seems like every influencer, every blogger has just one advice–go, get fit and watch me do it. As an audience of this internet clownery, here are a few reasons why workout videos have exhausted me mentally. Comment below if you guys can relate.
a) Why am I being shamed into fitting the beauty standard?
Unfortunately, no one talks about why any of us are even working out all of a sudden? The truth is that we’re being conditioned into believing that working out is a productive process that one needs to feel validated alongside losing those “extra few inches’’ or “getting that summer body’’–all of which are ways to make you feel guilty about yourself.
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b) In plain terms, workout videos are a scam
You’ll watch already-superfit women and men doing exercises without dropping one droplet of sweat. It’ll make the whole workout look super easy and doable–just that, it’s not. The realistic part of workout videos seems to have been edited out. Also, why are most influencers always working out in branded sportswear?
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c) The constant guilt
No matter how much you want to believe that you’re above the pressure, we all feel it sometimes. We’ll look into the mirror or hear our parents or watch someone super athletic and feel the guilt of all our bad choices, lack of a good lifestyle and the absence of any workout routine. Then comes pressure of guilt where despite the office work, chores and family commitments, we will look forward to making even a few minutes of time to work out. If you don’t, then it’s just more guilt and more pressure.
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d) We have reached saturation point
Earlier you’d find one or two dedicated influencers giving us workout tips. Now, it seems everyone is a certified Instagram gym-instructor, giving advice but starting off with a cautionary disclaimer that this is just for fun. What even is the point here? Also, with the lockdown, there has been a saturation of such videos. How many techniques and variations of a plank can you even do?
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Lead image credit: Instagram/Alia Bhatt + Sonam Kapoor
