Considering that only 20 percent of adults get regular physical activity, most of us need a good dose of exercise motivation. An emerging trend is to use fitspiration (short for fitness inspiration) to get us off the couch and into the gym. But just how motivating are these fitspiration?
Fitspiration is any message whose supposed intent is to encourage or inspire people to attain their fitness goals. Often these messages are tacked onto an image of a hyper-fit person engaged in some impressive physical feat. And these fitspiration (or fitspo or fitbies as they are also dubbed) are everywhere.
Just type fitspiration into any internet search engine and 1,000s of images will appear. Take, for example, the following fitspo images:
A thin, tanned, and toned (and I mean super-toned) woman squints in what appears to be physical agony as she lifts a very heavy dumbbell over her head. The caption reads: “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?”
A picture of a muscular man hunched over on a bench press. The caption states: “Crawling is acceptable. Puking is acceptable. Tears are acceptable. Pain is acceptable. Quitting is unacceptable.”
A zoomed-out snapshot of a young couple relaxing on the beach and staring at the calm waters. The caption reads: “Think of the consequences if you do nothing.”
A young fit woman in short-shorts and a bra top jumping rope. The caption states: “Don’t quit. You are already in pain. You’re already hurt. Get a reward from it”.
A smiling woman in a skimpy bikini as she appears to be jogging effortlessly on the beach. The caption reads: “Exercise is like an addiction. Once you’re in it, your body needs it”.
Take a closer look at what these captions are really saying: If you stop pushing yourself, if you take a day off or rest, you will suffer. And you need to workout until you are in pain to achieve these “idealized” physiques. These images and slogans promote the “no pain, no gain” mentally. Namely, that you are essentially worthless if you don’t work tirelessly towards some superhuman fitness goal. And if your workout isn’t intense, it isn’t worth your time.
These are the types of black-or-white thoughts that characterize the thoughts of an exercise addict or a person who is highly dissatisfied with his or her body, causing them to ignore the warning signals, to push past pain and to grow anxious and depressed at the thought of taking a day off (or actually relaxing at the beach).
Exercise doesn’t have to be vigorous to change your body and your overall health. Sure, you need super-intense exercise to achieve the chiseled physiques in most of the fitspo images, but walking and even just standing more during the day can make significant changes to your weight and, more importantly, to your health.
What’s more, you need to enjoy the physical activity you’re doing to keep at it. If vigorously working out in the gym isn’t your thing, then don’t feel pressured to sign up for the latest high-intensity training bootcamp. What’s important is that you’re doing some type of physical activity you like — and this can range from a light walk in the park to a challenging run on the treadmill, or from a series of yoga postures to a strength and condition class.
Emerging research is revealing that exposure to fitspiration may actually lead to more body dissatisfaction and compulsive exercise, especially for people with body image concerns and who exercise excessively. In other words, fitspo can create unhealthy obsessions and make us dislike our bodies even more. This does not sound very inspirational to me. When you start hating yourself or feeling guilty for skipping a workout, how can that be a healthy relationship with exercise?
As noted in the book “The Truth About Exercise Addiction: Understanding the Dark side of Thinspiration,” the slogans slapped onto fitspo are illustrative of both an exercise addict’s fundamental faulty belief system as well as the fitness world’s well-meaning but often misguided focus on pushing bodily limits. Fitspiration also raises body image standards for women and men to a level that can only be achieved with a very (and I mean very) strict diet and exercise routine.
Some fitspo is body positive and promotes self-acceptance and realistic exercise routines. But many images promote body comparisons and fitness at all costs that can trigger unhealthy fixations on diet, weight loss, fitness and self-discipline in men and women vulnerable to body image issues and extreme exercise. Remember, you don’t need six-pack abs to be fit. Exercise should be about health not trying to achieve some unrealistic image.
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Is ‘Fitspiration’ Doing More Harm Than Good? originally appeared on usnews.com
