In the age of social media, gym culture has become increasingly popular–and increasingly toxic.

Gym culture, or fitness culture, is a sociocultural phenomenon revolving around physical fitness and exercise. The notion of ‘culture’ refers to the shared customs, attitudes, and beliefs gym-goers retain or that are promoted by the gym environment; in other words, it defines the central values that guide the behavior of gym-goers.

For some, gym culture is essential in promoting connection and support. Most gym environments have an inherent culture or disposition of being a place where people want to spend their time and want to train; training around like-minded people develops a sense of empowerment and can significantly improve one’s performance and experience in the gym. This allows gym-goers to feel aligned with their culture and makes the gym feel like a safe place to try and fail.

However, with the rise of social media and influencers, gym culture has become increasingly toxic, especially for teenagers and aspiring gym-goers. Rather than making performance-based goals and focusing on developing healthy routines and habits, many see the life of others through a screen and are clouded by unrealistic expectations surrounding the gym.

“Most people on social media aren’t transparent at all about what they’re on, what they’re taking, and their actual lives and routines,” said junior Olivia Kong, an active gym-goer. “A lot of the time people are so quick to just see someone with their ideal body type and be like I’m following you, you’re what I want to look like and I want to be like you. On the social media side, they say things like I eat this, this is everything I do, this is everything I take, but in reality, they’re probably doing so many other things. It’s so easy for people to lie on social media.”

For example, on YouTube and TikTok many gym influencers boast that their workouts will instantly give you a flat, toned stomach or six-pack abs. I once believed this and spent weeks, even months, doing the workouts of influencers like Daisy Keech and Chloe Ting. Predictably, I ended up being disappointed when I realized that I wasn’t able to simply morph my body into what I saw online. However, going through this helped me realize the importance of research and truly understanding how your body works, and what you actually have to do to see tangible progress.

Not many people know that these videos and workouts alone won’t simply just melt the body fat off your stomach. It’s easy to see appealing things like this online and believe that it will, but it is important to have a full understanding of natural body shapes or types, maintaining a healthy diet, and having patience and precision in the gym.

For aspiring gym-goers, the environment created by gym culture can seem daunting and intimidating. It’s difficult to navigate where to start one’s fitness journey, what to do, and how to maintain a consistent and healthy lifestyle. As teenagers, it is far from uncommon to want to “fit in,” and the stereotypes and expectations set by social media can have an adverse impact on teens and their confidence. The pressure of the gym environment itself can introduce lingering anxieties that may cause gym-goers to feel out of place or discourage them from finding a passion for working out.

“When I started [going to the gym] I had no clue what I was doing and I would fall into the rabbit hole of ‘do this, eat this, take this’ and so I felt like oh if I do that then I’ll look like that. You kind of have to do your own personal research and a lot of it is truly just science,” said Kong.

Another big factor that causes many to feel out of place is the exclusiveness of gym culture. When I first started my fitness journey, I was extremely unfamiliar with the terminology and concepts gym-goers talked about such as cutting, bulking, and taking supplements. Feeling left out yet not knowing the true benefits, I invested in supplements like pre-workout, the TikTok famous Bloom Nutrition greens, and collagen peptides just because I saw influencers raving about them online.

“I feel like people need to do more research before they just see and buy. It’s such a marketing thing but then again some of it is true like it can help,” said Kong. “It can get dangerous pretty quickly though. I feel like a lot of people can get obsessive and it could lead to harmful things. With more research and going and learning what I need to do, it made it a lot easier.”

While gym culture can inspire people to challenge themselves, it also perpetuates the idea that one must look a certain way and do certain things in order to fit in. The gym should be a welcoming place for everyone, of all abilities and appearances, to focus on developing themselves in a healthy and motivating way, rather than leading people to hyper-focus on their insecurities and unrealistic goals.