People depend on the internet for fitness advice and motivation. On social media, influencers and everyday users post, like, and share fitness inspiration (in a trend sometimes called "fitspiration") viewed by millions of people, typically women and young girls. Fitspiration involves combining images of fit people with motivational messages aimed at encouraging oneself or others to get or stay fit. For example, someone might share a photo of a woman wearing tight shorts and a sports bra showing her thin figure and defined abs alongside the text, "Train Insane or Remain the Same." This messaging often relies on unrealistic bodies and fitness practices that are extreme and unattainable for most people. Consequently, viewing fitspiration can be harmful, relating to negative health outcomes and behaviors, such as disordered eating and compulsive exercise. Yet, there are hundreds of millions of fitspiration posts on social media. Where does this dangerous content come from and why it is so unrealistic?
Who Makes Fitspiration Content?
We wondered whether fitspiration tends to adopt such an extreme tone because it's often made by people seeking to motivate themselves. That would mean that the content of fitspiration is related to the goals and tendencies of the individuals creating that content. Specifically, we expected that the more people fantasize about what their physical appearance or workout regimens could look like, strive for perfection, or aspire toward unattainable body ideals, the more extreme fitspiration they would create when trying to motivate themselves.
To examine these possibilities, we looked at the fitspiration content created by young women, the group especially likely to engage with fitspiration. We asked hundreds of women to combine images and messages to create fitspiration content that would motivate themselves. We gave them images and messages to choose from. They could pick a photo of someone with a more or less extreme level of fitness, and they could pick a message that was less extreme ("Just Start") or more extreme ("If It Doesn't Hurt, You're Not Doing It Right"). In the end, everyone designed 20 fitspiration posts with image-text combinations that could vary from quite tame (a woman with a realistically fit body paired with a simple encouragement) to extreme (a woman with a very small, muscular body paired with a message like "Go Hard or Go Home").
Besides creating their own fitspiration, these young women completed questionnaires that told us how much they had distorted or unhealthy perceptions of themselves, imagined unrealistic fantasies about their physical appearance and fitness ability, and held perfectionistic beliefs about their ability to improve their fitness.
Overall, we found that the women who tended to create the most extreme fitspiration content were especially confident in their abilities to exercise and strove toward challenging fitness goals. More extreme fitspiration also tended to come from women with tendencies to have unrealistic fantasies about their fitness abilities, but these effects were not as pronounced. These results show how extreme fitspiration can be used by individuals to motivate themselves to achieve their own goals.
Creation versus Consumption
Our research highlights that there are important differences in the characteristics, abilities, and goals of people who create more extreme fitspiration, but these may be different from the traits of people who consume this content. For example, we found that the women who were more preoccupied with their physical appearance did not tend to produce fitspiration that was particularly extreme. This is important because other research shows that such preoccupations are related to viewing fitspiration and are key characteristics of fitspiration content itself, highlighting a potential disconnect between fitspiration creators and consumers.
Ultimately, this means that, without knowing it, fitspiration creators may be encouraging fitspiration viewers to set and pursue goals that are not in line with their own abilities or aspirations. So, what can we do about it?
If you are a fitspiration creator or fitness influencer, you should consider your audience carefully and make them aware that they should view your content with the understanding that not everything you post will apply to them. If you are a fitspiration consumer, you should not assume that all fitspiration content is for you. Rather, you should think about your specific fitness abilities and goals, and then only engage with content that is consistent with them. In other words, if your favorite influencer posts a new picture of their body or latest workout routine but it does not align with your current appearance or fitness goals, just scroll on by.
For Further Reading
Araiza, A. M., & Freitas, A. L. (2023). Communicating extremity: Fitness efficacy and standards relate to using extreme imagery and messaging to create fitness-related media. Health Communication, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2199517
Carrotte, E. R., Vella, A. M., & Lim, M. S. C. (2015). Predictors of "liking" three types of health and fitness-related content on social media: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(8), e2051-e20516. https://www.jmir.org/2015/8/e205/
Holland, G., & Tiggemann, M. (2017). "Strong beats skinny every time": Disordered eating and compulsive exercise in women who post fitspiration on Instagram. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 50(1), 76-79. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22559
Prichard, I., McLachlan, A. C., Lavis, T., & Tiggemann, M. (2018). The impact of different forms of fitspiration imagery on body image, mood, and self-objectification among young women. Sex Roles, 78(12), 789-798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0830-3
Ashley Araiza is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Angelo State University. She studies how social and personality processes relate to health goals and behaviors.
Antonio Freitas is Associate Professor of Psychology at Stony Brook University. He studies motivation, self-regulation, and goals.
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