This article will take you 3 minutes to read. Feel free to leave your questions in the comment section, they will be answered!
Looking at Instagram, the place has become a bit of a mess where you have to fight to find the right information and where conflicting views are constantly thrust at you. When you’re looking for advice from fitness influencers and gurus, you want to listen to someone who has that real-world experience to support their findings.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of new trends which are often used by fitness influencers to sell “new magical” concepts which aren’t so magical but sound good. In this article we will talk about what these trends are and how to spot fake gurus and influencers so you don’t drive yourself into a disappointing experience!
Fact, Fiction, & Fitness
Business is an important part of social platforms and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is when it becomes hard to find trust and value behind it. It has now become easy to spot influencers who are rather focused on lining their pockets than providing top information, courses, programs. Florian Wüest, a writer and online personal trainer at lifehack.org, confirms this idea.
In many cases, they might not even realize that they are misleading their audience. Wherever you look, there will always be cheaters – people renting Ferraris and promoting their new course on how to create a successful business in one week with a new secret method or people taking performance-enhancing drugs promising their insane results while staying drug-free.
This first-hand problem growing in the fitness community on Instagram is easily noticeable if you have been in the game for a long time. But if you are getting started, it can hit you hard! One of the main goals of this blog is to avoid beginners to encounter this issue. So make sure you follow the right fitness influencers!
How do you differentiate fake fitness influencers from honest influencers?
This is a very difficult task, and it has become even harder with the latest generation of fake naturals. Fake naturals can probably be described as the worst type of influencer on the fitness market. These are basically athletes taking low doses of drugs whilst making people believe they got an awesome physique in just 2 years, and that they somehow “unlocked the secrets of aesthetics” at a natural level.
Quite often, fitness influencers will latch onto trends – advertising new books, pills and apps, claiming to have built exceptional physiques since switching to a vegan diet. This might be true for feeling better with a new diet, what’s not true is how they got there. In the most extreme cases, some followers will then associate their results with these trends, when in reality, they have been training for 10 years eating meat and steroids. Training as a natural or enhanced can be very different.
Oliver Lee Bateman from Melmagazine does not hold himself back on that topic.
Their followers then wonder why they’re not seeing the results.
Why has this fitness guru got abs of steel and you haven’t?
Sometimes, these courses are sold with the best interest of their audience at heart, but that doesn’t change the fact that behind every advanced physique there’s usually years of hard work.
A bit of research before following social media gurus
Of course, all this does not apply to the majority of fitness influencers, but if you feel like someone has just come up with a course or information talking about something “quite new” or “revolutionary” – look at that person’s history and learn more about her before purchasing!
Long-term courses, super complete guides and books are probably what you should look for! – along with a ton of real positive reviews! Stick to the basics and common sense. If in doubt, double and triple-check! New trends should not be avoided as such but if it seems like a fitness influencer or any type of influencer is jumping on the bandwagon, they probably are.
If it seems too good to be true – it probably is. As long as you do your research and keep your wits about you, you’ll have a better chance of avoiding any sort of scam artist!
What are your thoughts about this? Have you ever bought a program you were not satisfied with?
Let us know in the comments!
