The #fitspo Movement

The #fitspo Movement

“To the susceptible, it’s a disorder in disguise of health, bad habits masquerading as good ones. It’s a massive trigger that can send you spiralling into a dark world of disarray … Soon I was just like the rest: re-blogging pictures of skinny girls with their running shoes on and their bones sticking out, beside photos of avocado on toast, beside memes with mantras and rules, so many fucking rules.”

It’s clear that with the major role social media play in our everyday lives, when trends start to develop on our favourite sites, we sit up and take notice. The rise of #fitspo on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram attempts to push people, including myself, to take more notice of how we are moving and what we are eating. Fitness bloggers like Melissa Chalmers, producer of the Health Spot on Facebook, constantly post “fitness inspiration” for their hungry followers.

Chalmers’ interest in “fitspo” blogging began just before her wedding in 2012, with the goal of “getting in shape” for her big day. The Health Spot was started as a page to track her journey for her friends, and “it quickly grew with so many young girls that wanted healthy inspiration!” Chalmers’ statement that she “lives and breathes ‘fitspiration’ all day long” sums up the nature of many the blogs. When asked about the popularity of fitspo in social media, Chalmers said, “I love that this generation is hungry for knowledge and truth!” That truth appears to revolve around Nike Frees, smoothie bowls and “gym selfies”, all buzzwords which would have sounded like nonsense language ten years ago, but are now part of social media’s everyday lexicon.

In the face of the fact that currently one in three New Zealand adults is obese or overweight, the motivation to eat better and exercise should be a positive thing. Even the world of #fitspo can be upbeat and positive, but it is a thin line. The photos of underweight and extremely muscled fitness paired with slogans encouraging you to push yourself to the limit are where the problems lie.

The very word “fitspo” evolved from the trend of “thinspo”, which erupted into a public concern a few years ago. The trend of posting pictures of emaciated figures, usually young women, on the internet to inspire sufferers of anorexia was hotly debated in the media. The call to action led social networking site, Tumblr, to ban the hashtags #thinspo and #pro-ana (promoting anorexia), stating on their official page that “we won’t allow blogs dedicated to triggering self-harm.” Nowadays, the hashtag #fitspo (promoting fitness rather than thinness inspiration) has replaced #thinspo in the promotion of body ideals; it turns the focus to being fit as opposed to being skinny (apparently).

Many social media users run “fitblrs”, fitness-based Tumblr pages dedicated to the fitspo lifestyle. However, for those susceptible to body dysmorphia, these pages can be just as triggering. There is a popular fitspo mantra that “strong is the new skinny”, and herein lies the issue. Idealistic body adjectives promote treatment of the body as a trend, something to be obtained to fit in with what is fashionable and the social norm. When you compare the images associated with both fitspo and thinspo, it can be difficult to notice a difference between the two. Charlotte Hilton Anderson, author of memoir collection The Great Fitness Experiment made her views on the matter clear, “fitspo is just thinspo in a sports bra”, and describes the way both promote an unrealistic ideal of exercise and dieting, a point of view that has been taken up by many critics of the fitspo movement.

For recovering anorexia sufferer, Sheena Lyonnais, following and posting under the #fitspo hashtag on social media triggered a relapse of her mental-health issues. On her blog, XOJane, she revealed:

"To the susceptible, it’s a disorder in disguise of health, bad habits masquerading as good ones. It’s a massive trigger that can send you spiralling into a dark world of disarray … Soon I was just like the rest: re-blogging pictures of skinny girls with their running shoes on and their bones sticking out, beside photos of avocado on toast, beside memes with mantras and rules, so many fucking rules."

Dr Tamlin Conner, a psychologist and researcher at the University of Otago, has a measured take on the correlation between fitspiration and thinspiration, acknowledging that “there’s definitely a blurred line between the two. Looking at these kind of images, it’s possible it could lead a person to looking at more thinspiration images … A possible gateway as it were.” She was quick to acknowledge, however, that while these images may trigger a relapse or issues for some users, everyone reacts differently to different things. So it may not be a good idea to tar all fitspiration images with the eating-disorder brush.

While fitness-related blogs and the hashtag #fitspo are meant to motivate and inspire, looking at images of idealistic body types has been proven to significantly lower self-esteem. In 2004, 145 university students participated in a study; half were given 30 minutes to view 40 full-page photographs from summer issues of three mass-circulation magazines, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Glamour, before answering a series of randomly ordered questions on body dissatisfaction. The other half viewed neutral “control” images not associated with women’s bodies or fashion ideals. The finding was that “women who had been exposed to thin-ideal media images reported increased body dissatisfaction compared to the women in the control condition.” Interestingly, although the same body image issues can occur (more recently there have been rising cases of muscle dysmorphia; a disease where predominantly males view themselves as too small and have an obsession with gaining muscle), a study published last year found that, for males in their early twenties, comparison with these fitspo images could act as positive motivators rather than sources of body dissatisfaction. However, more research is needed before this generalisation can be made across different age brackets.

A significant issue faced in the drive to achieve perfection for those that run fitblrs is a sneaky undercurrent of body shaming. In an attempt to display a new kind of healthy, women are being encouraged to fit within a niche body ideal that is neither over or under the ultimate goal weight, and that openly condemns those who are. The popular fitspo slogan “only dogs want bones” is meant to poke fun at those who don’t fit into the muscled aesthetic that drives fitspiration, but manages to wipe out a significant portion of the population. Paired next to a picture stating “suck it up now so you don’t have to suck it in later,” which encourages the idea that having anything to “suck in” is undesirable.

Dr Conner was particularly concerned about the psychological impact of the language that is repeatedly used. The phrasing of fitspo slogans can be seen as “almost priming some aggressive concepts”, which mirrors a current trend “for this high punishment kind of boot camp … it’s very different to other trends of fitness.” Dr Conner observes that “pushing yourself right to the edge” in fitness, as is encouraged in these images, creates a “hostility almost against your body … to be successful you have to fight and be aggressive. Your body is weak, separate from you, needs to be tamed and beaten … I would prefer to see a less aggressive relationship with one’s body.”

This fad is also based — without explicitly stating it — on the sexualisation of the body. As blogger Kevin Moore put it in his own examination of fitspo, “strength only sells when it’s sexy.” Many of these images are emblazoned with slogans like “Currently in training to be the hottest girlfriend you ever had” and “The harder you work the weaker his knees get.” A major focus of fitblrs and images in the realm of fitspo are to emphasise a heavily sexualised view of women, encouraging them to exercise as a way of obtaining sexual confidence. This was raised by Dr Conner as she viewed some of the fitspo images, and she questioned whether this would even be motivational, as is the supposed goal. She points out that in the photographs, “They’re not actually showing her head … it’s bodily focused. So that’s a bit concerning. You know, when you start cutting off heads and only showing mid-sections and body parts, it tends to objectify.”

There is no such thing as a free (#clean #paleo #postworkout) lunch. There is always money to be made, and the world of fitspiration is its own niche economy. Many of the fitness models, athletes and competitors featured in fitspo images dedicate their lives to exercise and training, and the images of their bodies in Lululemon tights and Nike sneakers are no accident. These brands have become synonymous with the fitspo principles many people enact in their everyday life. Health and fitness become trendy when an idealised image of them is repeated enough. The immediacy and personal nature of social media may convince a user they are not being manipulated, but fitness models such as Instagram sensation, Jen Selter, are fulfilling their end of some pretty weighty sponsorship deals when they post their images. Often advertisements for brands like Nike float around social media with the hashtag #fitspo attached to them and are reblogged as a means of inspiration, but it needs to be remembered they started off as just that.

In an interview with radio show, The F Word, creator of website, Beauty Redefined, Lindsey Kite acknowledged the consumerism driving the inspiration, stating “These companies make huge money off of people feeling like they’ve got flaws that need to be fixed right now.”

So, the question is, how to we manage this trend, which shows no sign of slowing, and still keep up with our daily social media rituals? Dr Conner gave me a few simple ways to keep sane and keep my head together. The key is balance. She recommends: “Take a walk outside, disengage. Moderated use of social media, try not to compare yourselves to others, either in your social media sphere or these women and magazines. Surround yourself with people who can challenge you but also support you, and a balance of exercise in moderation and eating well.”

There’s plenty on the internet that doesn’t promote unrealistic body ideals, so try to take a break from the unrelenting fitness inspiration on social media. Search a little less #fitspo, and maybe a little more #catbreading. Trust me. You’ll thank me later.
This article first appeared in Issue 5, 2015.
Posted 5:43pm Sunday 22nd March 2015 by Sarah Templeton.