By Kenneth Prabhakar | Photo Editor
With short-form video becoming the mainstream way of consuming content, many niche interest groups have been growing in numbers that they never would have imagined. One of those interest groups happens to be the bodybuilding community.
Bodybuilding is an art form that I am very passionate about. Although I would never think of competing, it has been a hobby of mine for the last five years. Everything about the culture and the atmosphere was exciting to me — that is, until social media content creators took their spin on it. There are many great bodybuilding content creators who have valuable advice to give and are overall interesting people. However, there are also many creators who lie about steroid usage and create an unattainable expectation of what going to the gym can actually do for someone naturally.
Steroid usage in the bodybuilding realm is more prevalent than most realize. I personally have no issue with bodybuilders who are open about their steroid usage. However, the creators who lie about their steroid usage send the wrong message to their audience. You can train naturally for years and not even be close to the same level as someone who has been training for less time but using steroids.
When young audiences are motivated to go to the gym after seeing these videos, either they stop after not seeing the results they want or they themselves hop on gear far too early in life. Hormones are not something to be dealt with lightly, and many young people are not educated on steroid usage, hormone levels and bloodwork. Thus, there is a great danger in lying to your audience as a creator.
That being said, if fitness is something that you want to pursue, you shouldn’t feel like the gym and traditional bodybuilding routines are the only way to get fit. There are so many different forms of fitness and so many different avenues for how you can approach training. You can train for aesthetics, strength, endurance, cardio or even a little bit of everything.
I think it is important to define what your main goal is before you decide what avenue you are going to take. Obviously, everybody wants to look good, but if you are going to commit to a form of fitness, it might as well be something you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life. Working out should never be something you drop as soon as you hit a short-term goal. Fitness is a lifelong journey full of various milestones within each medium. Find something that will add longevity to your life and that you can convince yourself to do even on your worst days.
Far too many people quit working out simply because traditional gym workouts are not for them. Take your time to explore, find something you love and tap into that community. The people you interact with there could be some of the greatest friends you make in your life.
