Please Don’t (Only) Listen to GymTok

illustration by Maria Tapia

GymTok: The social media gathering grounds where people all across the world share and discuss exercise “hacks,” workout routines, the newest fitness trends, and more. Sounds great right? In a lot of ways, it is. GymTok is a community fueled by a shared love for all things fitness, filled with quick tips and tricks to inspire and instruct others to get faster, stronger, and healthier. But there is also a darker and potentially dangerous side to GymTok brought about by misinformation that lingers between all the good pieces of advice offered. Before entering into the depths of TikTok’s fitness community, it’s important to understand how to use GymTok in a way that helps you achieve your fitness goals and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

There is such a wide variety of content on GymTok that it can feel overwhelming at times. Lifting, running, pilates, and yoga are a few of the sub-categories that only scrape the surface of GymTok’s content. Each “corner” of GymTok has its own benefits, and it’s useful to understand which sub-categories will provide the best inspiration and advice to contribute to your own training. This is also where TikTok’s eerily personalized algorithm comes in to help. Once you have a general understanding of your fitness goals, you automatically have a baseline for reducing the extensive volume of content out there. You can interact with videos that might inspire or supplement your training in some way, and ignore the ones that don’t add any value. By doing a bit of research and understanding the different types of fitness training out there, you’ll be able to wield the TikTok algorithm in your favor to maximize the help GymTok can be to you and your goals. 

While GymTok is a great source of inspiration, it's important to not depend on GymTok for all your fitness needs. GymTok is certainly not the epitome of fitness knowledge — although I often see people treat it like so. People often post incorrect advice and spread misinformation about certain workout and diet trends, resulting in unrealistic and unattainable expectations for viewers. TikTok’s greatest strength: The ability for anyone to post anything. This is what contributes to making GymTok so dangerous for those that do not know how to separate the helpful videos from the harmful ones. Always use caution when watching tutorials for exercise demonstrations, or videos praising a certain diet or “health hack.” And, remember a high amount of likes, comments, and followers do not always equal a high amount of expertise. If possible, it is always a good idea to consult a doctor, nutritionist, trainer, or another professional with your fitness questions and concerns.

Social media is very good at illuminating things in what I call a “golden glow,” meaning it makes everything seem better than it truly is in reality. GymTok is no exception. Workouts are not always glamorous, even if it looks that way on social media. A series of “before and after” gym evolution pictures, or a 15-second video clip will never be able to capture the true effort that goes into fitness. You can’t feel sore muscles or sweat dripping down your face through a screen. Struggling during a workout does not mean you’re failing or doing something wrong. Conversely, it’s a normal, necessary part of building strength in any kind of training. 

Another damaging effect of GymTok is that prolonged glances into the fitness lives of others leaves the door to comparison wide open. It’s unfair for you to measure your progress up someone else’s especially when it comes to fitness. Everyone’s bodies are different, even if we all trained the same, ate the same, and lived the same. We would still look different. For example, another creator’s what-I-eat-in-a-day will most likely not reflect your own energy needs, so there is nothing to gain from comparing your daily food intake to theirs. Don’t focus on doing or looking better than the people you see on GymTok. Instead, focus on doing better than you did yesterday; last week; last month. It’s a much more accurate measure of progress anyways. 

Exploring GymTok is much like mining, and we as viewers are responsible for sifting through the sediment to strike gold. As long as you keep in mind that GymTok is not a fitness instruction manual to follow word-for-word, but rather a source that provides inspiration and ideas to supplement your personal health goals, you’re set to unearth all the benefits it has to offer. The danger comes when you only listen to GymTok, instead of your own body and its needs.