In this week’s episode of Beyond the Feed, Piedmont University assistant health science professor and Co-owner of Crown Athletics joined me to discuss the food pyramid, post-graduate student-athlete diet habits, and the impact social media has on those getting in to fitness. Through his work as a trainer, Kinsey has found that more clients are using internet trends as a means of education for nutrition and training.
Although social media serves as an educational platform at times, the lack of credentials across all media platforms is prominent. This makes it difficult for us to determine what is true on the internet and what isn’t. Kinsey has found this to be very apparent with clients at his gym.
“I think social media is a great tool,” said Kinsey. “However, it’s available for everyone to post on.”
The creditability of social media fitness influencers raises a lot of questions for this reason alone. Anyone can post on social media whether they know what they are talking about or not. There is no means of fact checking or warnings for this type of content. This could be difficult for more vulnerable groups like adolescents to filter out this kind of information.
Kinsey has seen this firsthand with some of his clients, “A lot of times it’s not conducive for the goals they have or what they want to achieve.”
Filtering this information seems to be difficult for users because of the following that these influencers have.
The credibility they have? The way they look.
It seems much easier to believe health and fitness tips when it is coming from someone who is fit or matches society’s standards of attractiveness.
Despite social media being a great tool for those looking for fitness tips and tricks, there might be areas for concern when trusting advice on social media.
What influencers do you follow?
BEYOND THE FEED 
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