Motivational quotes, personal records, fitness posts, form trolling, injury updates and gym ranting have been a part of our social media news feeds for quite some time now. You have posted some yourself. Not too many people realize that social media can directly affect your training. It can affect you both positively or negatively depending on what situation you are in.

Positive effects:

1. Having a “Fitspiration” – As much as I hate using that word, all of us have a certain person that we look up to. It can be a fitness expert, a celebrity sporting your dream body, or a professional athlete that possess super human traits that you would love to have. Everybody needs an inspiration. Having a fitspiration can give you high morale needed before you start a grueling session.
2. Good Information – In my opinion the very best effect social media has for everybody’s regimen. Almost every fitness expert have their own social media page (whether it’s Facebook Instagram, or YouTube) now where they spread the good word of how to do certain exercises correctly. If you are dead serious in getting fit, you should do your research regardless if you are a fitness professional or not. Social media can help you perform an exercise with good form which is paramount to get progress in the most efficient way possible.
3. Community – Social Media has the sole purpose of connecting people. It is common for gym to have a community where they all tease, joke and commend each other in social media. Having a good gym buddy is just a private message away. It can directly affect your training because besides having a great training partner, it would help to be a part of a facility where you are with peers who share similar goals. You can learn a thing or two from them, too.

Negative Effects:

1. Phone in between sets – I have seen this countless times where a simple 30 second break in between sets are turned to 2-3 minutes because this person can’t live without his/her phone just for one hour. Dude, the gym is a place to get in shape, not a place for you to surf your news feed. This can distract you from your training and keep you from focusing at the task at hand.
2. Working out for likes – You need to have a reason why you work out. Most people want to lose weight. Some want to gain strength and shift the balance of their muscle to fat ratio. There are a handful of people where they do unnecessary fancy exercises to get likes on their posts. There are a handful of people too that lift too much weight just to impress the weightlifting community. Everybody is guilty of this mentality. Yes, that includes this writer.
3. Motivational Quotes – A bit controversial but we have all seen it in our feeds. “Go hard or go home”, “pain is temporary but quitting last forever” or some cheesy phrases similar to those. I am noting this as a negative because it promotes the mentality of improper programming. You cannot go balls to the wall day in and day out. You will burn yourself out. There are things such as tapering, de-loading and active resting. Don’t injure yourself. Listen to your coach and listen to your body.