Fitness influencers: the amateurs who post ‘no effort’ workout routines for toned abs, and the professionals who debunk them
- Fitness influencers share tips, diets and workouts online, using their healthy, beautiful bodies as examples
- Promoting health is good, say professionals, but most influencers are unqualified and their ideas can be dangerous
Their YouTube videos promise peach-shaped rears in 35 days. On their Instagram pages, they flaunt their toned bodies and abdominal muscles, directing envious viewers to their latest workout video that shows how to achieve this physical definition.
Lest they be accused of overlooking their diets, they also talk about the daily meal plans that purportedly help them “get a flat belly and abs”.
The fitness world has a new face, and it is female and clad in expensive athleisure clothing. Boasting millions of subscribers and legions of fans, fitness influencers post slick workout videos on their social media feeds, replete with titles beloved by search engines and fitness acolytes alike. Workouts longer than 15 minutes are rare.
The underlying implication? You, too, can look as Instagrammable as they do – all “without effort”, to borrow an often-quoted phrase from some of their videos.
Among this movement is YouTuber and social media starlet Chloe Ting. Brunei-born Ting now lives in Australia and has 14.1 million subscribers on her YouTube channel, where the eponymous #ChloeTingChallenge was born in 2019.
The challenge promises viewers abs in two weeks, thanks to a workout routine that’s just under 10 minutes long. It’s an uncomplicated routine that can be done with nothing more than a willing body.