Be careful about choosing online fitness coaches. Many of them are unqualified

If this was the year that you were finally going to get back to the gym, looks like it’s going to have to wait a little bit longer.

This year, at least, it’s truly not your fault. Would-be exercisers had their hopes dashed on the first Monday of the new year, when it was announced that Ontario’s gyms would be closed for at least three weeks. You could almost hear the TikTok and Insta searches gearing up as people took to their phones and laptops to find alternative sources for #fitspo (fitness inspiration).

#FitSpo is one of several hashtags that drive traffic to fitness influencers, of which there are currently no shortage. The question is, how many are certified fitness professionals? Researchers at the University of Alberta analyzed fitness blogs and discovered that, even though over 50 per cent of influencers claimed to be fitness professionals, fewer than 17 per cent were actual certified instructors or university-educated kinesiologists.

“It’s not really necessarily any different than everywhere else since the explosion of social media,” says Michael Connor, associate professor and undergraduate program director at York University’s School of Kinesiology. “We’re seeing that if you have a camera and a cellphone you can claim yourself to be an expert in anything, so it doesn’t surprise me that there are people who aren’t qualified telling people how to get into an exercise training program.”

Connor points out that misinformation in the fitness sphere was a problem long before COVID and, of course, before social media, too. And, while there’s plenty of good fitness advice on some platforms, given the surge of gym-less people looking for guidance, it’s worth asking about potential pitfalls and how we might avoid them.

The bad news, though, is that it’s getting harder to tell the good from the bad.

“The influencers are getting smart,” says Elle Rochefort, head trainer and studio manager at F45 Long Branch. “They’re starting to appear evidence-based, even when they’re not, by latching on to the right lingo to make it seem very legit.”

Rochefort, who has a degree in kinesiology as well as a certificate in fitness leadership from Seneca College, says that social media “stars” might reference a study to promote their regimen and themselves, even though it’s a low-quality evidence study.

“Science isn’t sexy, though, so the evidence-based stuff that we need to do to keep ourselves well is boring stuff that we have to do consistently,” she says. “It’s not a hack or a detox or a seven-day anything. It’s really boring, repetitive stuff and that’s not what gets the likes and the followers.”

Although fitness misinformation is nothing new, the mechanics of social media likely makes some negative aspects more insidious, ever apart from the speed with which misinformation spreads. There are no real gatekeepers on TikTok and, in the social media economy, likes and followers are currency, as well as practically the only metric for success.

“You’d tell the audience anything to get them to watch you,” says Connor. “And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that from a business model perspective, but it may not the best way for someone looking to get into fitness to get started. Not every exercise regimen is acceptable or applicable to every person.”

Critics worry about over-exercising or people engaging in exercise that’s too intense, especially for those of us outside of the 18-34 set. After a certain point, the joke goes, it’s surprising to learn how easily you can sustain injuries just by sleeping the wrong way.

“You can herniate a disc turning in a shopping cart at Walmart,” says Rochefort, “So, if you think about how little it takes to injure yourself in regular functional daily activities and then look at online coaching, consider that every exercise is more dangerous when it’s unsupervised, particularly when a coach is not experienced enough.”

In addition to her education, Rochefort has 10 years of coaching under her belt. She and Connor both point out that there’s a big difference between knowing how to work out and teaching others how to do it—and this is where professional qualifications come in.

“You don’t go to a doctor’s office if you don’t know that the doctor is certified,” Connor says. “The same should apply to fitness but, unfortunately it’s harder to do so a lot of people just don’t do that. Instead, they look at someone who looks fit and they say, ‘Yeah, I want to look like that’.”

Do they, though? In real life? Image is everything when it comes to social media but, thanks to photoshop and other tricks of the trade, it’s never been easier to project false images of ourselves.

So what can we do while we wait for the gyms to safely re-open? Connor says when looking for online inspiration, look for people who are certified at the college level and/or have a kinesiology degree. If it’s the latter, ask if they specialized in fitness within that degree.

Red flags include their offering advice on topics outside of their realm of expertise, making big promises for speedy results and, perhaps worst of all, selling supplements.

“I’ve cleaned up my own social media feed to keep all that stuff out of my view because, even as a fitness professional, sometimes you see something and think ‘Man, that looks interesting’,” says Rochefort. “Because of my science background, I go and look for the evidence and then it’s usually disappointing because you find out that they’re not using a peer-reviewed study.”

She adds: “Instead, they’re hinging their promises on an observation of eight people who did the cabbage diet.”

We have faith the gyms will safely re-open soon. Until then, keep in mind Rochefort’s sage advice. Boring is better. Which is essentially the opposite of almost everything you’ll see on social media.