Let’s be honest, most of us are guilty of showing off our fitness prowess on the ‘Gram with an extra heavy squat or a pretzel-like yoga position.
And while these moves are cool occasionally, celeb trainer Ben Bruno has warned his 171k followers off relying on “Instagram exercises” entirely.
“Exercises are usually classified by body part (chest, back, etc) or by movement pattern (knee dominant, hip-dominant, etc),” he explained on (ironically) Instagram.
“Now we need a new classification called ‘Instagram Exercises’ for the whacky stuff that fit people come up with just for a video that most normal people never – or could never – do in a real workout.”
Bruno – who trains with the likes of Kate Upton and Chelsea Handler – says he understands the desire for novelty, but the basics need to be nailed first.
“The fit people showing those ‘cool’ exercises got fit doing the basics,” he says.
“To liken it to nutrition: you should eat mostly healthy food, but it’s ok to sprinkle in some treats because, hey, treats are fun. Most of your workout program should revolve around basic exercises to build a good foundation, but if you want to sprinkle in some different stuff to make the training process more enjoyable, have at it.”
This thought is backed by science – a new study out of Central Queensland University found a whopping 80 per cent increase in yoga injuries over the last seven years, with speculation that Instagram is to blame.
“There is a high focus on pictures to attract likes, so people may be pushing themselves without enough preparation or warm up to get into the poses just for the sake of a picture,” Lead researcher Dr Betul Sekendiz said.
A good reminder to slow the scrolling and focus on form when it comes to fitness.