14-04-2025
Why is Gen Z so obsessed with the gym? Our fitness craze masks a deeper crisis.
Why is Gen Z so obsessed with the gym? Our fitness craze masks a deeper crisis. | Opinion Although Gen Z's pursuit of fitness may seem positive on the surface, recent trends in the online wellness space reveal that something more nefarious and even unhealthy could be lying underneath.
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Viral 75 Hard challenge: Could you go the distance?
Influencers record their progress as they participate in a popular fitness program, 75 Hard challenge.
For the past two years, I've been going to the gym a couple times a week, something a younger, exercise-averse version of me would find hard to believe.
At the beginning of my fitness fixation, I promised myself I wouldn't let it absorb me. As I scoured the internet for exercise and nutrition tips, I dodged the overly aggressive gym bros and the tough-love fitness fanatics who seem to be all the rage today. I opted for a softer approach instead. Going to the gym wouldn't take over my life; it would just be a hobby, something I'd do to pass the time, improve my physical health and see what my body was capable of.
In my early days of fitness research, I noticed that I wasn't alone in my new pastime. It seemed like many people my age (Generation Zers born between 1997 and 2012) were also hitting the gym more than previous generations.
Of active Gen Zers, 73% are members of a health club or gym, as opposed to 72% of millennials, 54% of Generation X and 42% of baby boomers, according to an ABC Fitness report. Gen Zers made up 29% of gym newcomers in the first quarter of 2024, according to another survey.
Although Gen Z's pursuit of fitness and prioritization of health might seem positive on the surface, recent trends in the online wellness space reveal, at least to me, that something more nefarious and even unhealthy could be lying underneath.
Gymfluencers feed Gen Z's fitness fixation
It's safe to say that Gen Z's exercise habit can largely be attributed to social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online fitness and wellness influencers gained prominence as users sought ways to maintain their physical health from home amid quarantine. Of course, the threat of a global, deadly pandemic forced us to take heed of our health.
Creators like Chloe Ting supplemented our health bug and made us make use of our newfound free time with ab workout videos. Her most popular video, titled 'Get Abs in 2 WEEKS,' has more than 570 million views (I'm still haunted by the background music).
Once the pandemic ended, our interest in fitness only blossomed. As TikTok continued to grow, so did the amount of information the app provided. #GymTok, a space on TikTok where users share workouts, meal plans and other fitness-related content, has garnered over 31 million posts. The dissemination of fitness information online has made it easier to get active.
COVID-19 didn't just help create a wellness boom; it changed the way we gathered. The digital habits fostered during lockdown still permeate today.
That, combined with individualistic, work and profit-focused tenets of American culture, has led to the erasure of 'third places,' or spaces outside of home and work where people can gather – like cafes, bars, parks, etc. For many young people, gyms have become a third space.
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I see it myself at my own gym; the sense of community is palpable as people from across the area bond over their shared love of fitness.
Gen Z loves working out so much that some commercial gyms have had to adjust their model to accommodate the increase in membership.
But not all that glitters is Gold's.
Gen Z fitness hinges on unhealthy habits
I've written about how Gen Z's obsession with their own perception has marred the dating world. The same can be said for our interest in fitness.
As a chronically online generation, we see how the internet rewards those with seemingly perfect bodies, thus forcing us to hold our own appearances to these near-impossible standards. Whether we want to admit it, going to the gym and working to build a better body helps us achieve the social capital gained only by squeezing into society's narrow standards of beauty.
This pursuit of socially acceptable bodies through fitness has proved its negative effects on Gen Z.
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Late last year, Men's Health released a documentary called 'Generation Flex,' which follows four teenage boys on their journeys to gain muscle and lose body fat. The documentary reveals the dark side of many teenage boys' obsession with getting swole: Rampant online misinformation, supplement abuse and misuse and dangerous exercise habits.
Young boys are risking their physical and mental health to achieve unattainable body standards.
The same can be said for young girls ‒ #skinnytok is a subset of the health and wellness side of TikTok. There, users – many of whom are women and girls – promote thinness by any means necessary. This usually manifests as extreme calorie deficits that border on starvation, pitched cruelly and harshly to viewers under the guise of tough love.
For internet veterans, this is eerily reminiscent of pro-eating disorder content on Tumblr. The proliferation of this dangerous content is especially scary given that anorexia is the deadliest psychiatric diagnosis besides opioid use disorder.
These Machiavellian approaches to health and fitness see working out mainly as a beautification process. The ends, a more socially acceptable body, justify the means, dangerous and borderline life-threatening habits. Everything else is secondary.
Whenever I find myself consuming content that promotes these problematic behaviors, I remember that fitness isn't supposed to come at the expense of my physical and mental health. It's a marathon, not a race.
It's also important to remember that many wellness influencers gain money and popularity from showing ideals instead of realities. Avoiding falling into toxic ideals requires discipline similar to what keeps us going to the gym.
Kofi Mframa is a columnist and digital producer for USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network.
