When Ethan*, a 32-year-old in LA, was in high school, he took up running. What started as an attempt to lose weight and get some exercise dictated his schedule for the next three years. \u201cI think I was obsessed with the number six because I\u2019d wake up every day at six in the morning, read 60 pages of a book (to the page) and run 60 miles a week,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a way to control my body image but also a way to feel in control of my own life.\u201d Only his life at the time was pretty dismal \u2013 his obsession with running caused him to skip house parties and turn down dinner hangouts that didn\u2019t match his \u201chealthy\u201d lifestyle. Then, one day in college, he looked at his running shoes and threw them in a dumpster. \u201cI realised I wouldn\u2019t find love if I lived like that,\u201d Ethan says. \u201cI started dating, and my life got on a super fun and creative track.\u201d Once he stopped over-exercising, he picked up photography and his social life flourished.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan was over-exercising before today\u2019s social media fitness challenges, like 75 Hard<\/a>, existed. Still, he exhibited a similarly regimented discipline: working out multiple times a day, sticking to a restrictive diet and swapping social events for \u201cself-improvement\u201d activities. While the broad consensus is that 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week (or half as much if it is intense)<\/a> \u2013 which can equate to about 8,000 steps a day<\/a> \u2013 is enough to lower the risk of premature death and many diseases, this is rarely the message we see plastered across gym inspiration posts online. As fitness influencers proudly proclaim their gym \u201caddiction\u201d<\/a> causes them to work out twice a day every day<\/a> and high schoolers gloat about skipping prom for a workout<\/a>, getting sucked into extreme gym culture can pull your goals and aspirations away from being well-rounded, interesting and socially connected. So, is over-exercise culture making us sad and boring?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n First off, it\u2019s worth noting that exercising obviously has many benefits, including strengthening your bones and muscles, boosting your mood and even improving your memory and thinking skills<\/a>. \u201cExercise is hugely beneficial and most people don\u2019t exercise enough,\u201d says Dr Melissa M. Ertl, a licensed psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. \u201cThere is a small subset of the population who actually exercise too much, and that\u2019s bad for their health, too.\u201d The population of over-exercisers may be a small percentage, but due to the nature of social media algorithms, where extreme and consistent content is often prioritised and rewarded with engagement, it\u2019s easy to become over-exposed to over-exercise culture online. \u201cI think there are these subpopulations, especially online, where this is far more common than we can even consider,\u201d adds Dr Ertl.\u00a0<\/p>\n It makes sense that a content category focused on \u201cpushing you further\u201d means the bar for how much exercise you \u201cshould\u201d be getting is constantly being raised across social media. For years, everyone posted about getting 10,000 steps a day, but now many are swearing 20,000 is the key<\/a>. Dr Ertl says she speaks about exercise addiction and exercise dependence interchangeably, although she says neither is currently defined as a mental disorder, because the research is still very emerging. The framework she uses to understand over-exercise is similar to diagnosing behavioural addictions: withdrawal, consequences in your social relationships and having mental health problems as a result. \u201cOver-exercising can look different for different people, but a key criterion for me is if exercise has become the most important thing in someone\u2019s life,\u201d she says. \u201cIt can look like somebody who is exercising despite medical advice or who needs more and more exercise in order to feel satisfied.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Over-exercising can look different for different people, but a key criterion for me is if exercise has become the most important thing in someone\u2019s life<\/p>\n Over-exercising can also look like using the gym for mood modification, or even emotional avoidance. We see this when people talk about post-breakup \u201cglow-ups\u201d or post about fighting off \u201csad girl\u201d season by going to the gym twice a day<\/a>. \u201cI live such a lonely and boring life that I just spend hours at the gym and go twice a day because I have nothing else better to do and no one to go home to. The gym is one of the only things that can distract me from this void,\u201d exercise influencer @liftwithspooky wrote on TikTok<\/a>. In the comments, there are hundreds of people who share the same routines, and perhaps even go to the same gyms, but never speak to each other. A large part of this has to do with many treating exercise as a means to an end, instead of a potentially enjoyable and connecting experience itself, downplaying rest days<\/a> and the importance of rest and leisure.\u00a0<\/p>\n The mainstream aesthetic-driven approach to going to the gym is, unfortunately, inextricably tied to wellness and diet culture. We often talk about what exercise can do for our bodies, before how it\u2019s enriching our lives and energising us for other things. For this reason, over-exercising tendencies can easily slip through the cracks. \u201cWhen you talk to a doctor, nobody complains to you about exercising, even though you’re overexercising,\u201d says Ethan. \u201cYou can hide the brutal reality of it in a self-serving way so that you get to have the aesthetic appeal that you want to develop.\u201d In the midst of a beauty backslide, where we\u2019re seeing a broader return to conservative, skinny ideals<\/a>, there\u2019s currently a hyper-focus on gaining and maintaining muscle. \u201cThis can lead people to make exercise have this really giant role in their life,\u201d says Dr Ertl. \u201cPoor body image continues to be a factor that’s linked with exercise addiction and disordered eating generally.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Brooke Elle Buettner<\/a>, a 22-year-old personal trainer and content creator in LA, says when she first started going to the gym in college, she became \u201cobsessed with it\u201d almost immediately. \u201cIt took over my life; I was spending two hours at the gym for every lift and would only have energy for my workouts,\u201d she says. \u201cFor the rest of the day, I felt like a zombie.\u201d At the peak of over-exercising, Buettner says she was avoiding vacations without a gym nearby and social situations with food, letting go of anything in her life that would require her to cut her workout short. \u201cI would be so terrified to skip the gym that most of the time I\u2019d end up cancelling on the social plan,\u201d she says. \u201cI realised that exercise is supposed to make me enjoy my life more, so why was I treating myself like I\u2019m a little rat in a cage?\u201d Now, Buettner has a routine that focuses on balance and variety. She lifts three times a week and does lower-impact movement, like running, yoga or pilates, on other days. She also listens to her body and takes rest days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Exercise may be good for you, but it\u2019s not the only thing that is. Even socialising is linked to longevity<\/a>. Having hobbies and interests has also been tied to increased happiness and even overall life satisfaction<\/a>. The act of placing exercise above all also means it can no longer be categorised as a hobby. \u201cI have always thought about hobbies as \u2018self-selected leisure activities\u2019, which means it\u2019s something you choose: you may be exersicing for your health, but you also have a sense that it makes you feel good in the moment and connects you to other people,\u201d says Matthew Zawadzki, an associate professor of psychological sciences at the University of California, Merced. \u201cIn over-exercising, the exercise itself becomes the goal: it is a convulsion where you feel you have to do it, otherwise there\u2019s anxiety or stress around it.\u201d By that point, it no longer feels like a choice, and even those who aren\u2019t athletes can begin to feel an unnecessary and professional amount of pressure to perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s become a strange flex to skip the social function for the sake of your workout. The message is this: lock in and then show off your new enviable build to the masses that didn\u2019t have the dedication to commit to your strict schedule. What\u2019s lesser considered, however, is whether unwavering dedication for aesthetic sake is actually beneficial or even admirable \u2013 especially when it comes at the cost of investing in other equally important factors that contribute to well-rounded health, like socialising. \u201cAnytime we\u2019re doing the same thing over and over again, we\u2019re gonna be limited in how we think,\u201d says Zawadzki. \u201cIf all you do is exercise, all the experiences that you have to share with others are about being at the gym.\u201d The spice of life is variety, and over-exercise culture is not only isolating, but it may also be making us bored (or even boring). As Zawadzki puts it: \u201cPosting your body is something very static, like a trophy, but trophies just sit on a shelf. Once you have one, it\u2019s like \u2018I won\u2019 and now what?\u201d<\/p>\n * Name has been changed for the sake of anonymity.\u00a0<\/p>\n