To me, working out to improve your physique should be a personal thing, it shouldn't be something to flaunt to the world. Those people who are obsessed with posting pictures showing off their muscular/slim/toned physique, they will most likely say they do it for themselves, but posting a ridiculous amount of photos, that's not doing it for you, that's doing it so people will like your photos, praise your body, and ultimately to just get attention.
You get two kinds of 'fitness Instagram addicts' - 1) guys and girls who are actually in really good shape posting ridiculous amounts of attentions seeking pictures, and 2) guys and girls who are entering the fitness world purely to have a huge online following because of their physiques.
Now, I'm sure people would challenge this post and say "I workout for me, but I just like posting pictures". But those people would have to ask themselves seriously "why am I working out?". I don't think you can say you workout for your own personal reasons, when you're always posting pictures of your body online, because people only do that for attention. Granted, you do get sponsored athletes, personal trainers, nutritionists and so on, who post pictures, but that is because its kind of 'their job'. Personal trainers need to show that they practice what they preach, sponsored athletes literally have to (usually in their contracts to show their physique - which is down to the supplements they use - sponsorship). Nutritionists also need to. Imagine a nutritionist who mainly worked online, and they were actually overweight? they would be known as a fraud, so they need to show that they are in shape - in person or online.
The reason why I'm putting emphasis on 'workout for yourself', is that unless you do, you won't have that personal drive that will push you all the way. Once you get to an age where your body is declining, nobody on Instagram is going to want to see that, so you'll no longer get the same attention, then what? most likely you'll give up. Whereas if you worked out mainly for yourself, even when your body is declining due to age, you're still going to love training, and you'll still train hard to stay in shape no matter what age you are.
Lee Gregory Fitness
