From Tiger Shroff’s shirtless pictures after an extreme workout to Malaika Arora’s gravity-defying gym videos – there’s enough on social media to motivate you to hit the gym. If you search on Instagram , just ‘#fitness’ will give you more than 300M posts. There are many who take #fitspo from such celebs and get a gym membership. But ironically, the mandatory gym selfie has made the actual workout take a backseat. These gym freaks tells us that hitting the gym is hard work, so what’s wrong with wanting to impress one’s social media followers with buffed-up selfies? But gym instructors, who witness more selfie retakes than set reps, aren’t impressed, and call it as they see it – “showing off ”!“Many youngsters don’t come to the gym to work out. Their aim is to just take advantage of the full size mirror. Inko sirf style maarna hota hai, aur roz roz jo naye gym clothes pehen ke aate hai, woh dikhana hota hai,” says Gaurav Thackrey, a personal trainer and bodybuilder from the city.Pooja Rajput, another trainer, agrees. She says, “There are only a few people who are really dedicated as far as working out is concerned. Almost half of them are unable to continue beyond a month. Woh pehle aate hain, par body jaise hi thodi pump hoti hai, saari exercise aadhi aadhi karke bas photo session karne lagte hain. It is a way of showing off that they are hitting the gym and are working out consistently. Yeh log jitne din gym aate hain, selfie zaroor leke jaate hain.”A reason behind this can also be the fact that gyms provide offers to members for promoting on social media, feels Poonam Deshpande, another gym instructor. She says, “Many gyms click videos of members working out and ask them to share it on their social media pages to promote the gym.”Gym enthusiasts say that the reason they upload their photos and videos is flaunt what they’ve got. “I upload my videos and stories only on Mondays. The day when I am doing heavy-duty workouts are the days when I ask my trainer to taake videos. When you put up such photos, you get compliments and that boosts your confidence. I do’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” explains Tejas Moyal, a young entrepreneur from the city.Pushkar Odhekar, a law student, adds, “If you’ve got it, why not flaunt it? I think when you achieve something, it’s totally fine to show off. But yes, people do tend to overdo it these days.”The city’s aspiring and amateur fitness bloggers, vloggers, and influencers insist that these selfies aren’t as much about showing off, as they are about ‘inspiring followers’. They say that they are doing this for a higher purpose – #FitnessInspiration.“Practically speaking, it’s not mandatory to click pics. But when you are doing something different or trying to promote a workout routine, social media is the fastest way to reach out to people,” says Tejas.Jay Chavan, a BYK student, adds, “I take selfies because that way, I am able to keep track of my transformation. I also put them up on social media and add motivational quotes. I feel it helps motivate other people as well. There are days when I miss out on putting up a picture, and I immediately start getting messages from people asking why I haven’t posted anything. My motivational quotes act as boosters and it also helps you connect with like-minded people. So, yes, it may seem like I am showing off, but it actually helps in a lot of ways. I think that it is alright to click selfies, but you shouldn’t forget the main reason why you are at the gym. Workout is the priority and if time permits, then you can do the rest.”An actor by profession, Akshay Waghmare seconds Jay, saying, “There are two kinds of people – the ones who only go the gym to get more likes on their posts, and there are those who genuinely want to motivate people. I post pictures because people ask me to. They want me to post about my fitness regime and workout sessions, so that they can follow them.”Sunil Rathod, a gym instructor, adds that it’s all good in moderation. “But one shouldn’t do this in between sets, because then your body cools down. Once it cools down, it might be difficult to do reps with the same energy. There are incidents where many people have suffered injuries because they haven’t followed the procedure. Clicking photos can be a distraction for them as well as others in the gym,” he says.— With inputs from Sushmita.Jha@timesgroup.com

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