Professional body builder and Exercise and Sport Science professor, Dr. Kate McLellan, shared helpful hints on who to follow and trust on Instagram, according to one’s personal health and wellness. McLellan has a bachelor’s degree in EXS and doctorate in rehabilitation science.
1. Look for Instagram accounts with credentials.
McLellan said, “I usually look for people with something after their name. Whether it be a Ph.D., RD (registered dietician), MD, or MS.” McLellan also said to look for credentials because you want to follow individuals with an education and who know what they are doing.
2. Follow Instagram influencers who physically look better than you.
“You follow people who look better than you because you know they’ll help you get successful and help you get where you want to be.” McLellan said Instagram ultimately shows everyone’s best days and nobody shows their worst days, so you shouldn’t compare yourself to others.
3. Follow bodybuilders who have coaches/teams.
“I follow different coaches and teams because each account I follow has a specific purpose. I follow someone for good leg workouts and another person for good back workouts.” McLellan explained how doing this allows you to follow a diverse number of people.
4. Follow accounts that cut straight to the point and don’t use tons of emojis in their posts.
McLellan said anyone can say they are involved in personal training and nutrition without going to school. “People who use a lot of goofy emojis and other items in their posts for fitness ideas are not people you want to follow. Legitimate people do not make comments like these.”
5. Pay attention to the accounts’ content, both posts and stories.
“Personally, when I follow an account, I watch what they have to post on their stories throughout the day. If what they have to post is useful to me throughout the day, I know they will be valuable to me. If not, I’ll choose not to follow.”
McLellan said she does this because many fitness accounts use their social media account as their personal Instagram account and often post throughout the day about their lives rather than fitness.
Remember, everyone’s body is different.
McLellan said, “It is important to remember as viewers, we are only seeing the Instagrammers on their best day. They do not look like that all the time and only really look like that during ... training or bodybuilding preparation.” She said it is important to remember everyone’s body is different and changes on their own schedule and in their own process. Everyone is different and comparison to others is pointless and does more harm than good.
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Tips for Bodybuilding
Training
• Always get a coach. Do not trust yourself with training
• Coaches will motivate and help you realize your progress
• Have different coaches for training and posing
• Follow people who have credentials and provide quality content
• To get to competitions like Olympia, you have to look like those competitors
• Examples of quality content: Bret Contreras, Aden “Glute Guru” Gazi
• High intensity intervals are recommended
• Burn fat: Eat less and workout more
• 12 weeks of carefully dieting and training
Dieting
• Chicken is a good source of protein and has the least amount of fat
• Prep and eat at least six meals per day
• Beef and pork have too much fat and are expensive
Dangers of Social Media
• Detox diets are bad
• Some fitness people pay for followers to make themselves look good
• There are no quick fixes
Bodybuilding competitions
• Every weekend in the United States there are competitions
• Focus on what the judges want for competitions
Writer: Mackenzie Beaver and Bruno Maynez