We need to talk about so-called motivational Instagram posts. All too often, the most promoted or recommended reels are those which utilise unoriginal audio (usually Goggins or similar) plastered over aesthetically pleasing backdrops of nature or people running that promote this idea that you’re a “little bitch” if you take a rest day, or that you’re weak if you don’t complete, with absolute perfection, what you set out to do.

Personally, I think we need a dramatic shift, a major overhaul of the current approach to health and wellbeing being touted on social media sites such as Instagram. You see, I don’t think this type of content is inherently bad. In fact, I think it can be extremely useful and achieve its motivational aims. Unfortunately, though, for the vast majority of people, I don’t think it’s practical nor sustainable. Moreover, it has the potential to damage both physical and mental wellbeing.

The sad reality is, a good proportion of content creators don’t actually care if you get out and complete a workout. They’re not invested in your progress and they certainly aren’t concerned about their content’s impact on your mental or physical wellbeing. Said individuals are mostly following trends, conforming to algorithms, selling whatever product nets them the highest commission, doing whatever they can to rack up the views and get paid. And hey, who can blame them? Money’s tight. We’re going through a major cost-of-living crisis. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

I’m not against the type of mentality promoted by these videos. It’s incredible, mind-boggling, perhaps inconceivable, that the body (and mind) is capable of the amazing feats we regularly see people like Goggins achieve. But there’s a bit of a double-edged sword with this type of content. When people live sedentary lifestyles, or are less active than they’d like to be, this type of content motivates and inspires people to do more, to get out there and get moving. But the goal shouldn’t be to just light the fire, but rather to add fuel and keep it going.

While it’s certainly healthy to realise that your mind may be the limiting or deciding factor in your ability to go faster or further, it’s equally important to know when your body is legitimately telling you to stop to prevent injury. It’s important to be able to distinguish between mental and physical anguish. For new runners, or those new to any sport really, this is something learned over a number of weeks, months, or maybe even years. I’m not a physical therapist or a coach, but to me, the sensible, common-sense approach would be to err on the side of caution, particularly if you’re just starting out. Improvements are made over the long-term with consistent effort. You’re not going to harm your progress by stopping and walking today, but you will if you continue pushing and an injury develops, keeping you out of the sport for months and forcing you back to your sedentary lifestyle. So, if you find yourself feeling guilty for not being able to push like Goggins, this is us saying – DON’T.

The potential for said messages to adversely impact one’s mental health is an area I’m a tad more qualified to discuss. People take up running for a multitude of reasons, a few common motivations being to lose weight, improve cardiovascular health, or merely to challenge oneself. Oftentimes, underlying each of these motivations is a need to bolster self-esteem. If not self-esteem directly, running is frequently utilised to improve mental wellbeing. A plethora of research articles (including my own) emphasise the relationship between exercise and positive mental health. In research centred on depression, exercise has been shown to be as effective as antidepressants. It provide opportunities to socialise, improve self-esteem, and improve self-efficacy, to name just a few benefits. Consequently, with social media being so pervasive, we need the algorithm to promote accounts which promote a healthy relationship with exercise, rather than those which make people feel like failures if they’re not able to push as hard or for as long as others.

The reason for writing this post is that I recently completed my first speed session, and some of these thoughts started to creep in. Naturally, it was a tough workout. But it was made more so by gale force winds which made it extremely tough to maintain pace (at least when running into the wind), and rain which, in tandem with said wind, felt like nails crashing into my face. At times it felt utterly pointless. In order to complete the workout, I had to make pace adjustments and walk where I’d intended to run. But rather than feeling proud of my effort, of seeing how challenging the conditions were, and of repaying myself with positive self-talk, I felt as though I had failed.

I’ve since taken time to reflect on the experience and, in-so-doing, I’ve realised how much of a success that speed session was. Consequently, I’ve developed my own yardstick with which to measure, or define, success. And it’s simple. Success to me means answering ‘yes’ to one question: “Did I go for a run on the day I planned to go for one?”. That’s it. For me, all this represents is that I haven’t allowed myself to make excuses. I haven’t listened to the voice that tells me to choose comfort over discomfort. I haven’t picked the easy way out. Of course, the exception here is when I’m injured, ill, or if something doesn’t feel quite right. But in this scenario, I simply won’t plan to run (that doesn’t mean I can simply use a niggle as a valid excuse not to plan a run.)

By redefining success in this way, it doesn’t really matter how the session itself goes. Sure, I might have planned to run 10K and only managed 5K, and my pace might not be as fast as I’d like. But the main thing is, I’ve made it out the door and my future self will thank me for that. I’ve made a commitment to myself and nothing but a legitimate reason (such as protecting my body from injury) is going to get in the way of that. So please, if it doesn’t serve you, don’t think that the approach being touted on Instagram is the only one to measure yourself against. There are plenty of other, far healthier ways to define success. More than that, it’s critical to work out your own definition of success. Hopefully these words will inspire you to do so.

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