Social Media's Impact on Fitness Goals

Philip Pape 0:01

If you're like most people , you check your phone over a hundred times a day , spending hours mindlessly scrolling through social media feeds and short form videos . You know it's probably not healthy , but here's what you might not realize this habit is actively working against your fitness goals in ways that go far beyond just wasting time . Today , we're exposing the science behind how platforms like TikTok and Instagram are damaging your health from disrupting your sleep chemistry and hormone production to destroying your ability to build and maintain lean muscle mass . You'll discover the shocking new research about how quickly these apps can alter your brain function and , more importantly , how to reclaim control of your attention and put that phone time to work for your fitness goals instead of against them . Welcome to Wits and Weights , the podcast that blends evidence and engineering to help you build smart , efficient systems to achieve your dream physique . I'm your host , philip Pape , and I want to lay out for you a familiar scenario . Let's say you grab your phone to do something helpful , like set up your next workout or log your food , but before you know it , you're 30 minutes deep into fitness influencer content on Instagram or TikTok . That's probably making you feel worse about your own progress , not to mention wasting time . Now . If that sounds familiar , stick around , because today I'm discussing how social media , especially the addictive short form video platforms , isn't just distracting you . It is actively sabotaging your health and physique goals through multiple mechanisms .

Philip Pape 1:34

Now , real quick , before I get into it , I want to let you know about some brand new calculators that I just added to the website to estimate calorie intake , body fat and more , and , I think , a very smart way to use your smartphone instead of scrolling social media . I spent a lot of time recently putting these together for you . I thought they would be really useful . So just click the link in my show notes or go to witsandweightscom and click calculators in the menu to try those out . And each one has an article below it that explains what everything means . So a little bit of education there . And and each one has an article below it that explains what everything means . So a little bit of education there . And I tried to add something unique to the calculators that you won't find in others on the internet . So , again , just click the link in the show notes or go to witsandweightscom and click calculators in the menu .

Philip Pape 2:16

All right , let's get into today's topic about social media . Let's start with something that I heard about recently in the news from previously hidden documents from TikTok . Their own research , leaked on the internet , shows that users can become addicted to the platform after viewing just 260 videos . Now that sounds like a lot , but you know how short those are . It only takes 35 minutes of cumulative viewing time . So now think about that .

Philip Pape 2:45

In less time than it takes to train , to do your workout right , or to eat a meal , or even prepare a meal , these apps like TikTok can fundamentally rewire your brain's reward system . Now , it's probably not a huge surprise . I myself have often been caught , you know , on my phone starting to scroll or even doom scroll , and it's because I started to use my phone for some other reason . Or maybe I'm between my lifts , my sets in the gym , and you just get caught down this rabbit hole and , yeah , it wastes time , but it seems like it's even more insidious than that . We're going to get into that today . The other thing that strikes me as I was putting this together is think about how long it takes to develop a positive habit right , like just going to the gym . We know it takes anywhere from three weeks to even a couple months to really get consistent at something when you apply yourself every day and it starts to compound , whereas the opposite is true here . Something like TikTok or Instagram or wherever you're getting your short form videos are like , immediately giving you that dopamine hit and starting to rewire your brain and make it effectively a quite negative habit very quickly . And the damage that comes from this goes far deeper than just addiction . Right , you've heard that before . Okay , fine , you get addicted .

Philip Pape 3:58

Recent research from the Sleep Foundation shows that nighttime social media use suppresses melatonin production for twice as long as regular screen time . Now , think about that . It's not just that you're on your screen , right ? I always advise folks , especially my clients , to cut out the screen at least a half hour to an hour before try to cut out the blue light . But it's not just the screen time itself , it's specifically , specifically , social media , probably because of the way it stimulates your brain . It's very different . And it's not just about being tired , right , melatonin itself is a crucial hormone for muscle recovery , for fat loss .

Philip Pape 4:33

All the things that we know good sleep helps with and poor sleep doesn't are tied up in this . And so when you're scrolling social media before bed , you are amplifying that negative , that working against your body's natural repair process . And I'll tell you what for many people , sleep is the missing ingredient when it comes to building muscle , losing fat , eating more food all the things that people struggle with . Now I use a sleep tracking ring . Right , I use an aura ring , like many of you probably use , and it shows you this data and I would encourage you to start looking at that . Go check out my recent episode on sleep metrics . I also have an older episode on HRV specifically . But start to tie that data together with using social media right before you go to bed . I know for a fact that if I'm just like staring at my phone on Instagram or something crazy like that , looking at the silly reels or any silly posts right before bed , I'm just not going to get as high quality sleep , and so you probably aren't either , and the study backs this up . And blue light glasses are great for cutting out blue light , but it isn't the complete solution because it doesn't prevent the stimulation that you get in your brain from the social media .

Philip Pape 5:37

And then there's the cortisol right Every little notification , every like , every comment that you get . It triggers a small stress response . Now , each individual hit might seem insignificant , but think about how often and frequent . We do this throughout the day and studies show that frequent social media users maintain elevated cortisol levels compared to less frequent users throughout the day , specifically when accounting for the other variables . And so any chronic elevation in our cortisol is going to interfere with things like protein synthesis and belly fat storage . It's going to compromise your immune system , and cortisol is not the boogeyman here . It never is , despite what influencers say . It's that cortisol is an indicator of something else going on , in this case the frequent spike to your stress response .

Philip Pape 6:24

The other thing is that made me think about stress is when you go to the gym , how many of you are scrolling between your sets . I've done this . I try to use my phone occasionally sparingly in the gym , but I can't . I won't say I can't help myself . I guess that's the addiction part it's more of . I'm trying to be productive and efficient . And now I realized , ah , maybe that's backfiring a little bit on my recovery between my sets , because when you're now kind of keeping that stress level high and you're distracted , you're not mindful , you're not in the moment and physically and physiologically you're potentially not recovering as much , which means you can't get as much out of your workout . So keep all these in mind , because they all play together in what we're trying to do here . Now .

Philip Pape 7:09

What's particularly concerning is the impact on hunger hormones . Research published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found that excessive social media use disrupts both ghrelin and leptin . Those are your hunger and satiety hormones , and this also explains why mindless scrolling leads to mindless eating . That is a thing , but it gets worse because the constant dopamine hits from social media can blunt your body's natural reward response to healthy behaviors , like training , like proper nutrition . And now you're just making it harder to feel and connect mindfully that eating that apple really feels really great . But now you've blunted that natural rewards response because you're getting these hits over here from social media , just like you do from , say , very sugary foods , right , or calorie-dense foods same idea . And all these levels of addictions and brain chemistry all work in a similar way , right , and so you might notice , for example and this is worth documenting that your scrolling , that your social media use , is connected with snacking , with overeating , with overconsumption . Ah , really cool potential correlation there . So pay attention to that .

Philip Pape 8:12

So now I want to talk about what this is doing to your body directly . We talked about the physiological impacts , the negative impacts , or I'm sorry . We talked about , yeah , the impacts . Now I want to talk about the physical impacts , and you've probably heard of something called tech neck or scroll neck , and that's bad right , but the implications go beyond posture . That's a posture thing , but when you're hunched over your phone , you think about it . You're hunched over your phone , you're not only straining your neck , you're actually creating a bunch of compensations down the chain , muscular compensations that affect everything from your shoulder mobility , your squat form .

Philip Pape 8:44

Just the other day , we were having a group call in Whitson Weights Physique University which , if you haven't joined , why haven't you ? It's the best deal in town . And anyway , in one of our group calls we were talking about how pain in one area of your body , like , for example , golfer's elbow medial epicondylitis it's called right Could be because of your squat grip , could have nothing to do with the elbow itself . Similarly , a back issue could have to do with your neck , and so thinking about posture and then being strong in parts of your body that support your posture , like , for example , your hips and your glutes , is a good way to compensate for this . But being hunched over your phone and thinking about your posture when you use social media could be impacting a lot of physical issues that then cause pain or discomfort when you train , for example , or when you recover from training . So a recent study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that heavy social media users showed significant reductions in thoracic mobility and increased forward head posture .

Philip Pape 9:46

Right , and this correlates with the hunched over thing and it impacts your ability to perform movements as effectively as you would otherwise , or you have to compensate for them . Think of overhead presses and pull-ups . You're kind of tightened up like a lobster , I want to say . And really we want to have that athletic posture , we want to be open , we want to be strong and neutral to do a lot of these movements . Now , if you strength train , if you go to the gym , fortunately that will help you significantly in these areas , but we don't want to make it worse with the way that we use our phones .

Philip Pape 10:17

And then , maybe perhaps most concerning I've said that multiple times most concerning today , I guess , is what I call the NEAT deficit . I've said that multiple times . Most concerning today , I guess , is what I call the NEAT deficit . Now , neat , non-exercise activity thermogenesis , that is , all the calories that you burn through your normal daily movement , everything other than structured exercise . Right , you're NEAT walking , for example , fidgeting , doing your chores , et cetera and research shows that high social media users take up to 40% fewer steps per day compared to moderate users . Wow , like , think about that . We're not even talking about different types of jobs or different types of exercise . We're talking about just the fact that you use more social media means you're just going to walk less .

Philip Pape 10:59

And we know that NEAT is one of the biggest levers we have for the amount of calories we burn and our body composition and how much we can eat . But we also know and I talk about this all the time is one of my favorite hacks to increase steps is if you're going to use social media , go ahead and what they call , I guess , habit stacking there's another name I'm thinking of but go ahead and pace around while you're on social media . I mean , if you're going to be on your phone anyway doing that , you might as well be doing it while walking , and just you could pace around your couch in the house . It doesn't even have to have a long runway . So I guess that's my way of kind of compensating for that statistic is using that time rather than saying just stop using all social media , which is great . We want to reduce it . It's how can we combine a good habit with this maybe not so great habit ?

Philip Pape 11:47

And then , when you go to the gym , when you train , the residual effects of social media affect your performance in some way . We want to be aware of this because studies show again , heavy social media users demonstrate reduced focus . They have reduced attention span , which leads to decreased max force production during resistance training . Can you believe it ? It's so amazing how these tie together . Your mind is literally still processing all of that scrolling , even as you're trying to focus on your lifts . So mindfulness is a big element here , and this sounds like a big doom and gloom , but you can see I've dropped a little bit of a hint so far of some things we can do , and we're going to get into more of that in a bit . So keep listening , keep watching . So I guess my challenge to you with that piece , now that I come to think about it , is phone-free training sessions . All right , I have that in my notes here because I didn't want to forget Just not having your phone with you at all . So if you go to the gym , if you could just leave it in your . So that's the physical impacts .

Philip Pape 12:53

And now let's talk about maybe the most insidious impact , and that is the psychological effects of social media . New research published in the journal Nature shows that frequent exposure to short form video you know what we're talking about . We're talking about reels , which are very popular on TikTok . They're also on Instagram . You even see them on Facebook and other platforms that exposure to these reshapes your brain's reward pathways , reshapes them . We talked about the dopamine hits , but you're actually changing the chemistry of the brain and this makes it harder to focus on long-term goals like building muscle and losing fat and body composition and training consistently and eating consistently and tracking all the things that require consistent effort over

Navigating Social Media and Fitness

Philip Pape 13:36

time .

Philip Pape 13:36

And the fitness industry on social media is particularly a problem , right , because we're bombarded with unrealistic transformations , misleading before and after photos I mean the vast majority of before and afters , you see are probably misleading , either because they're not even the actual client of the person or , in a more subtle way , the pictures themselves are taken in a way that's misleading . There's promotions for things like supplements or specific diets , and you're just bombarded with these , and a lot of them are sponsored , a lot of them are paid advertisements , and all of this creates what researchers call toxic comparison syndrome . Instagram , I know , when I go to the search tab , I almost try to avoid that completely . If I look at even one or two people with a decent physique , all of a sudden I see more photos with even more outrageously , you know , quote unquote ideal physiques . And now you're constantly measuring yourself against these heavily filtered , carefully curated , often manipulated images of what look like Greco-Roman gods , right ? Men and women . And it actually shifts how we establish a baseline for what even beautiful looks like , which is really sad , right ? Because if you just go out into the real world and watch regular people walking around , you're like this is two different planets , right ? Two different planets like social versus the real world .

Philip Pape 15:02

And then there's the gender differences and all this pressure . Now , I'm a man , I'm not a woman . I can't identify with being a woman , but I have probably two-thirds of my clients and listeners are women . You're probably many of you listening right now are women . You know that there are obviously there's double standards , but not only that . There's just such a high level of pressure on social media with women , and we know studies that have looked at the effect on teenagers . I mean you've heard it all before and it's a problem , right .

Philip Pape 15:27

And then you have the transformation stuff when you see the before and after . Now I follow some very good , very smart , science-based coaches . Some are friends of mine , some have been on the show or vice versa , and some I just follow because they really have their stuff together and they will show transformations and , yes , they'll show before and after photos , but they're very realistic and I almost think are people going to be turned off by the fact that it's not as dramatic as some of the manipulated ones . Right , I always think about that , even with my own clients . Like I hardly ever use transformation photos for that very reason . I'd rather use their own words , you know , video and maybe the numbers as well to show factually what's going on . But that doesn't emotionally connect with people , as showing somebody go from a certain body type to this ripped , shredded , whatever body type , and that's a problem . So always be skeptical when you look at this one , because the real transformations they take time and effort . They're not as visually dramatic as you would expect . But the results to individuals in terms of their energy , their mood , how they feel about themselves , their confidence and , yes , their looks from where they were before are still dramatic , and the fact that we expect so much more based on social media is really a shame .

Philip Pape 16:44

And then another thing that's concerning is tied to this the spread of fitness misinformation , which is one of the biggest enemies of mine , biggest boogeyman's of mine and I'm not even a big call-out person Like I don't call people out tremendously . I've had folks on the show who do like Dr Spencer Nadolsky and who's you're going to hear about very soon after this episode comes out . And if you look at the content online , you know that the stuff that gets attention , the viral stuff , is usually the really out there information . A recent analysis of fitness-related TikTok content , for example , found that over 80% of viral fitness posts contained at least one significant piece of misinformation . And so this creates what I call analysis paralysis by social media . Right , where you're so overwhelmed with not just information , conflicting and misleading information , and then you struggle to take any action at all . Right , you just binge content , hoping to find something , then something else , then something else . It's all different . Can't tell you how many rapid nutrition assessments I get on , and that is the root cause of their issue . They're like you know what I wanted to set up a call with you because I've listened to your podcast and it seems like you're trying to be objective and reasonable about this stuff and evidence-based , and I'm so confused because there's so much misinformation . What do I do with this , right ? So let me ask you the question what do we do about all of this ? Now , we've talked about the negatives of social media and I'm not going to tell you to delete all your apps . Right ? That's not realistic , that's not necessary . I'm not going to tell you to stop using your phone . Let's talk about evidence-based strategies to make technology work for you . It is a tool . I just simply want it to work for you rather than against you , like with anything else . Let's stop saying not to do certain things . You know . Don't track your food because you can get obsessive . No , how do we use food tracking as a tool that works for us ? So how do we use social media that way ? First , we need to understand that our phones can be super helpful for progress when you use them intentionally .

Philip Pape 18:44

I think a smartphone is an amazing invention . I remember back in 2007, . I think I watched it live . I watched the keynote address that Steve Jobs gave when he introduced the iPhone , and I encourage you to go on YouTube and find that , because the audience was just shocked with this massive leap forward in technology that the iPhone presented , because it was the first time we ever combined browsing the web with a phone , with apps and with the capacitive touchscreen . The whole thing . Now it seems like ho-hum , old news , but it was an amazing invention and we know what it's led to . It's led to a completely different phase of technology and history that we're in for , better and worse , like always with technology . So why don't we use them as tools ? And so think about tracking your workouts , for example .

Philip Pape 19:29

Now , if you love to use notebooks , please use a notebook . I know some of you listening and some of my friends are like , oh , here he goes again with the phone . But hey , we all have phones . There are many good apps . By the time this episode comes out , I think , yeah , actually , the very last episode was with the founder of Boost Camp .

Philip Pape 19:45

Boost Camp is the app that I use and it's a great app because then you could see your PRs , you can see your history , you can see your history , you can automatically program based on a percentage of your max , you can find workout programs , you can track for weeks , months , years . You can look at your volume over time lots of cool things . You can look at your sets per week . I love it for that , because then you can take that data and make informed decisions going forward . Hey , is this level of volume appropriate for me ? Is this many days per week giving me the recovery I need ? And so on . You could use it definitely for food tracking . So I love macro factor for that purpose calculating your calorie and macro targets , monitoring your biofeedback , your metrics , your photos , like doing those kinds of things .

Philip Pape 20:26

Also even going on YouTube or , yes , even short form social media , and deliberately looking for educational content that can teach you something , knowing that you're seeking out people that you trust and then kind of building that self-library ecosystem of those people and trying to filter out the rest . And these are active , these are purposeful , these are mindful uses of technology that move you ahead toward your goals rather than mindless consumption that pulls you away from them . And I know we all have different personalities . Everybody has different levels of tracking and data use .

Philip Pape 21:01

I'm definitely up there in the type A engineering , I love to use data and spreadsheets . A friend of mine , actually , you know we homeschool our kids and he asked what do we ? You know how long it takes every day to teach them ? And I said well , it takes about probably four to five hours . Now that they're older , it's a few hours less than being in school all day , because we could be a little more efficient with it . And then I sent them my spreadsheet with a histogram of the hours per subject and the hours per day and this whole thing . So that's me , but that's not everyone . Now , if you work with me as a client , I will definitely help you use a lot of these tools and data efficiently , but I tend to do the number crunching myself on the back end .

Jenny 21:38

Hi , my name is Jenny and I just wanted to say a big thank you to Philip Pape of Wits and Weights for offering his free 50-minute nutritional assessment . During that time he gave me really good tools on how I can further my health and fitness goals . He asked really great questions and stayed true to his offer of no sales pitch . I have since applied these things and gotten really close to my health goals and my weight goals , and now I'm able to flip over and work on my strength and my muscle conditioning using a lot of the things he offers in his podcasts , and I just am very grateful for his positive inspiration and encouragement , for all of our help . Thank you , philip .

Philip Pape 22:24

Everybody's different

Optimizing Social Media for Fitness

Philip Pape 22:25

. I get it . So find something that works for you . You don't even have to use your phone , right ? Nobody's saying you have to .

Philip Pape 22:31

The next thing that comes to mind is setting for yourself an intentional , specific plan for when and how you're going to use social media . Now you know how , if you have children and they have their phones , there are apps that let you limit screen time , for example . Well , why don't you do that for yourself , instead of random scrolling whenever ? Set either dedicated times , just like you might have dedicated meal times to control your calories , for example . Set dedicated times for checking certain apps , ideally not first thing in the morning or right before bed as well . So think about that . And again , if you want to use the technology built in the phone to limit you from doing that , go for it or just do it manually . So it's kind of a batching strategy , is what I'm thinking .

Philip Pape 23:14

The second thing that comes to mind is your environment design , just like with food , where we want to put snacks high calorie snacks away where we don't see them if they're a craving for us , we want to make it harder to access the apps that suck us in . Right , and you can move them off your home screen . You can hide them in a little group , like on iPhone . You can just shove them in a group so they're not constantly sitting there as an app . Turning off notifications that is huge , like turn off the badge icon , turn off notifications . That way you have to manually go into those things and you'll notice when you do that they're not that important after all , are they . And then you can use the built-in limits , like I mentioned before . One other thing you can do is look at the screen time , and it's kind of funny because for those who use Macrofactor as a food logging app , I will sometimes tell someone who doesn't quote-unquote like to log food because they think it's inconvenient . I'll say , hey , let me show you the screen time that most people average when they use Macrofactor , and it's like four minutes a day . You know what I mean ? It's hardly anything . So check out the phone time , the screen time by app , and look at the ones that you spend the most time on . That would be probably the low-hanging fruit to start limiting yourself .

Philip Pape 24:24

Then there's something called pattern interrupts and what this is is setting up triggers that make you pause before mindless scrolling . Now , I don't have a great example for this . I'm thinking , for example , when you open a social media app , just consciously asking yourself the question what am I looking for here ? Right , for example , I'm looking for information about how to do a bench press better , or how do I get more protein , and that's why I'm going to social , as opposed to I'm just going to open my social media app and start scrolling without a plan . So it's really just that pattern interrupt of interrupting your thought and hopefully me saying it right now and putting it in your brain like an earworm you don't know what an earworm is . Look it up , it's a cool term . Like an earworm will make you think next time you open Instagram . Why am I doing this ? Why am I doing this ? I might go in there to check my messages as a batch . I might go in there because I'm looking for a specific person or information , but if I'm simply opening it up because hey , it's there on my home screen and now I just get sucked in , that's a problem .

Philip Pape 25:30

So have a pattern interrupt , give yourself a reason and then , if you don't have a good one , that will interrupt your thought pattern . So you second guess the need to scroll at all and then curating your content . I mentioned this a little bit before , but be ruthless . Be like a scalpel about who you follow . If someone's content makes you feel worse about yourself or your progress , just unfollow them and stop following them right away , no matter how popular they are . And there's other options in these apps to , like you know , see less of this right , or stop showing this , or hide this for a while . Try those things , because it will mold the algorithm in your benefit .

Philip Pape 26:07

Now there is a huge positive reframing on all of this , because a lot of this was negative . Some of it was , I know , helpful strategies , but a lot of it was negative . What if the very technology that's designed to hook us can become our most powerful ally in improving what we're trying to do here , which is our health and fitness , our strength , our body composition , fat loss , right ? And so , instead of scrolling mindlessly through transformation posts , going through your search tab , imagine using those same moments to track your progress in the gym , the kitchen , looking up recipes , learning how to improve your form , learning about how to program your workouts and so on . Use it as a tool for education and tracking . I want you to think of those two things right now . I want you to think of education and tracking Is the purpose . I'm opening social media right now for education or tracking .

Philip Pape 26:53

Now , I know there's a social aspect to social media , so I'm not gonna take that away from you . I'm not suggesting that at all . Definitely connecting with people , commenting on posts and stuff go for it . But have that pattern interrupted , asking yourself is this really worth it ? Or do I at least want to batch up my social part of social media into like one hour of the day and then during that hour I'm going to walk around as I do it . So I'm going to get a two for one and I'm going to limit my time . Right , take control of it rather than just binge away at random content . And the funny thing is , when I mentioned reward response earlier , the same dopamine you hit you get from like , like or a share . You can get that from actually making progress , from seeing your numbers improve in the gym . Right , the satisfaction of watching a short video , whatever fleeting it is . Channel that into maybe recording your own form , lift and analyzing it . Now , I know that takes more work , so that might not be an equivalent .

Philip Pape 27:47

But the point is we don't want to fight technology , we don't want to try to be a Luddite . I mean , look , you're using YouTube or a podcast app right now to listen to me , and I hope you find this educational . This is a purposeful use of this . What are you going to do about it ? How are you going to redirect this powerful thing to serve your goals ? All right , so your phone isn't inherently your enemy , right ? It's just a tool . Like any tool . Its impact depends entirely on how you use it . So how are you going to use it right Now ? I want to give you one way to do that , a productive way to use your smartphone .

Philip Pape 28:17

I mentioned this earlier , but just in time for this episode , I added some brand new research-backed calculators to our website , witsandweightscom . Yes , they're mobile friendly and you're going to find a metabolism calculator based on the latest formulas for BMR and TEE that will give you an estimate of your energy expenditure and then the best calorie intake for different fat loss and muscle building goals . Now , this is just a starting estimate , but I think it's pretty cool . It's better than other calculators because of the formulas it uses . I also added a body fat calculator and it lets you put in a target body fat and tells you what it takes to get there , and I think a lot of those calculators don't have that Also a new body roundness index calculator , and this is a better indicator of health and body fat than BMI .

Philip Pape 29:02

I first heard about it from Dr Jordan Feigenbaum and I decided to look it up . The research is really solid and I created a calculator for it for you . It accounts for your lean mass . So many of us who lift BMI is useless . The vast majority of people who lift that I know , who are in fantastic shape , are either overweight or obese according to BMI , which is ridiculous . It's because they have a lot of dense lean mass on their body . So the body roundness index actually compensates for lean mass and can give you , based on the shape of your body , how much body fat you have and your health factors

Directing Attention for Fitness Success

Philip Pape 29:33

.

Philip Pape 29:33

So check those out now using your phone . Click the link in my show notes , or go to witsandweightscom and click calculators in the top menu and check those out . All right , that is it for today . Until next time , keep using your wits lifting those weights and remember your most powerful fitness tool isn't your social media feed , it's your ability to choose where you direct your attention . This is Philip Pape and you've been listening to the Wits and Weights Podcast . I'll talk to you next time .