Do You Even Lift, Bro?

The Search for the Swolly Grail...


Weightlifter

Alright, fit it! For those of us who want to get swol and learn proper weightlifting techniques, we turn to sites like YouTube for quick advice. There are 1000s of videos about fitness, weightlifting and weight-loss; some are informative, others are just counterproductive. To combat the amount of bad information, many Millenial Fitness Enthusiasts have turned to a mixture of humor and motivation to keep their videos upbeat and engaging. After many hours scouring YouTube fitness videos, I have discovered these are the most commonly used tactics that do not motivate people to lift weights:

  1. Fat Shaming
  2. Yelling at Viewers
  3. Promoting Excessive Cardio
  4. Encouraging Easy Shortcuts to Get Fast Results
  5. Promoting Quick Weight-Loss Gimmicks

To make weightlifting fun and encourage more people to start, personal trainers have turned to using puns, jokes and humor to motivate themselves and their clients on and off of YouTube. It works! Among the trial and error of fitness, the common theme I have found in the best videos is that they approach the conversation with the understanding that their viewers are beginners, and go heavy [pun intended] on easy-to-understand information. I am no fitness expert, simply a weightlifting enthusiast who has come across so much bad information, it was discouraging when I began my voyage into the gym. These are a few things fitness YouTubers have found do keep people on track and engaged in their workouts:

  1. Relatable Humor
  2. Beginner-Friendly Movements
  3. Engaging Speech and Music
  4. Demonstrations of Exercises
  5. Easily Digestable Motivation
    It's not just humor, it's science! Laughter-can-be-your-greatest-motivator