Is Exercising a Privilege? | Video Essay

hello hello! it took me forever to finish this sorry! but it is a topic i feel isn’t mentioned enough in the fitness community, let me know your thoughts!

Sources:

Time Stamps:
0:00 - intro
0:58 - America’s obesity epidemic
3:17 - the internet’s role
6:14 - the privilege of influencers
9:08 - how do we make fitness more accessible?
11:42 - outro

IG: @chelseaa_li
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Music Featured:
♪ Animal Friends (Prod. by Lukrembo)
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#PrivilegeinFitness #FitnessYoutube #LifestyleYoutube #InfluencerPrivilege

Hello and welcome to my channel! My name is Chelsea, and I’m a recent grad living life in NYC (and occasionally California!). I decided to start a YouTube channel to share snippets of my life and spread positivity in this little community. I'd love to have you along for the ride and feel free to reach out to me anytime! :))

[unclerandy]

I'd say 99.9% of Americans have the privilege to exercise. Many just choose not to because its hard.

[rigelmoon]

I think the bigger privilege in fitness is dieting, because in the end, nutrition plays the bigger role in fitness wether it's losing weight, gaining it, maintaining it, getting more energy, having enough fuel for your daily schedule, etc. When you see the price difference between healthy food used and even *prescribed* for diet and weight loss programs, and energy-rich food, of course it feels like having a healthy lifestyle and only eating healthy food while on a busy schedule is a privilege, far more than exercising itself. I of course don't mean this to justify eating only cheetos and instant ramen instead of salads, but just compare a loaf of regular bread to a loaf of whole-grain or seeded bread, organic or not. Two products that will serve the same purpose have a huge price difference, and as someone who used to look a lot into dietary programs from influencers (I stopped for a reason), it became exhausting and even irritating to see people tell me "No, but, like, you HAVE to eat whole grain otherwise you are LITERALLY poisoning yourself."

The price escalates A LOT when it comes to diet-culture-friendly foods that sometimes aren't even necessary for you to eat in order to be healthy, they're just gaining popularity because influencers feel like telling you something in hopes you'll buy into it. But when a huge part of your demographic is made up of young adults who are either studying or getting their first jobs, sometimes in the process of becoming independent, who don't have the highest wages unless they're *very* lucky, and even *here* I'm talking about a relatively privileged demographic, it's simply going to become inaccessible to keep up with these nutrition standards set by influencers themselves.

As I've been transitioning into adulthood, managing busier schedules and having to buy groceries for myself, I've been able to witness firsthand that fully following a diet program would take a big hit to my wallet each week, so I'm very glad that at the end of the video you brought up the subject of recommending certain food groups rather than very specific ingredients. But I think it's even more important to stop glorifying influencers and idolizing them; I personally believe what influencers represent does more harm than good and I also think it's very important to hold them accountable for their misinformation, *especially* when they do it as a popularity grab (with this, I mean a certain fitfluencer's statement that they name their videos "ABS IN 2 WEEKS" or similar for content discoverability)


Eesh sorry for the super long comment! I loved your video, it's the first one of yours I watch and I think it's very well-made and well-researched! Keep up the good work!

[nonjabulomangoro]

I do not think fitness is a privilege for anyone who is not disabled from the neck down.

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!! It's your fitness journey and it's up to you to do what makes you happy with your fitness journey. What exercises will be best for you and your situation.
BE REALISTIC. Give yourself at least 3 months of consistency before tweaking your program. Fitness influences have taken years to get to the body they have and currently probably workout 6/7 days a week.
KEEP TRUE TO YOUR OWN GOALS. If you're trying to look like a specific influencer, you will never be satisfied. Accept your body and try to improve and work around your bone structure and fat storage patterns.

If fitness is something you are pursuing, working out needs to be *your* priority. There is time for you to workout if you want there to be... 20 minutes 3 or 4 times a week will be a game changer. But also, working out doesn't need to be a blocked off time either, run around with your kids, play with your dog, bop to music you like in your office chair.

Ultimately, your diet will make up 80% of your aesthetic goals so, if you *cannot* invest in a balanced diet then working won't do what you think it will. Start with your diet!! It does not have to be 100% clean eating, just be more aware of what you are eating and choices you are making so that changes you make over time can be long lasting.

I say this as someone who hasn't worked out in 3 years and is 5'1 at 100lbs.

[GarryFanata]

Another great and well researched video! I agree that a lot of programs or influencers online certainly have a degree of privilege and exercising certainly is a privilege in itself. I do think "fitfluencers" could cater more but at the end of the day they are selling a business to the people most likely to buy their products/services, which is most commonly the demographic that are privileged enough to follow these programs themselves.

[kingculture]

Bless the omniscience algorithm for recommending this to me a new gold mine of a channel to delve into this is so informative and she's so well spoken

[iasminaraujo]

I'll say it for me: I don't exercise bc I don't eat enough. I'm constantly feeling weak. I will not put my body through it, when it's just malnourished. And having access to food is damn hard

[letechnicaljames]

I am more passionate about fitness after being delayed from landing job. After gyms re-opened, I was finally able to commit to my personal fitness goals like going from 165 to 180 in ~6 months.

[dildildil]

You made a great point and never did i think of fitness as a privilege.

Fitness does go hand in hand with nutrition. The more you move, the more you need to spend on proper nutrition and both take significant amounts of time and money / sports equipment. Generally people who need to be at work all day and struggle to make ends meet, won't have the luxury of time, energy and motivation to stick to a plan.
Some would call these excuses, but discipline is also not something that falls from the sky. It takes alot of focus understanding / investment in your body to stick to your personal goals and plans.

These things need you to be passionate about what you do, your fitness goals, the type of sport chosen and on top of everything, how much time it takes away from your typical day.
Anyone who doesn't agree with the point you made here, has no clue :)

i exercise 5-6 days a week and i don't work in an office and if i did, the possibility of me upkeeping that is extremely low.

[afrobarbie-sustainablelife]

You've raised very interesting points in this video. I don't think exercising is a privilege in and of itself, just certain workouts like you mentioned. The diet and cultural differences should definitely be a thing but aren't (I'm assuming it's because of the lack of diversity in the top fitfluencers like you mentioned).
Great video ❤

[rogersepeda]

I’m sorry but it was bothering the hell out of me that disclaimer was misspelled. Sorry, things like that bother me like when people use double negatives in their sentences. I’m a weirdo I know 😅

[anonymous_user]

Yes, it is. I'm sick of it. Males can run around and not be called names or worried about being attacked or leered at. Great discussion.

[keylanoslokj]

It is yes.. Most people don't have the time, money, and even ability to buy the extra calories needed in quality whole foods

[jammyy]

This is one of the best videos I've seen regarding privilege. Well done!

[wongdesopinggirgunung]

thank you for sharing this good video, about the right to exercise and so on
I love it
I wish you success and good health always

[Semispace]

its not, considering that america is one of the richest nations and everybody is obese and unhealthy, yet poorer countries produce quite fit physiques (if they are not malnourished) because they are doing proper work all day long

[fundirams]

Everything’s a privilege in this day and age. “Conversations” like this are therefore self defeating. No one is a winner

[HeyimflylikeaG]

Amazing video I haven’t thought of it like thus I’ve been down on myself lately for not being able to work out (I used to work out regularly during high school) but I’m a college student now and a full time worker ( I’m a server I’m already on my feet I’m just not doing my usual workout routine) and it’s too much to try and exercise when my day is already full. It is a privilege to be able to go to a gym or do traditional work outs and influencers sell this idea to be necessary to be pretty and in shape. It leaves people not feeling good enough because their not participating in fitness.

[ThomasFoolery]

You have the Asian privilege of having the highest income households in the USA though. Do you shoehorn that into every conversation to shame yourself? Why not?