Your eyes aren’t deceiving you when you go to the gym. Teens really are flocking to the weight room in big numbers and taking to the treadmills in droves.
According to ABC Fitness Wellness Watch, new gym memberships among Gen Zers increased by 29 percent. Strength training is popular among girls and boys alike, while girls gravitate toward group fitness classes like yoga and pilates, too. And according to Strava, the older tier of Gen Z would rather make social connections through running groups than by hitting the bars at night.
But is it all as healthy as it looks?
Like all things adolescent, it depends. The drive toward fitness among the younger generation is, in large part, fueled by social media. Take a peek at TikTok and you’ll discover that #GymTok alone has nearly 35 million posts, covering everything from nutrition to workout recommendations. The downside? Often, viewers aren’t getting advice from people who have the expertise to guide exercise routines in a safe, healthy manner. That’s why young people who are mimicking what they see on their screens are often at risk of injuries.
“I’m seeing an obsession with the gym,” says Reena Vokoun, who is an ACE-certified trainer, CEO of Passion Fit, and mother of two teenage sons. “Their fitness choices and their workouts are definitely being influenced by what they’re seeing on social media.”
To be clear, nobody wants to squash Gen Z’s enthusiasm for exercise. Starting workout habits now can set them up for a lifetime of healthy living. But getting hurt won’t do much to foster that motivation, so here are four ways parents can make sure that fitness practices remain age-appropriate, safe, minimize injuries, and give teens the best chance for long-term success.
Encourage clarity of fitness goals and objectives. When the #FitTok algorithm latches on to teens, the purpose of working out often gets blurry. Boys and girls are inundated with images of what they think is an ideal body type, whether it’s toned and chiseled or slender and lean. Body image is distorted, especially for young, impressionable people. Instead of chasing better health (mental and physical) and higher quality of life through exercise, adolescents may focus on what they look like instead, which leads to all kinds of problems like bigorexia and eating disorders, as well as low self-esteem.
In fact, TikTok recently banned the #SkinnyTok hashtag, which promoted extreme diets and weight loss tips to followers. European policymakers pressured the social media platform to get rid of #SkinnyTok to protect girls’ mental health.
While no age group is immune to diet culture, teens are especially vulnerable at a time when their bodies are already rapidly changing. That’s why it’s important to frame fitness goals in terms of overall well-being.
“Sometimes there is such a focus on aesthetics,” Vokoun says, “this focus on how they look versus how they feel.”
The problem isn’t confined to girls, either. Erin McTiernan, a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, previously discussed with SheKnows the rise of body image and eating disorders among teen boys, which she attributes not just to social media, but to societal pressures for boys and men to look “tough” and “strong.” She recommends that parents have an open and ongoing dialogue with their teens about their exercise objectives.
“Ask about conversations among their friend group about fitness routines or diets,” McTiernan says. “Parents can also help educate their [children] on the importance of fueling their bodies with a variety of foods and taking rest days to promote recovery.”
It’s not a new concept, but often influencers (or “fitfluencers”) set up young audiences with unrealistic expectations, whether it’s the way that body composition might change as a result of following their recommendations or the rate of progress somebody might see. It can lead to consequences for teens, some of whom may not understand that a host of factors lead to different results for different people (like genetics or skill level)—and that it takes time and patience to see any kind of change.
Teens are old enough to set tangible goals, like deadlifting a certain weight or completing a 5K race, for example, but they should also understand that it takes time to reach those goals in a safe manner. Doing too much, too soon without having the basics nailed—like proper lifting form or gradually building endurance—can lead to injury.
While research hasn’t found any reason to restrict teens from weight lifting or specializing in a favorite sport, experts like Heather Menzer, MD, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, still advise that teenagers engage in a variety of activities so that they reduce the likelihood of overtaxing any one area of their bodies, resulting in overuse injuries like tendonitis or stress fractures.
“Setting realistic goals based on a teen’s current level of fitness fosters a healthier mindset,” Dr. Menzer says. “And it’s important to promote balanced routines that aren’t just cardio or just weightlifting. At this age, they should have a well-rounded approach to exercise.”
Seek out in-person help if you can. Social media isn’t all bad, especially if it’s stoking curiosity, connection, and community around fitness. But the bits and pieces and highlight reels that tend to bubble to the top of the feed neglect a lot of essential guidance that newbies need to learn in order to engage in activities like weightlifting and strength training effectively and safely. And creators are often more experienced or much older than the consumers of the content, too, so it’s not tailored for the needs of a younger demographic.
Blindly following an influencer who has no idea what a follower’s fitness level, physiology, or skill sets are is a recipe for trouble.
“Content can lack important information like proper form, safety, injury prevention, and recovery,” Vokoun says. “A lot of times, full-grown adults are giving advice to these kids on social media, and they’re not taking into consideration what might be detrimental and where they might be in their growth or puberty.”
Teens who are interested in new activities can greatly benefit from in-person guidance from coaches or certified personal trainers who can teach them how to go about it safely (Planet Fitness offers free summer gym memberships to high school students, which comes with free sessions with personal trainers as well as teen-specific workouts plans designed to build strength safely and gradually). Having a knowledgeable adult watching (and correcting) technique or creating training schedules that are appropriate for age and fitness level—and incorporate an adequate amount of rest and recovery—can help younger athletes thrive.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that teenagers get 60 minutes of “vigorous” physical activity most days, with three days per week focusing on bone and muscle strengthening exercise. According to an AAP clinical report, kids can start strength training (think: push ups, resistance band exercises, and other body-weight exercises) as young as 7 or 8 years old. With proper supervision, they can graduate to lifting weights, starting with light weights, in middle school.
“Scientific research supports a wide acceptance that children and adolescents can gain strength with resistance training with low injury rates if the activities are performed with an emphasis on proper technique and are well supervised,” the report says.
While many members of Gen Z seem to be meeting the suggestions for the amount of exercise they complete in a week, social media might also encourage them to exceed them.
Indeed, Dr. Menzer says that promoting unhealthy workout habits, primarily overtraining (going hard, every day), are among the biggest problems she sees with social media-based advice, especially among Gen Z.
“The strategies for exercise and fitness can be very different for growing athletes, and it’s important that teenagers are staying within their own abilities,” she says. “What an adult is doing on TikTok is probably not appropriate for growing bones and growing bodies.”
Monitor these aches and pains. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell when a teen is suffering a real injury. They’re often so active, whether in sports or generally running around with friends, so a certain amount of soreness and fatigue is normal — not to mention the occasional “growing pains,” a catchall term for the aches that adolescents sometimes experience in their legs as their bodies develop.
But if a teen has been hitting the weights a lot or just starting another form of exercise routine, sometimes ramping up those activities too quickly, without refining form or technique, can result in injuries that need medical attention.
With her sons, who play soccer and also lift weights at the gym, Vokoun is especially attentive to pain concentrated in the knees or the back. Trouble in those areas usually means an athlete needs to adjust their lifting form or adjust the amount of weight they’re using. Vokoun also reminds her boys that they need to work different muscle groups on different days, to give each area enough time to adapt and repair.
“We also talk to our pediatrician and doctors as parents to get their opinion based on genetics, their current size, the sports they’re doing, and where they’re injury-prone, to help make recommendations about what’s safe and what’s not,” Vokoun says.
When in doubt, it never hurts to seek help, Dr. Menzer says, especially if a child is displaying instability or has swelling somewhere — or the pain isn’t going away. The most common injuries she treats in her practice are muscle strains, ligament problems, patellar instability, and ACL tears, among a wide range of other issues, depending on the sport.
“Most injuries I see aren’t because of something they learned on TikTok, but because of overuse that leads to pain,” Dr. Menzer says. “If there’s a concern, sometimes it’s just reassuring to hear a doctor say it’s going to be OK. We are always here to help.”
Beware of the salespeople — and what they’re selling. Social media is rife with people just trying to make a buck off their accounts. In the wellness and fitness space, that often means influencers promote products that aren’t meant for kids, like protein powders, creatine, energy drinks, bars, shakes, and other supplements that they promise will propel consumers to next-level, muscle-making results.
First and foremost, teens should eat a wide variety of real foods that fuel their active lives and not rely on powders or shakes to meet arbitrary protein intake goals. But also, the most reputable sources of fitness information on platforms like TikTok won’t try to sell their followers anything — and they’ll list their certifications and education on their profile accounts.
“As a parent and as a health and fitness professional, all the energy drinks and protein powders and products people are trying to sell definitely make me nervous,” Vokoun says. “It’s not good for growing teens.”
Vokoun encourages her sons to follow experts and coaches who have an educational background in anatomy, physiology, or personal training. It’s not that she dictates who they follow, but she tries to steer them toward high-quality information.
“It’s more about empowering them and teaching them that, just like anything else, look for credible sources. If they’re taking advice from somebody who doesn’t have the proper education, it’s only going to be to their detriment,” Vokoun says.
Dr. Menzer offers similar advice and encourages parents to model these behaviors for their kids. Often, what you’re doing on social media and in the gym is the most important example teens will find.
“Be proactive and address the trends they’re picking up online,” Dr. Menzer says. “No form of exercise is bad for them, as long as they’re getting the right guidance.”
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