Professional athletes and celebrities have a lot of perks that come with fame, but there can be a lot of pressure as well. Fitness celebrities and physique athletes can be overwhelmed with the stress that comes with living up to a standard of perfection 24 hours a day. That stress can be counterproductive and even unhealthy in some cases.
The co-hosts of Femme Flex Friday committed a recent episode on this topic. They referenced social media as one source of this stress because the athlete’s followers are watching what they do daily. This can even be a touchy subject to legends of bodybuilding, such as eight-time Ms. Olympia Lenda Murray.
“Lately I have been thinking about vlogging. So, I’m looking at all of the opportunities to put my image out there,” said Murray. “What I noticed about vloggers, especially on YouTube, is that they are really comfortable and at peace with themselves and not perfect…I don’t know if I can easily transition into that particular field because everything that we do is about looking perfect.”
Wendy Fortino mentioned that all the co-hosts know what life was like before social media, and they had evolved along with it. The difference between their presences before social media and now is the awareness that comes with being online.
“You don’t really have this idea of the world looking at you and what they think of you,” she shared. “So, for me, it’s been kind of stressful and I think subconsciously we all put some type of filter on ourselves.”
Whitney Jones is a three-time Ms. Fitness Olympia, but even she isn’t immune to putting on the best first impression possible. She feels the stress year-round, but especially when she’s preparing for competition.
“You know at 12 weeks out or eight weeks out that God forbid you post a workout video pre-pump. You have to have your shoulders round, quads are popping, booty’s round. You have to look good because you don’t start filming at the beginning of the workout.”
Jones does offer advice for people that feel that pressure to minimize the haters’ comments or focus too much on the best lighting – learn to ignore it or brush it off and focus on what is most important to you.
“You have to have thick skin,” she advised. She does acknowledge that is easier said than done, though.
“I think it can be impossible to be completely like ‘I don’t care.’”
This is a very important episode that can help present and future athletes that want to make the sport their career. Follow FFF by subscribing to the Olympia TV channel so you can see this and all episodes of FFF every Friday at 6 PM Eastern time.