Fashion trends can be hard to keep up with, whether in everyday life or in the fitness space. Endless arrays of sponsorships and sales just begging you to spend your money on the newest thing.
1:30am rolls around in the blue light of my evening doom scroll, like it does at least twice a week, every week. The world, asleep, a quiet snore from a neighbouring room, but my eyes remain glued to the screen. A particular skill that TikTok seems to have fostered in me is the ability to fall (mind, body, and soul) into “Fitness-Tok”. It eats away into the sacred hours of promised sleep, keeping me there for “one more video” as I scroll again, planning how I’m going to fix my entire schedule in the morning. In the corner of every 3rd video is a little yellow icon, a shopping bag accompanied with screaming capital letters. FLASH SALE! WOMENS HIGH WAIST GYMSHORTS, WOMENS FLATTERING CROPPED ACTIVE TOP, DYFNE 2-PIECE SPORTS BRA AND BBL SHORTS, the list goes on. Everything seems to scrunch. It cinches, lifts, boosts, and it’s all on sale NOW, for the next 24 hours only.
Walking into a gym for the first time is terrifying. You feel a thousand eyes on you – judging your apparel, your form, the way you wander slightly aimlessly between equipment trying to figure out what you need to attempt to decode next. The truth, of course, is that nobody is looking at you at all. We’re a self-centred species by nature, and it’s far more likely that the mountainous man at the free weights that you think is critiquing your very existence is actually just contemplating what he’s having for dinner. This anxiety, however, may be fuelled by “Fitness-Tok”.
The influencers at the forefront of the platform are clad head to toe in exclusive gym wear, often thanks to sponsorships. Their makeup and hair are perfect, their muscles bulge and curve exactly where they’re meant to, their camera quality is cinematic, the link is in their bio.
Between their workout tips and pump pictures, it seems they might have trapped lightning in a bottle, and you can, too! Just click the URL, enter their affiliate code, and punch in your details. With the rising pressures, especially on women in the gym space, to always look your best, it can be hard to figure out where the line lies between fashion and practicality. The overwhelming amount of content focusing specifically on what one is wearing when exercising can lead people down some misleading paths, and what’s best for one person might be a nightmare for others.
“I would love to go to the gym just in a sports bra but I don’t feel like I can in case everybody’s looking at me”
Enter: Amelia and Olivia. 2 passionate gym-goers with incredible commitment but, different training priorities.
Amelia, former Netball Scotland athlete, is in active recovery after a grade 3 ACL rupture, medial meniscus tear, grade 2 MCL tear and subsequent knee surgery in 2024. She prioritises strength training and mobility.
Olivia is a talented runner, currently preparing for the London Half Marathon, and schedules her gym time in between multiple weekly runs. She priorities stamina training, strength, and endurance.
However, between their differences in specifics, their mentalities stayed roughly the same when it came to the pressures faced by women in the gym space.
When asked about what brought her confidence in the gym space, Amelia said, “My gym actually underwent renovations recently and I think getting back into it, it was actually quite good because they introduced a female-only space which really helped my confidence. Once I got my bearings again and I knew where everything was, I was like, “Oh, I can go do my workout, I’m surrounded by other women,” and it’s kinda took away the pressure of like… so the gym is always boiling, and I would not ever strip down to my sports bra if I was in the main gym. Whereas being in the woman’s only bit, I am able to take my cover off, I am able to workout to a full intensity without being worried.”
With a nod of her head, Olivia agreed, “I think for me as well, I’m a really warm person, I can build up a sweat quite quickly, and I would love to go to the gym just in a sports bra but I don’t feel like I can in case everybody’s looking at me, so I think I kinda lose that confidence in a way because I don’t want everybody staring at me cause I’m “that girl” who’s only wearing a sports bra. But I think it is silly, it probably is just in my head like nobody actually cares.”
The conversation began to swerve towards the online influences that float around the gym. Amelia rated seeing a significant amount of commentary around what women wear in the gym. She sighed, “See, you think that and then you see the comments online on “Fitness-Tok” where women are just wearing their wee strappy bra… I think yeah, if it shows off your gains, you go, girl! Like, you’ve worked hard for them, why wouldn’t you want to show it off? But then you still see those comments that are like “Awww whys she wearing nothing? Does she not understand it’s a gym?” So yeah, I’d say it’s not all in your head ‘cause there are people like that out there.”
Not only do woman face judgement in the gym for their attire, but sometimes even spending the big bucks on the most recommended activewear gets you gear that isn’t actually up to the challenge. Amelia has had some rough experiences in this department before.
“Don’t buy this, don’t buy that, buy yourself!”
“I actually have bought from DYFNE before, bear in mind I do buy it secondhand off Vinted most of the time, just because it is soooo expensive. But I think DYFNE is overhyped. Yes, it does cinch. Yes, it does lift. Yes, it does all that…but I’ve actually had two pairs now rip on me. I’m not someone with a massive arse. This is sportswear, this is supposed to withstand you squatting, you doing sports, you running, lifting, lunging, whatever you need to do. If you’re wearing it a couple times and you know it’s bursting already, is it really worth the £50 you’re gonna spend on it? I’d say whilst I have bought from them, it’s not someone I would now go to.”
On the other hand, Olivia has been involved in Fitness-Tok for a while as part of her fitness journey and actually felt she had reaped the benefits of keeping up with influencers, “I am quite easily influenced by other people, I really like Zoe Mae, for one. She posts on TikTok; she does a lot of running and gymming, HYROX’s and stuff. She collabs with MyProtein and Gymshark quite a lot. And yeah, I did buy from MyProtein because she said it was good. Yeah, and you know what? I love MyProtein, their sports bras are really comfortable. I don’t think they’re very supportive, so that could be an issue. But their leggings are great. It just depends, because, especially for running, you want to be comfortable. If you are running a half marathon, you need to wear what’s best. Although spending money isn’t great, the majority of the time when I’ve spent the extra money, it’s been good quality stuff. I usually go for Under Armour shorts that are quite baggy, and they are like £45, but when I did buy shorts off Sports Direct that were only £9, I got really bad chaffing, and they just weren’t really supportive. Sometimes you do get quality in what you pay for, but then again, you can also get the opposite. Like I know that Nike, they now do a lot of “fashion sport” stuff, and it’s like… £90 shorts and stuff like that. It’s just pathetic, like nobody wants that, and it makes sports really inaccessible. The big thing is that you need to invest in yourself. Don’t buy this, don’t buy that. Buy yourself.”
The internet is full of positives and negatives, pitfalls of consumerism, and gems of practicality. It’s a guessing game, but at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is movement and mindfulness.
If you find something that makes you feel good about how you look and supports you, in your day-to-day, it doesn’t matter what people say. Live free from the societal shackles of trends and perception – move beyond ridiculous messages telling you to spend! Spend! Spend! “Don’t buy this, don’t buy that, buy yourself!”
