Does the US have a distinct obsession with fitness?

23 comments

1. Americans working out: “omg you all are obsessed with fitness!”

   Americans not working out: “omg why are you all so obese?”

2. I think this is a case of confirmation bias.

   We have a diverse country in so many ways, including habits, lifestyles, and interests. So when you see some TikTok person in Southern California, where the dominant industries like show business are all about brand, appearance, looks, etc., you will see a lot of fitness crazy people. Elsewhere in the United States, not nearly as much. I don’t think the nation at large has a distinct obsession with fitness, but we do have subsets of people who are really into it, yes.

3. No you have algorithms recommending you fitness videos because you’ve watched them.

4. The only thing that confirms is that the TikTok advertising algorithm has determined that your demographic is more likely to respond to fitness ads featuring Caucasians.

5. Gym culture is definitely a big thing here in the UK these days, so I’d say no, the US doesn’t have a distinct obsession with fitness. The algorithm is just showing you people who fit your profile, I’d guess (fitness, north american, selling workout-related products), but if you were European, you’d see Europeans work out, etc.

   The US might have a bit more of a “hustle” culture with people shilling products, but influencers/social media sellers and their like are very common across the board worldwide these days.

6. I think our gym culture may be stronger. It’s not nearly as prominent in the countries that I visit.

   But those countries often have very active lifestyles. They don’t need gyms in the Netherlands when they bike everywhere.

7. You’re focused on the wrong part of those videos. Americans aren’t uniquely into fitness. We’re uniquely into shilling products.

8. What? I have seen German, Czech, Russian and Lithuanian body builders on Instagram in the past week.

9. Lol, because you tend to look at Americans and the algorithm caters to what videos you watch. If you follow or watched European country pages, you’d see more of that.

10. As someone who is also on the fitness side of Tiktok, I’ve definitely seen Europeans and Asians fitness tiktokers.

11. I do feel like the US is a leader in fitness trends and therefore, you’ll have entrepreneurs pushing forth products and services.

    And yes, the US can have both the fattest and most fit people.

12. Probably not more than any other country.

13. It’s not rare at all, Gymshark’s whole gym influencer ecosystem started in the UK

14. Have you seen how fat most of us are?

15. >I just came to realize how rare it was to see a European or East Asian working out and shilling products.

    Could it be that these people don’t have a very strong online presence in general?

16. Because you’re scrolling TikTok and Instagram in English, so the algorithm shows you content from other English creators. If you were to scroll TikTok in Polish or German you’d see the same thing

17. I would say yeah, especially in my Gen Z. Going to the gym and working out is seen by most people as a basic responsibility, like knowing how to cook or doing your laundry. It doesn’t mean everyone does it, but I get the impression that isn’t really the case in other countries. There are tons of supplements and diets and exercise fads and gyms where I live. Probably because we have the worst obesity epidemic and don’t walk much. I am from Colorado though, so maybe I’m biased.

18. I don’t think it’s distinct, but I think our gym culture is more intense than other Western countries among the people who do get into it because of our “hustle” culture.

    Part of it is also that being visibly muscular is not really a feminine beauty standard in East Asia still. It’s more about just being skinny-skinny.

19. I seen plenty of Brazilians on there

20. I live in Europe. They work out here too.

21. Honestly, Asia would probably be a pretty good market for it. When I was in college it was not uncommon to see asian and indian foreign students working out in jeans, dress shirts, khakis, etc at the canpus gym

22. I can’t compare with that many countries, but I live in Japan and whenever I return to the US I notice it. My sister works out like mad.

    The aesthetics are different too. Guys in the US are freaking big and I guess that is popular. But that look is kind of out of place in East Asia. Here the standard for guys is more of a swimmer of soccer player look. Kind of slim but muscular. I don’t see as much of the heavy lifting type people in the gyms in Tokyo.

23. We are the fattest country in the world. What makes you think we do any exercising.