On a fitness/body transformation journey? Beware the quick fixes on social media

If you're considering or are already on a journey to become fit and/or transform your body, research on the internet might be your first port of call.

However, there is so much information and also disinformation especially on social media, that you could sell yourself short with for instance, a fitness influencer.

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Sara-Jayne Makwala King attests to this from personal experience after her own journey on which she succeeded, with a lot of hard work, in dropping 40 kilograms.

She introduces new resident fitness expert and complete body technician Bruce Benjamin, who she credits with helping her achieve her goals.

"The types of conversations we'll be having in this segment are going to be no-holds-barred - we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of your fitness journey."

So how do we navigate all the noise around fitness so that we don't waste our time or even hurt ourselves?

Benjamin says the landscape has changed tremendously over the 20 years he's been working in this field, especially over the last decade with constant new developments on social media.

"It's been an absolute game changer in the sense of the availability of and accessibility to content, especially the aggressive environment in terms of video content for fitness information and motivation."

While these can be a great catalyst to get you going, a deeper dive reveals the negatives which people need to learn to filter out.

"My take is 70/30 and that's being polite - the 70% being the negative, based on my 20 years of experience out there. I had a look at the stats and, overall, the percentage of awareness is a 60/40 basis."

As an example, Benjamin cites one of the most pernicious types of content available, which is the 20-30 second clip showing a training technique and then the end result at the conclusion.

Many viewers will want to resort to a quick fix, but this perspective is super-simplified and unrealistic, he says.

"My own expertise comes from body transformation in a short space of time, but looking at these time frames for clients, it is still very relative... As in your own case, for instance, it encompasses cardio strength training, your eating regimen, and how many times you've had to streamline this, work through certain stumbling blocks in terms of hormones and keep your mind wrapped around what your body is doing."

To listen to Bruce Benjamin in conversation with Sara-Jayne Makwala King on CapeTalk's Weekend Breakfast, click on the audio link below: