- Pre-2000s, fitness-minded people were a minority with limited monetization options like personal training, security, or acting.
- Social media in the mid-2000s began breaking the barrier between fitness culture and mainstream.
- COVID lockdowns gave the fitness influencer industry a second wind, eroding public trust in experts and increasing online content consumption.
- Post-2022, fitness culture became inescapable, with widespread public interest in weight loss, obesity, and related topics.
- Two main content types (bodybuilding/powerlifting vs. cardio/nutrition) thrive despite apparent differences, sharing a valuation of peak performance.
- The current fitness craze resembles organized religion: routine, moralism, perpetual improvement, and echo-chamber advice.
- Downsides include never feeling good enough, comparison to genetic outliers, and distorted perception of reality via social media.