A runner tracks her progress with a smartphone at various points along a 30-kilometre route. The accompanying video footage shows her preparing for the run, donning her running belt and shoes. Elsewhere, a man addresses the camera directly, outlining his upcoming race. He is training for an ultramarathon, a gruelling event where participants aim to run for days on a looped course until only one competitor remains standing. “In life, all the things you want are on the other side of doing the hard work,” he states, a sentiment that resonates with many in the online fitness community. He has also tagged a popular athletic apparel brand in his post, a common practice among those seeking to leverage their online presence for brand partnerships.
Both individuals are active participants in the burgeoning online “runfluencer” community. This community thrives on promoting exercise and an active lifestyle, but it has also ignited a crucial debate surrounding the potential risks of injury and the reliability of the advice being disseminated.
Breaking the ‘Doomscroll’ Cycle
Katie Dall, a Brisbane-based run coach and personal trainer, has witnessed firsthand the surge in running’s popularity, both in real-world settings and across digital platforms. One of the weekly run clubs she organises now draws hundreds of participants, so much so that marshals are required to manage the crowds. Runners attending another of her clubs have shared how consuming and creating online content has been a significant source of motivation and inspiration.
“Anything that helps get young women out and about and gives them confidence and gets them healthy, I think that’s always a good thing,” one runner commented. Another added, “It’s when you’re sitting about lazy, doomscrolling on the phone and then come across a video of somebody running and you’re like … ah, just get my shoes on.” A third participant expressed, “I get a lot of inspiration from others as well … and use that for my own motivation and drive.”
However, in recent months, the online conversation has shifted. Discussions about injuries, particularly those stemming from stress or overuse, have become more prominent. This change was partly precipitated by several high-profile influencers sharing their own injury experiences and subsequently posting about their recovery journeys.
Ms Dall acknowledges that while running influencers generally have a positive impact, she is “definitely” aware of a deficit in education regarding overtraining, the proper structuring of weekly running plans, and how to judiciously select the number of events to participate in annually. “I see people coming to every single run club, signing up for every single race, trying to get a PB at every Parkrun on a Saturday or even some of the 5km run clubs that I host,” she explained.
The Pitfalls of ‘Doing Too Much’
Even with her extensive experience in the fitness industry, Ms Dall admits it’s “easy to be influenced and to get caught up in what other people are doing.” She notes that this is a struggle she has personally overcome. “A lot of people get FOMO, so I can definitely see how people are getting injured … and how physios are becoming a lot busier than they used to be,” she remarked with a laugh.
Conversely, she understands the pressure influencers may feel from brands to participate in more events than advisable and to achieve peak performance in them. “With Hyrox and all these new running events popping up … people are definitely doing too much,” Ms Dall stated. Her core message is clear: “It’s quality over quantity … just stay in your lane.”
Stress Fractures: Not a ‘Badge of Honour’
Cam McDonald, an exercise physiologist and dietician based in Brisbane, concurs that promoting exercise and running is “a great thing,” especially given the concerning number of individuals who remain insufficiently active. However, he expresses significant concern about running influencers advocating “overtraining” or treating injuries like stress fractures as a “badge of honour.”
“It’s the worst thing that we could possibly be doing for people,” he asserted. “The way to think about exercise … is that it’s stress on your system. The only time you get stronger from running, stronger from the gym, or the only time you benefit is when you rest afterwards.”
Dr McDonald views a stress fracture as an indicator of “lots of stress but no recovery.” He empathises with the pressures influencers face to constantly perform and “keep pushing forward.” “It’s hard to commercialise sleeping, or videos of sleeping,” he pointed out. “[They show] working really hard all of the time … at race pace all of the time, and it’s a great example, but it needs moderation and it needs a lot of recommendation around the right recovery.”
Dr McDonald believes it would be concerning to see runners training for more than three marathons per year. He advocates for increased emphasis on proper fuelling strategies and the crucial importance of rest days. “It is unrealistic … the elites don’t do that kind of training, they actually have a whole lot more rest.” He concluded, “There’s an imbalance there and we can do something [to make] this great message … a little better.”
Crystal Abidin, a digital anthropologist, points out that the promotion of seemingly unattainable or unrealistic lifestyles is not a phenomenon exclusive to running influencers. “We need to remember the origin story of lots of influencers is that they’re pedestrian, everyday ordinary civilians just like you,” the Curtin University professor of internet studies observed. “They’re not celebrities, they’re not experts and therefore what they promote to us feels attainable.”
