We all know the glorified gym bro stereotype — the guy around campus who wears muscle tanks, takes mirror pictures showing off his physique and spends hours at the gym trying to attain the “perfect” body. His peers applaud his strength, work ethic and seemingly healthy body. However, they fail to ask what causes men to pursue this lifestyle so religiously. The traditional answer is that men want to be healthy. While that can be part of it, the main reason is more complex: toxic masculinity.

According to Dictionary.com, toxic masculinity is “a cultural concept of manliness that glorifies stoicism, strength, virility and dominance, and that is socially maladaptive or harmful to mental health.” This mindset is taught to boys from childhood, and the need to conform to it essentially becomes their life goal. How then do they achieve society’s definition of manliness? By hitting the gym.

Not only does toxic masculinity have negative mental health impacts such as depression and low self-esteem — which is only made worse by the fact that men aren’t encouraged to go to therapy — but it has physical consequences as well. Counting macronutrients, restricting and excessive exercise are parts of gym culture that make eating disorders more prevalent among men than many realize. Eating disorders can be life-threatening, harming the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neurological and endocrine systems.

On top of this, the obsession that comes with gym culture can lead to injury. Consuming pre-workout and other stimulants allows gymgoers to lift more than they would normally be prepared for. This, along with the pressure to max-out and lift weights heavier than they are capable of, increases the risk of injury.

This contrasts to how issues with gym culture for women are approached. Women’s fitness articles often tackle the negative body image problems women face, viewing exercise as a form of self-care. Men’s fitness articles, on the other hand, don’t acknowledge this and only emphasize the physical aspects. This shows us how the media only reinforces ideas of toxic masculinity when it encourages men to hit the gym.

Another example of the media doing this is with the television show “Love Island.” On the dating show, the men are “athletic, good-looking and competitive,” making male viewers feel the need to live up to this standard.

Social media is no better than television. An Eating Disorder Hope study of 1,000 Instagram posts analyzed how users present male body image. Over half of those posts showed very lean, muscular men. Many of those also showed the men doing things to change their bodies like exercising. These kinds of posts had more engagement than those with men who were less physically built.

While the mindset surrounding manhood pushes men into the gym and hurts them physically and mentally, it’s also harmful to women. In some cases, the outcome of low self-esteem leads to sexual violence against women. In those situations, it’s viewed as an alternate way to reclaim manhood. Additionally, it reinforces sexism and patriarchal systems that disadvantage women in their daily lives.

The standards men hold for themselves in the gym are often projected onto women with condescending and harassing behavior. According to the 2020 statistic, 65% of women avoid going to the gym out of fear of being judged or harassed by men.

None of this is to say men should abandon going to the gym. Of course exercising is healthy, and it can be a hobby you do for fun. The problem presents itself when toxic attitudes about manliness drive men to the gym. As of right now, the vast majority of guys at the gym fall into this latter category. 

To change this, we need to start reframing how we approach healthy eating and exercise. Men should not go to the gym simply because they want to achieve their dream body — the muscular, toned physique that defines their manhood.

We also need to attack the source of unhealthy gym culture — toxic masculinity. We need to stop teaching boys that strength and power are their most important characteristics. We need to stop teaching them to channel their emotions in aggressive ways, like extreme exercise.

Your guy friends might not know that toxic masculinity is controlling their hours spent at the gym. If you have a male friend who seems to be going to the gym for the wrong reasons, point this out to them. We’ll all benefit.