A personal trainer from Amersham believes the confidence of women is being ‘dragged down’ due to ‘fake’ images that are being uploaded onto social media.

Gavin Dawson, who owns his company, DeadFit.co.uk, exclusively told the Free Press that some goals are ‘not realistic’ and that with the right commitment and training, individuals will be able to maintain their fitness after reaching their end goal.

Mr Dawson also believes that some images of individuals on social media are ‘fake’, which plays a factor in self-esteem and confidence issues.

He said: “When you only have social media or TV to look at [during the pandemic], it looks like everyone is doing amazing.

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“‘Oh look, that person is doing amazing and that person is doing amazing’ and you’re sat there feeling rubbish.

“I think having contact with people, seeing those people at a safe distance, and seeing how they are coping actually brings you back to reality.

“It gets you out of those four walls as supposed to look at what I consider to be, a lot of fake pictures on Instagram.

Bucks Free Press:

Personal trainer, Gavin Dawson

“I think a lot of times when there are people showing off fancy pictures of themselves, I think it drags a lot of people down.

“I work with a lot of women who struggle with confidence and I think those sorts of things drag people down and I think a lot of them are not real.”

Since social media became a huge presence in everyday life during the 2000s, some images of individuals that have been posted on sites such as Instagram, have been criticised due to how heavily edited they are.

This year, Conservative MP Dr Luke Evans drew up a bill that could see celebrities get penalised if they upload airbrushed imaged of themselves.

The 37-year-old MP of Bosworth in Leicestershire said that edited photos are 'fuelling a mental health crisis’.

This comes after a number of celebrities have been slammed for apparently heavily editing their photos on social media.

Gavin continued: “For example, you can get someone that could say, ‘look at me, I have got a six-pack and you can get a six-pack in six weeks’ – you just look at it and you go, ‘no, no you can’t’.

“It is not realistic for somebody.

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“And the problem is that when somebody tries that six-week programme, they pay however much for this service and they don’t get their six pack in six weeks, they think it is their fault, and it is not their fault at all.

“I am a person that is very much wanting to help my clients with how they get to the end goal and maintaining that goal after it has been reached.

“When they leave me because I don’t want my clients to be with me forever, they can continue with that progression.

“And in a few years’ time when I see them, I’ll be able to see them maintain their results rather than the alternative which is to forget the results, forget that end goal and I see them in a year’s time or so, and all their hard work is undone.

“You’ve got to be committed to the process.”

For more information, visit www.deadfit.co.uk.