When it comes to grabbing the attention of the Gen Z demographic, there is often one thing that appeals to them more than anything else: internet memes.

Whether it be through tiktok, youtube, or instagram, there is nothing that teenagers and young adults love more than a good meme that makes them laugh and brighten their day just a little bit more. When it comes to gym and lifting culture, there has been an emergence of what is considered “fitness memes” where people are starting to poke fun at the industry and show humanity in the once fabled “gym bros” that are seen as almost untouchable in society.

A prominent leader in this shift of making fun of the gym influencer industry is a content creator by the name of “Back Guy”, who has amassed over 400,000 subscribers on youtube. The description of his youtube channel is to “Spread positivity and information one meme at a time,” and he has been incredibly successful by gaining more than 150 million views on his content.

With a widespread audience, Back Guy allows gym culture to be more approachable to viewers through videos that people can relate to by making his audience laugh. The humor allows him to connect to his viewers in a way that makes the gym seem not as scary as it might be viewed as prior to watching his videos.

A good example of this is in one of his short videos where he shows himself being relatable, but he is incredibly muscular and posing in a way to try to make his audience laugh. His mannerisms in this short 20 second video show that the people who lift and turn into these “muscle monsters” are not much different from those who decide to lift as a hobby, or even those who don’t lift at all. Back Guy shows humanity in his videos by portraying a character that is relatable to human nature, and he brings him, his audience, and the people he jokes about in his videos all on a common ground through the medium of humor. 

I have always felt like the stereotype for the gym is super “hardcore” and has always had a “get tough” attitude that can be alarming to newcomers who are going to the gym for the first time. Seeing people on the bench press next to you benching four plates for reps can be incredibly intimidating, and can ultimately deter those who want to go to the gym to get stronger to come back the next day and work out again.

So through humor, I feel like making fun of the “hardcore” stereotype that surrounds the gym is a great way to help introduce newcomers to the gym, and hopefully encourage them to “achieve greatness” in meeting their healthy lifestyle goals. Along with being in the gym, I feel like this mentality can also be associated with people who are incredibly successful in the workforce.

There is always this constant belief that those who are incredibly high up in their professions, whether it be CEOs, lawyers, doctors, or even professors and teachers, are these perfect people that are disciplined and, in a way, untouchable. However, one thing that is often forgotten by society is that those who are high up and successful are people too, just like those in the gym who have gone every day in order to become as strong as possible. In closing, through humor and making jokes, sometimes stupid videos on the internet is all that is needed in order to motivate those in order to become the best version of themselves. Whether it be going to the gym, or applying to a job with people that seem “serious”, I hope to show that at one point those same people were sitting in the exact same position that you, me, and thousands of other college students are doing right this second. At the end of the day, we’re all human, and as humans we can push each other to become motivated to do the things that we are passionate about in life.

When gym culture and motivation is brought up, there is often a large amount of buzz about the stigma of “the gym bro”. As a gym bro, people associate these types of individuals as people who spend way too much time in the gym, are overly muscular, and admittedly, a little douchey. 

These types of people are often stigmatized to be unpleasant to hang out with, and overall people who lifted regularly were thrown into this stigma as the appearance of the “jersey-shore-gym-bro” who were lifting to solely get girls and, well, be stupid. This was widely accepted in general for those who fit into this category until one individual flipped the stereotype on its head.

Aziz Sergeyevich Shavershian, or better known as ZYZZ on the internet, provided a sense of humanity towards lifting and providing a universal understanding to the untouchable people known as the gym bros. But what makes him different from other internet influencers?

Zyzz had a common story among people who get into lifting. He was skinny, frail, and he was bullied in grade school. However, what made him stand out, is that he took out his anger and pushed himself in the gym rather than other destructive behaviors. He then went on posting things on the internet and showing his interests, including playing League of Legends and going to electronic music festivals and dancing erratically further boosting his character of “Zyzz” into stardom. But above all else, he was human.

Known as almost the pioneer of current gym culture, Zyzz showed the world that it was okay to have weird hobbies, lift, and be yourself. When critiqued through his actions, his physique, or his manner, he always answered with a similar response: “you mirin brah?”

“You mirin brah” might sound like the same stereotype as I mentioned before. However, his extroverted approach to critiques showed a defiance that proved that he was confident in his figure and didn’t really care what other people thought. He was a positive influence in the way that although he was seen as a “douchey gym bro”, he was real, and he was confident in what he had achieved in life. 

In 2011, Zyzz passed away due to heart implications. However, acknowledging his story, his legacy, and above all else, his positive mental attitude, I think that people are able to learn from his exaggerated mannerisms. 

It’s no question that people have bad days, or days that odds seem stacked against them. Days where people are angry at the world, and asking, “why me?” as they stare at the ceiling of their room. However, as Zyzz showed, why not take this anger and frustration and turn it into a positive? Instead of saying “look at me, everything is going against me”, Zyzz showed people that there is more value in facing adversity and being able to say the statement, “Hey, look at me, you mirin brah?” Against all odds, Zyzz continued to push forward and become the greatest form of himself, and he implored his audience that they could do the same as well.