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Episode 105Jul 29, 2026· 5:42

How Judgmental Fitness Content Hurts Beginners (Even When It's Not About Them)

▸ Show notes from the creator
Ever wonder why online fitness spaces can feel so judgmental, even when all you're trying to do is move more? In this episode, guest host Domenic Angelino, who lost over 130 pounds and now holds two master's degrees in exercise science and psychology, breaks down a side effect of toxic fitness culture most creators never think about. Domenic explains how hostile, status driven fitness content doesn't just affect the people watching it directly. It trains people to bring that same harsh energy into other fitness spaces, comment sections, and conversations, making the whole online fitness world feel less safe for beginners. This episode is part of our Take Over series while Ashley steps back to build out the More Movement Please community. Tune in for an honest look at how creators, often without meaning to, shape whether fitness feels welcoming or intimidating for the next person walking through the door. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and is not medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional before starting any diet or exercise program. Join the FREE accountability group: https://famousashleygrant.com/group/ Be sure to follow me online: https://famousashleygrant.com/fitness/ Find Domenic online: https://domenicangelino.com https://www.instagram.com/domenichealth/ https://bsky.app/profile/domenichealth.bsky.social https://www.linkedin.com/in/domenicangelino/ --------------------------------------- This podcast is supported by affiliate partnerships. Please check out a few of our partners below: – Check out my Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/theashleygrant?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_aipsfshop_4EEZX1HN7ZCWEBZ33TK3 – Start a podcast today here: https://rss.com/?via=moremovementplease – Create content from your own voice with Castmagic's Suite of AI Tools: https://get.castmagic.io/dcjy15cirnts – Want to help support our show? Buy a girl a drink perhaps? https://ko-fi.com/famousashleygrant The links above are affiliate links. This means my podcast will receive a small commission if you order through any of them at no additional cost to you. Affiliate commissions are one of the ways my podcast makes money so that I can create episodes free of charge. If you do purchase anything from my links, I sincerely would like to thank you for your support!
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About this episode
Ever wonder why online fitness spaces can feel so judgmental, even when all you're trying to do is move more? In this episode, guest host Domenic Angelino, who lost over 130 pounds and now holds two master's degrees in exercise science and psychology, breaks down a side effect of toxic fitness culture most creators never think about. Domenic explains how hostile, status driven fitness content doesn't just affect…
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Full transcript
00:00
And now it's time for something completely different.
00:07
What's up, my movers and shakers? Famous Ashley
00:09
Grant here. Welcome to More Movement, Please,
00:11
the podcast where I hope to inspire you to move
00:13
your body more. Just wanted to let you guys know
00:15
that I am stepping back from the mic for a bit.
00:17
Not because I'm done, far from it. I'm just gonna
00:20
spend the next few weeks pouring my energy into
00:22
building out the community so that you guys have
00:24
more ways to move more often with more support.
00:28
While I do that, I've asked some folks that I
00:29
trust to take over the show for a while. Today
00:32
I'm handing things over to Dominic Angelino.
00:34
Dominic has been on the show a couple of times,
00:36
and he's lost over 130 pounds at the age of 14.
00:39
He accidentally became his high school's go -to
00:42
fitness advisor, and he turned all that into
00:44
a double major in exercise science and psychology,
00:47
plus two master's degrees. Today he works across
00:50
research, content creation, and product design
00:53
with one goal, helping as many people as possible
00:55
at once. Let's get into today's episode. One
01:02
thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is
01:03
that a lot of fitness communities online are
01:06
pretty intimidating to the average person who's
01:10
just trying to explore fitness, wants to be a
01:12
bit healthier, and is self -conscious and scared
01:15
of being judged or what have you. It's something
01:19
that I think matters, right? Because people feel
01:25
better. when they feel safe and people are more
01:29
likely to succeed when they feel safe and when
01:33
they feel like they're able to explore the things
01:36
they want to explore to facilitate attainment
01:38
of whatever their goals happen to be but there
01:41
are a lot of fitness spaces online that are you
01:44
know geared towards being very judgmental hypercritical
01:46
and very rigid more focused on social signaling
01:49
and posturing than being supportive and you know
01:53
it's like fine for communities to exist that
01:56
work with the audience that fits them however
02:00
there is this kind of like interesting thing
02:02
that happens when communities of that sort are
02:05
fostered the members of that audience end up
02:09
then being exposed to general fitness content
02:12
pretty much anywhere and they translate the normalized
02:16
behavior from like that parent community to new
02:20
communities that they encounter like uh I guess,
02:23
like, a less abstract example of what I mean
02:25
is, like, let's say person A watches a creator
02:28
who's, like, super judgmental. Like, the vibe
02:32
is just, like, everybody who does this is stupid.
02:35
Or, like, this person's, like, super wrong, etc.
02:39
And, like, takes a more, like, hostile, kind
02:42
of, like, status -oriented approach than that.
02:46
kind of framing becomes normalized and then the
02:48
members of the audience when they consume other
02:50
fitness content which they're likely to do you
02:53
know just do like algorithms right like you watch
02:56
one fitness video you're probably going to get
02:57
another or some sort at some point um they are
03:00
more likely to repeat that sort of framing or
03:04
messaging when they leave comments which then
03:06
kind of infects other fitness spaces and makes
03:10
them less accessible and were intimidating for
03:13
people who are newer to the space or who don't
03:16
really, I guess, mesh with that type of content.
03:20
And it's interesting, right? Because that then
03:23
creates an impression online for a lot of people
03:26
where fitness is not welcoming. It is very judgmental.
03:30
And there are people in the space who do adopt
03:33
that sort of framing, which is a very real problem.
03:36
So I guess what I'm really saying is that I feel
03:38
like the downstream effect of creators being
03:42
more judgmental condescending and kind of like
03:45
taking that sort of approach can actually harm
03:48
and negatively affect people outside of their
03:50
primary audiences who are you know audiences
03:53
that are looking for that approach but because
03:55
those people then go out to other comment sections
03:58
and have other conversations with people in their
04:02
lives and that can inhibit healthy behaviors
04:08
several steps removed from the creator so something
04:10
that i imagine a lot of people aren't really
04:12
like aware of like i know most creators won't
04:14
be coming from a bad place or anything or actually
04:17
intend to do harm to somebody but it is something
04:20
that does have a real effect on people out there
04:24
downstream and i don't know it's just some sort
04:26
of thing that i think is worth considering with
04:28
responsible content creation in the fitness space
04:31
that people just don't happen to consider and
04:34
i also want to like point out like i know there
04:36
are a lot of like welcoming and positive communities
04:38
out there. And that's great. And those people
04:41
don't necessarily have this sort of like negative
04:43
impact downstream. It's just that the spaces
04:46
that are a bit more rigid, more critical, more
04:48
judgmental, et cetera, they do have an outsized
04:52
impact from my understanding. Thanks for tuning
04:58
in to More Movement, Please. I hope the messages
05:00
from today's episode inspired you. If you'd like
05:02
more content, check out our Patreon. And if you'd
05:04
like to be on the show, head over to famousashleygrant
05:06
.com backslash fitness. Onwards and upwards,
05:08
my friends. Have you worked out today?