2 min readTHERE'S SOMETHING BIG going on with boys.
Maybe you've seen an influx of teenagers at your local gym. Maybe you've noticed more kids carrying around blender bottles. Maybe you've even witnessed the social media phenomenon that is a teenage fitness influencer.
What's big with boys right now is getting huge. Jacked arms. Swole chests. Chiseled abs. Spurred by intense pressure and unattainable body standards, boys are risking their physical and mental health to build muscle and lose weight.
We know this because for the last year Men's Health followed the stories of four young teens in their quests to bulk up and get cut. What we found was a dark world of social media manipulation, shady supplements, and very real consequences. And we talked to the top experts in the country—from behavioral health researchers to emergency clinicians—for their insights and advice.
The result is Generation Flex, our first-ever full-length documentary film, available to watch via Apple TV+, Amazon Prime, or right here on Men's Health.
Whether you're a parent, caregiver, coach, or kid (and, actually, especially if you're a kid), Generation Flex is a warning shot to the dangers of excessive exercise, fit-fluencer culture, and supplement overuse.
But there’s also plenty to be hopeful about. In tandem with the documentary, we’ve assembled a powerful toolkit for parents and kids that digs into the science of supplementation, details the warning signs of muscle dysmorphia, and equips teens with how to weight-training safely and effectively.
Watch the documentary. Follow the film on Instagram and TikTok. Read up, share, and discuss. There’s a generation of kids out there who need it.
S. Bryn Austin, ScD
A Harvard professor of social and behavioral sciences who studies boys, social media, and body image
Jason Nagata, MD
A pediatrician specializing in eating disorders at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals
Brian St. Pierre, RD, CSCS
Director of nutrition at Precision Nutrition, an exercise and performance company that works with adult and youth athletes
Eli
A skateboarder who found himself spending two and a half hours in the gym every day
Stanley
A budding runner who was drinking weight-loss teas to get the body he wanted
Shahriar
A dedicated student who was taking diet pills when he collapsed at school and had to be taken to the hospital
Ryan
A Marvel stan who felt pressured to build an Iron Man body by what he saw on his socials
Additional art credits: Cameron Sherrill (Teens & Supplements, Supplement Ban, Muscle Dysmorphia); Philip Friedman (Teen Fitness Program); Matt Ryan, MH Illustration (Gen Z’s Dangerous Quest for Gains, Fitness Influencers)
