【推荐1】Today, many people are turning to social media for their fitness routines, with TikTok, one of the most popular platforms. Indeed, its fitness category has some 300 billion views. But are the posted works, exercises and challenges really safe and effective?

While fitness influencers can encourage people to become more physically active, which is a positive, the quality and accuracy of their content is a concern, according to a 2023 review in Frontiers in Public Health.

“There are a lot of unsustainable and unrealistic workouts on TikTok, and even some dangerous advice,” said Jess Brown, a certified personal trainer in Westchester, New York. “What’s more, much of the fitness information on TikTok isn’t backed by science or posted by fitness professionals. The workouts are usually generalized to anyone, too, and don’t take into account your health, your family history, your flexibility, your range of motion—the list goes on,” said Monica Jones, a certified personal trainer in Washington, DC.

One of the more popular TikTok fitness trends involves developing your abdominal muscles. These challenges often show an influencer doing one exercise or series of movements that, if repeated daily for a week or two, is promised to result in a sexy six-pack. “No way,” Brown said. “We’ve proven again and again that spot reduction isn’t a thing.”

“Unfortunately, there will always be trends centered around getting fast results, because those grab people’s attention. But it’s important to look at your fitness and health as a lifelong journey, not something you can achieve within 10 to 90 days,” Jones said.

How can you separate quality workouts from dangerous ones? First, check the information of the posters. They should be certified fitness professionals who have experience working with people. You also want a coach who emphasizes improving strength and health, not one who focuses on body type. A quality influencer should encourage mental well-being, self-care and the importance of listening to your body in addition to physical fitness.

【推荐3】Earlier this month, an opinion study said about 75 percent of the French public want to ban bullfighting (斗牛). But a small group of supporters say it is a tradition that should continue.

Baptiste is a 16-year-old boy training to be a bullfighter who lives in Arles, a town in southern France. He says opponents do not understand bullfighting. “Bullfighting is a tradition, an art, a dance with the bull,” Baptiste said. He is one of 12 students in Arles learning how to fight bulls.

Opponents wonder how it can be called “an art” when an innocent animal is killed in the end. During a recent protest march, one sign read: “Bullfighting is not a fight; it’s the killing of a tortured (折磨) innocent.”

Aymeric Caron is a French lawmaker who sent a bill to Parliament that would ban bullfighting. It is currently being debated. He said some parts of France permit bullfighting as long as fewer than 1,000 bulls are killed each year. Just because it is a tradition, he said, does not “morally justify a practice”.

Other lawmakers in Caron’s party are not supporting his bill, so it is unlikely to pass. But the news of the anti-bullfighting proposal started a discussion throughout France.

Frederic Pastor oversees the bullfights in the city of Nimes. He said the bull is “glorified (给予荣耀)” during the fight although it is killed. Nimes is home to 14 bullfighting shows each year. They bring in over $60 million to the city.

Tiphanie Senmartin Laurent is one of the protesters. She said most people are against bullfighting. “Torture is not a show,” she said.

Spain is considered the place where bullfighting began. People there are also questioning the practice. Bullfighting was banned in the Spanish province of Catalonia in 2010 but later brought back. A major court in Spain called the practice a “cultural asset”. That means it is considered a tradition that has value. A new proposal on animal safety in Spain does not discuss bulls.

【推荐3】People love the “comeback kid”, the “down and out guy”, and any variety of defeated people whom we’ve seen fail, then manage to dust off their bootstraps (独自所作的努力) and take on life again. Everyone should get this chance in life, and they should get it over and over and over again. Everyone, that is, except our teenagers, right?

At least that is how parents, teachers, college admission officers, coaches, and others who spend time with adolescents have led all of us to believe. We have all bought the great lie that there is not only zero room for today’s teenagers to fail academically, but any form of failure is a great embarrassment to everyone involved. And I do mean everyone.

Ever notice how quick parents are to share college acceptance letters, scholarships, SAT scores, and pretty much all the perfect resumes (简历) of their high schoolers for everyone to see on social media? Surely it makes moms and dads extremely proud. We all want to take credit for our teenager’s great accomplishments, and while that is all well and good, it also means that when failure happens, we scatter like sheep when a wolf arrives, because failure on their part means failure on our part.

Adolescent brains do not have the bandwidth to process that failure is temporary, and that high school is but a small spot on their life map. Unfortunately, while we may talk that talk, our actions do not bolster it. Anyone who has been through the competitive college application and scholarship process knows this all too well, because there is no room for any form of failure. But this is wrong.

Tell your kids that failure doesn’t define them. Tell them it’s normal, natural, and expected. Tell them failure creates comeback stories, and the opportunity to rise even higher and better than before. And finally, tell them you don’t worry that they will fail; you worry that they won’t.