There’s so much BS in fitness these days that it’s become virtually impossible to know who to trust or what to believe in.
Well, how about we shoot down 10 of the most ridiculous fitness trends today to make things a little easier for you?
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #1: Overly Complicated Exercises
If you’ve ever used Instagram to catch up on what’s new in fitness, you’ve probably seen all these fit people doing all sorts of crazy (and usually dangerous) exercises that they promise would get you ripped in no time.
You know what I’m talking about: so-called fitness gurus squatting on exercise balls, combining 20 different exercises into one movement (and doing them all incorrectly), and using bands in exercises that don’t require them to make things more challenging instead of just lifting heavier.
The problem with these crazy exercises is that they not only put you at risk of getting injured, they’re also almost always so complicated that you can’t even lift heavy enough weights to actually trigger a positive response in your body.
Sure, they may look impressive. These people are doing it for the views after all. But they do absolutely nothing to get you closer to your fitness goals. Save yourself the time and stick to exercises that are scientifically proven to work.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #2: Workouts Designed for Targeted Fat Loss
If you ever come across a ‘fitness guru’ telling you they have a workout that can help you lose fat in your tummy, arms, thighs, or any other specific part of your body, just move on to the next one. They clearly have no idea what they are talking about.
Spot reduction is a myth. You can’t tell your body where to lose fat first. Even if you do a thousand crunches a day, if your body wants to target your arms first, then that’s what it’ll do.
So, your focus should instead be on just losing fat. Period. The fat stored in your problem areas would naturally disappear once you get to a low enough level anyway.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #3: Starvation Diets
While it’s true that to lose fat, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn, that doesn’t mean you can pick any number you want. You need to cut your calories just enough to make progress, not eat so little that you mess your metabolism (and other bodily functions) up.
Keep in mind that when it comes to losing fat, long-term results come from long-term lifestyle changes—and there’s no way you’ll be able to keep starving yourself long term.
You will crack eventually, and when that happens, there’s a big chance you start eating way more unhealthy stuff than you did before you began your diet. Unfortunately, by then, your metabolism would already be so messed up that you’ll get fat much faster too.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #4: Detoxes
Regardless of what so-called fitness gurus say, you don’t need a special drink, supplement, or diet to remove toxins from your body. That’s what your liver and kidneys are for. All these detox products do is remove money from your wallet.
If you really want to become healthier, eat less junk and more wholesome foods, drink more water, and get enough exercise and sleep. These are the things that would actually help your body not only flush out toxins more efficiently, but perform all its other duties at peak capacity.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #5: Challenges
You’ve probably seen them before. Drink nothing but juice for a week and you’ll lose weight. Do this 15-day workout challenge and you’ll finally get washboard abs. Do 100 push ups every day for a month and you’ll get ripped.
The problem is they almost always never work. And on the rare occasions that they do, the results are temporary. That’s because they’re not actually designed to help you build healthy habits. And to make matters worse, they also put you at risk of:
● Getting injured
● Getting sick
● Developing muscular imbalances
● Developing chronic aches and pains
● Getting burned out and swearing off health and fitness forever
Long story short, these crazy challenges are never worth your time. Just stick to a sensible eating and workout plan and you’ll be just fine.
Having said that some 30 day nutrition coaching plans to do work in the sense they are your building blocks, you are using those days to enforce discipline and start to understand the why.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #6: Garbage Fitness Equipment
I’m sure you’re familiar with them. From electric pads that are supposed to give you washboard abs to sauna suits that are supposed to help you lose more weight during your workouts, there’s just too many pieces of fitness gear that are not only completely useless, but also dangerous.
This is why it’s important to have at least a basic understanding of the fundamental human movements, resistance training, proper form, and physics. It would help you spot BS fitness equipment from a mile away.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #7: Garbage Supplements
Just like garbage fitness gear, there’s also a lot of garbage supplements in the market today.
As a general rule, if a supplement promises to give you crazy results fast, then there’s a big chance it was just designed to make your wallet lighter and do nothing else. The same goes for supplements that hide their ingredients by calling them proprietary blends.
If you don’t know what’s in a product, how would you know if it’s any good?
Besides, you probably don’t need supplements anyway. Get your training, nutrition, and recovery on point first. If that doesn’t work, that’s the only time you should consider supplementing. But even then, you need to consult your doctor first to be safe.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #8: Fitness Gurus Who Know Absolutely Nothing About Fitness
We’ve touched on them a bit earlier, but now, we’re going to go deep.
Over quarantine, everyone become a Personal Trainer via Instagram.
Here’s the thing: just because someone looks lean doesn’t automatically mean they know anything about fitness and nutrition. But how do you know which ones are legit and which ones are full of crap? Ask yourself these five questions:
- Does this fitness guru recommend overly complicated workouts?
- Do they promise amazing results fast?
- Are they unable to perform basic lifts with proper form?
- Do they believe in popular fitness myths like spot reduction, detoxes etc
- Do they promote garbage fitness equipment and supplements?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then it’s time to move on to a different fitness expert.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #9: Healthy Foods That Are Not Really Healthy
Just because something is marked ‘low fat’, ‘sugar-free’, or ‘organic’, doesn’t automatically mean that it’s healthy. You need to actually take a look at the ingredients and nutrition facts to know for sure.
Heck, even protein bars and powders are not what they claim to be sometimes. There are products in the market today that have as much, if not more, sugar than protein—which you’ll only realise if, again, you take the time to actually check the packaging.
The solution? Just minimise your intake of processed foods and stick to more wholesome, home-prepared alternatives. If you really need to go for something processed, be sure to check what’s in it first.
Ridiculous Fitness Trend #10: Fad Diets
It seems like every year, someone discovers a brand-new way of eating that promises to make us more ripped that we ever dreamed possible. Unfortunately, while some of them do work, the vast majority is pure BS.
As a general rule, if a diet promises amazing results ridiculously fast, requires you to remove certain foods (except junk food) or macronutrients from your diet completely, or has a time limit, then it’s no good.
Fat loss is quite simple:
Step 1: Eat fewer calories than you burn.
Step 2: Eat more wholesome foods and less junk food.
Step 3: Work out regularly
That’s it. You don’t need a super complicated diet or workout plan to see results.
Stop Wasting Time On Ridiculous Fitness Trends
If you want to see real, lasting results, all you need is a sensible eating, training, and recovery plan. There’s no magic pill, training method, or product that could get you to where you want to be faster. If there were, we’d all be ‘ripped’.
