If you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in the world of fitness, you might have noticed that some trends tend to come and go with alarming regularity. Yup – those of us who spend even a modicum of time tracking the shifts in our industry have no doubt noticed just how frequently it seems as though a new idea will magically end up taking over for all the ones that came before it.
This is why we’re here to let you know about one specific trend that shouldn’t be mistaken for a harbinger of anything good. Trust us – we know these things happen sometimes, but not when they start to look like this. That being said, if there are any signs that point towards something good emerging from the pile of steaming hot garbage that sprang forth from it, they may be hiding out there somewhere.
Now, while we sure hope this means we’ll finally be seeing an end to all the idiotic ideas that pop up every now and then (we call them ‘nutritionally worthless nonsense fads’), if anything at all comes from this, it very well may be more likely than not.
Push-Ups
Push-ups have long been the go-to move when it comes to working out the triceps. Unfortunately, they’re also one of the most common fitness trends that have come to light in recent memory. While there’s no question that they serve a real purpose when it comes to increasing the size and strength of the muscles that help support your arms, there are also a number of real issues with them as a stand-alone exercise.
For starters, when it comes to building overall strength, the most important muscles to work on are the ones that aren’t being worked on at all – the bigger your chest gets, the weaker your back muscles become, which can increase the risk of injury even further.
HIIT Training
This one is a bit more complex than the others, but nonetheless ubiquitous nonetheless. While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with adding HIIT training to your repertoire if you enjoy it, it’s bad news if it’s making up the bulk of your fitness routine.
HIIT is effective at improving conditioning and fat burn, but it’s also inherently dangerous – it’s entirely possible to seriously damage your health, cause serious injury and even take your life while doing it. Now, we’re not saying that it’s a bad thing to do, we’re simply saying that it’s not a good thing to do all the time.
RUNNING
You’d probably be surprised to learn just how many people choose to run as their main form of cardio. While it can be effective at burning fat and improving overall conditioning, it’s also a completely unnecessary activity.
If you need to get some kind of cardio in your life, doing a few reps of a few different types of cardio is a lot smarter than focusing on just one thing. It’s also not much of a stretch to imagine that not only could it be causing harm to your body, but it might also be reducing your overall lifespan.
BOSU Balls
There’s nothing inherently wrong with using a BOSU ball for core work, but it’s also not really a fad that’s all that new. In fact, having been around for decades, a lot of us have probably used a BOSU ball before without giving it a second thought.
That being said, while they’re certainly not new and they can be beneficial at times, they’ve also been getting a lot of buzzes lately as something that’s particularly important. We’re not entirely sure why, as it doesn’t seem to have any real benefit over doing the same thing with a medicine ball.
TRX Suspension Trainers
The notion of using a TRX system for your functional training is certainly nothing new – it’s been around for decades and has had a fair bit of buzz around it over the last few years. The TRX, though, is not what’s making us want to slap it across our heads.
What is TRX’s sudden brand-newness as a fad? It’s true that, as with a lot of things fitness-related, fitness trends can come and go, but fads are rarely the result of anything so arbitrary. This one is also not likely to go away any time soon.
Zercher Squats
As with a lot of other things fitness-related, there’s nothing inherently wrong with adding a little variety to your training. In fact, it’s a great idea to change things up at least occasionally in order to prevent yourself from getting bored.
The issue that a lot of people have with this, though, is that they add the little bit of variety that they need to make their training more challenging or dangerous. This is one of those things that’s only problematic if you decide to make it so. You see, while it seems like something that would be challenging to do, it’s actually pretty safe.
Sumo Squat Stance
Something relatively new to the scene is the idea that you need to be doing something that involves doing a sumo squat. Now, this is one of those things that’s a lot more likely to be a fad than a real thing, but the idea that it’s happening at all is one that we’re inclined to take seriously.
We have no idea why you’d be doing a sumo squat unless you assume that you don’t already have the right kind of body to do them. That’s not to say that doing them would harm you in any way, but it does seem unlikely to help you in any meaningful way.
Conclusion
There you have it – the fitness trends that should not be mistaken for good signs of change. These kinds of articles are really fun to write, but even more, fun to read – and we’re here to tell you that they aren’t fun at all. That being said, it’s important to remember that trends are rarely indicative of anything good and even less often indicative of a shift in the right direction. The majority of the time, a trend is just that – a trend.
Every now and then, however, one of these trends actually signals something that’s worth paying attention to. We hope that reading this article has given you a better understanding of what these trends are, as well as an idea of whether they’re worth worrying about. We’re here to remind you that, while these trends might be making headlines, they don’t have to be the future of fitness.
