With a seemingly countless number of new fitness fads and trends popping up every day, it can feel impossible to determine which fads are truly beneficial for your health, and which fads are nothing more than a waste of time. These 15 fads aren't worth your valuable time or cash, and they can even do more harm to your body than good.
Weight Loss Pills
Diet pills are enticing, appearing as a quick and easy solution to weight loss goals. However, many of the most popular ingredients in these pills have been shown to cause a host of damaging side effects, including increased heart rate, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, liver damage, mood swings, and more. On top of these frightening side effects, diet pills can also raise your risk for strokes or heart attacks.
Waist Trainers
Waist trainers promise to shrink your waist with continuous wear, and celebrities are found touting their supposed results from this fitness fad all over social media. Don’t be fooled, though: waist trainers are not only dangerous, but they can cause permanent damage, while the benefits, if any, are temporary. Waist trainers are essentially crushing your internal organs together, limiting blood flow and oxygen to those internal organs. Atrophy of your core muscles is another significant possibility, thanks to prolonged periods of inactivity while wearing a waist trainer.
Sauna Suits
Sauna suits, which increase the amount you sweat while exercising, may seem like an easy way to lose water weight quickly: the suit holds in the heat your body generates as you exercise, which causes your body temperature to rise and more sweat to be released. However, this dangerous workout fad can lead to electrolyte imbalances, dehydration, and overheating, due to the excessive sweating and increased body temperature.
Thigh Gaps
Only a very small percentage of people can achieve a thigh gap because it requires both an extremely thin frame and wide set hips; for most, striving to meet this goal requires extreme calorie cutting, which can lead to loss of muscle mass, nutrient deficiencies, and even an increased risk for eating disorders. Remember that being skinny is not interchangeable with being fit or strong— body composition scans can tell the true story.
“Clean” Eating
Advocates of “clean eating” generally recommend a switch to a diet filled with more whole foods and less processed junk food, both of which are great steps towards a healthier lifestyle. The problem with this fitness fad is that many subscribers mistakenly believe that if they’re eating “clean” foods, volume doesn’t need to be limited in any way, which then leads to weight gain instead of loss and frustrated dieters. Just because you’re eating healthy or natural foods doesn’t mean it's impossible to overeat or gain weight.
Extreme Carb Cutting
While it’s true that removing processed carbs, such as candies and cookies, is a great step toward a healthier diet, extreme carb cutters often remove healthy carbs, such as fruits and vegetables, too. This can lead to very low fiber intake, which can raise the risk for certain cancers, and often, an increased intake of processed, “low-carb” foods that are full of artificial sweeteners. You’re also at risk for developing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which can lead to a host of negative health consequences, such as gastrointestinal problems and bone density loss.
Juice Cleanses & Detox Diets
This popular fitness industry trend supposedly “flushes out toxins” via a liquid-only diet. These diets can have very dangerous effects, though, including a weakened immune system and potential muscle loss. Additionally, thanks to their intensely restrictive nature, they often lead to binge eating following completion of the cleanse.
Hardcore Group Fitness Classes
Extremely intense physical activity of nearly any kind can cause a condition known as rhabdomyolysis, but it occurs most frequently in individuals undertaking a new type of activity at a very vigorous level, which is often the case during spinning and other similar classes. The syndrome is characterized by a breakdown of damaged muscle, which causes myoglobin to be released into the blood. Possible complications are very serious, including loss of consciousness, muscle weakness, and even permanent kidney damage.
Obstacle Races & Mud Runs
Obstacle races and mud runs have become popular workout fads in recent years, but there are serious risks involved. Bacterial and viral outbreaks, such as C. coli and Norovirus, along with various physical injuries, have been documented in races around the world.
YouTube Workouts
YouTube workouts are potentially very dangerous, as there’s no requirement for the individual posting the workout to have any sort of fitness or training credentials whatsoever, or for the workout to meet any safety standards, unlike workouts that are developed by certified fitness professionals. Additionally, attempting a YouTube workout that isn’t tailored to your specific needs is risky, because it can lead to serious health consequences, depending on any health issues or previous injuries you may have.
Macro Diet (IIFYM)
The danger with this health trend is that it doesn’t look at the whole picture— it only requires meeting your “macros”, or macronutrient requirements, with no concern for the types of foods comprising the diet. Hitting your macros targets with all junk food or loading up on artificial supplements can cause micronutrient, vitamin, and mineral deficiencies, which can lead to a host of issues, depending on the type of deficiency, such as weakened immune function and decreased energy levels.
Colon Cleansing
A colon cleanse uses a tube to flush gallons of water through the colon, supposedly to detoxify it and prevent numerous health problems. They can actually be very dangerous, though; colon cleanses have the potential to cause dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, infections, and rectum perforations.
Cracked Abs
This trend is analogous to the thigh gap trend, meaning it purports some arbitrary physical attribute to be an indicator of having achieved paramount fitness status, but instead involves the “ab crack”, a prominent line running through the middle of your abdominal section. Like the thigh gap, this is usually not attainable through any healthy, safe manner for most people and is often a sign of nothing more than extreme leanness and an absence of muscularity, rather than a healthy body composition.
Social Media Fitness Challenges
Social media fitness challenges are one of the latest fitness trends, and on the surface, they seem like an excellent method for motivating us to eat better and work out. However, fitness isn't one-size-fits-all; for some body types, the results in the images may be an unrealistic or dangerous goal, only achievable after adopting unhealthy and risky behaviors, such as overexercising and extreme calorie restriction. On top of that, these images only reveal physical results, which are not necessarily correlated with any internal indicators of true health or fitness, and there’s no guarantee the images are even authentic.
Raw Water
Raw, or untreated, water claims to be full of healthy probiotics and other natural substances that will provide a host of beneficial health effects, such as making your joints stronger and reducing your wrinkles. This water can be contaminated with harmful viruses, parasites, and chemicals that would have normally been removed during purification, which can cause diarrhea and abdominal pain.
DexaFit scans and lab services are a fitness trend that’s truly worth your investment. Unlike these harmful fitness fads, DexaFit results are used to formulate a fitness plan for you that is safe, effective, and tailored specifically to your needs and goals.
Don't create bigger obstacles in your fitness journey by following fitness fads that don’t work— contact us now for an expert consultation and to book your scan today!
