The “FitFlop” 10: Avoid These Fitness Trends Like the Plague
Welcome, fitness fanatics, clueless Instagram wanderers, and detox tea devotees! Ready to level up your health (or at least your selfie game) with the latest, totally not absurd fitness trends? Ditch science and common sense — we're plunging into the absolute worst fitness fads. If you're thrilled to waste time, drain your wallet, or discover how long your body can run on pure nonsense, these trends are your golden ticket.
For everyone else, consider this your ultimate guide to what NOT to do.
1. Oxygen Gyms
Why bother breathing the perfectly good air all around you when you can pay a small fortune to breathe slightly fancier air instead? Sure, oxygen is essential for life, but slapping an “elite” price tag on it doesn’t make it a fitness hack. Spoiler alert: the oxygen isn’t what’s missing from your deadlifts, and it certainly won’t bench press for you.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Lift heavy weights. Breathe deeply (for free). Repeat.
2. Electric Stim Workouts
Why hit the gym when you can just stick electrodes to your abs and hire technology to "work out" for you? Nothing says peak fitness like watching Netflix while a machine zaps your stomach. Your muscles might twitch, but your gains? Nonexistent.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
If you want your muscles to contract, pick up some weights and lift them the old-fashioned way.
3. Fasted Cardio
You’re not just running on empty; you’re sprinting into the abyss! Fasted cardio warriors proudly claim it “torches fat,” but it mostly just torches their energy—and sanity. Bonus points if you collapse mid-run but somehow still insist it’s working.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Eat a snack, fuel your workout, go for a jog, and focus on consistency rather than trending buzzwords.
4. Waist Trainer Workouts
Want abs? Just suffocate them into existence! Nothing screams “hardcore athlete” like squeezing your vital organs until your ribcage rearranges itself. Fitness is pain, but this trend really takes it to another level of masochism.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Do real core exercises to learn how to brace the core. Your internal organs will thank you later.
5. Extreme Fasting
Forget food—it’s time to unlock your starved potential! Who needs nutrition when you can survive on zero calories and pure stubbornness? You may not have energy to lift weights or form coherent sentences, but at least you’re… uh… losing weight?
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Eat whole, nutrient-dense foods. And don’t be afraid of a sandwich, for heaven's sake.
6. Sauna Workouts
Because exercising indoors wasn’t sweaty enough, why not turn your workout into a full-on medieval torture session? Nothing says "I'll do anything for gains" quite like risking heat stroke to drop water weight. Spoiler alert: you're just dehydrated, not ripped.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Work out in a temperature-controlled environment and drink plenty of water.
7. Fad Diets & Detox Teas
If green juice promises to “flush out toxins,” does that mean buying it will flush out your common sense? Bonus points if your favorite Instagram influencer swears by it while conveniently forgetting to mention they were paid $20,000 for their post.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Save your money. Eat veggies, drink water, and skip the overpriced beverages with questionable "cleansing" powers.
8. Miracle Pills
Why put in hours at the gym when you can pop a magic pill that claims it’ll torch fat while you binge Netflix on the couch? Just don't call it a scam—they prefer the term “innovative supplement marketing strategy.”
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Take a multivitamin if you'd like, but remember there's no pill for consistency or effort—they come free with hard work.
9. Ozempic for Weight Loss
Move over, miracle pills—injectable “fitness” trends are here. While originally meant for managing diabetes, this “quick fix” trend has taken over as the ultimate shortcut. Who needs sustainable health when there’s a faster way to look good on vacation, right? Right?
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Don’t misuse medication. Focus on sustainable goals, proper nutrition, and movement instead of medical shortcuts.
10. 45-Day Transformation Challenges
Because, obviously, decades of poor habits can be undone in… just 45 days! Sign up now for this unrealistic, unsustainable approach to fitness and be ready to gain all the weight back (and then some) on Day 46. Guaranteed. Want your money back? Too late—they already have your credit card info.
Evidence-Based Alternative:
Commit to long-term goals. Real strength and results take months or years—not a few weeks.
The Moral of the Listicle
Fitness isn’t about hacks, shortcuts, or trends. It’s about showing up, putting in the work, and staying consistent. The only “quick fix” in fitness? There isn’t one.
If you really want to transform your health, stick to the basics:
Lift weights 2–4 times a week
Walk more
Eat whole, nutritious foods
Get enough sleep
And gasp trust the process.
Because the truth—and only truth—is this simple: sustainable fitness isn’t trendy; it’s timeless. And, no, you really don’t need electrodes, detox teas, or tiny waist trainers to prove it.