Fitness Fads you should avoid

I get it, it’s the start of a brand-new year and you are pretty much willing to try anything and everything to help you achieve quick results. Beware though, fitness fads creep their ugly heads this time of year. Let us shed some light on a few of the major fitness fads to stay away from:

8-minute Abs

If you grew up through the ‘80s and ‘90s, you may remember a series of infomercials targeted at people who wanted to get ripped fast.

Dubbed “8-minute abs”, these aerobic exercises covered just about every crunch, sit up and curl you could think of, all with the aim of eliminating stubborn belly fat and bringing those abdominal muscles to the surface.

But the 8-minute fad forgot to mention one thing: diet. While sit ups and crunches certainly help, you need to be eating the right foods to ever see the results. We recommend cutting out sugars for a start.

Juice cleanses

The jury’s out on the juice cleanse, and while it’s a popular weight loss method in the here and now, will we all be echoing the same sentiments in ten years?

You see, our body has a built-in cleansing method already. Added to that, juicing fruit actually cuts out many of the nutrients our bodies crave. And in some cases, a cleanse can even be harmful.

If you’re considering one, consult with your GP and research it properly. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is…

Diet pills

…Which brings us to our next entry: the diet pill. These capsules promise the world, from losing weight to attaining the body you always wanted. In some cases, they even work. But side effects can be wide-ranging and sometimes severe. Everything from liver damage to high blood pressure and internal bleeding have been reported. Your best bet is to lose weight the right way, by sticking to a strict diet and packing in the exercise.

The lat pull down… over the head

Head to the gym and you’ll see often people engaging the lat pull down machine…with a twist. Instead of extending the bar in front of their chests as the machine is intended, they’ll pull it down behind their back. The theory is that it works additional trapezoid muscles in the body, enhancing the sculpted look they’re after. But as Bodybuilding.com points out, this is mostly bogus science and the exercise often does more harm than good. Use the lat pull down machine the way it was intended.