Some health, wellness, and exercise trends are so ridiculous, you don’t need a degree in nutrition or kinesiology to declare them bogus. But what about trends less easily dismissed? These are trickier — approaches and practices that might have some scientific substance, or work for some people, but ultimately don’t have what it takes to be champions.
Fitness trends can be a lot more trendy than actually helping with fitness. Join us as we wander through just a few of the crazes in this weird world.
The Nautilus Workout
Youngsters may have never heard of Nautilus machines. They exploded in popularity in the late 1970s, and Nautilus gyms were franchised all over the U.S., making inventor-founder Arthur Jones so rich he cracked the Forbes top 400 list. His machines featured kidney-shaped cogs, not pulleys, allowing varying resistance for a better burn. Jones preached that all you needed to do was one set of an exercise, performed to muscular failure, once a week, and you’d get ripped. A high-intensity workout pioneer? Definitely. Creator of the ultimate fitness approach? Nope. If Jones had done that, there’d be more Nautilus gyms today than Starbucks.
Gravity Boots
Ever seen a young Richard Gere doing dumbbell exercises while hanging upside-down in the 1980 movie American Gigolo? His character is wearing gravity boots — ankle cuffs hooked to a chin-up bar. Proponents said they shredded your abs, juiced your weight workouts, and healed your back. Some claimed “inversion therapy” improved brain function, relieved heart stress, oxygenated organs, and even reduced wrinkles. Gravity boots do stretch the spine, which has helped some people’s back issues, while exacerbating the back problems of others. And inversion increases your blood pressure — not good. As fitness trends go, tread carefully.
Barefoot Running
In 2009, Christopher McDougall published Born to Run, a best-seller documenting how Mexican Tarahumara tribal people could run for hours wearing only thin sandals, landing lightly on the balls of their feet, rather than heel-striking. McDougall’s book offered a critique of modern running shoes, which he felt promoted an inefficient, injury-creating gait. Suddenly people were scrapping their Nikes and running barefoot — even down dogshit-smeared city sidewalks. “Minimalist” footwear — basically gloves for your feet — appeared. But then science got on the case, and researchers discovered heel-strike running was actually more efficient.
Celery Juice
The past few years, people have been guzzling this stuff. Singer Pharrell goosed the hype with an Instagram post showing him ready to quaff a glass. Health-food stores hawk it, juice bars sell it, and #celeryjuicechallenge became a thing. The fad took off when Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness website Goop let New Age guru Anthony Williams push his theory that celery juice fixes dozens of ailments. Now, it’s true the juice is good for you — celery is high in vitamins, antioxidants, and other substances. But a transformative superfood? Nope. And when you juice it, you lose its helpful fiber. You’re better off snacking on a stalk loaded with peanut butter.
Cupping
Don’t laugh! Okay, laugh. Remember how swimmer Michael Phelps was covered in round, red bruises on his back during the 2016 Olympics in Rio? They looked like pepperoni-sized hickeys. Phelps is an advocate of “cupping,” an ancient Chinese practice back in vogue that involves a suck-and-release treatment using small glass cups pressed into flesh. Blood flow increases in the area, and that’s supposed to reduce muscle pain and tension, and speed recovery. Many scientists scoff, as you might imagine. Any “benefits” may be a placebo effect, they say. If you’re skeptical, stick with foam rolling — the science is rock-solid there.
If you run across any other fitness trends that you think we should hear about, send us a tweet! We love to hear about ideas that are working — or not, and we love to laugh. As just a final bit of the time-honored tradition of shameless self promotion, it seemed appropriate to include a burst of visual happiness featuring five Penthouse Pets on the set of our recent “soccer” movie. For the record, we have no problem following this fitness trend at all.
You would find these adventures on PenthouseGold, by the way. You knew that, right?
