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A fitness expert who has spent 30 years in the industry has called out one of the most popular workout trends on TikTok as “unnecessary”.
LifeSpan Fitness, who sell fitness equipment, pulled together the top searched trends before using a key word search volume tool to collect the global monthly data.
The research revealed reformer pilates was the most popular fitness regimen online, with a total of 238,400 people searching it every month.
It was followed by the 75 Hard Challenge, Under-desk treadmill, 12-3-30 treadmill workout and weighted hula hoops.
But Nikki Ellis from Cinch Fitness said that while reformer pilates was a workout that could provide great results, she questioned the benefits of others on the list.
The 75 Hard Challenge asks people to take part in 75 days of zero cheat days or alcohol, requires four litres of water per day, two 45 minute workouts, a daily progress picture and reading 10 pages of a self development book.
It was created in 2019 by entrepreneur Andy Frisella, with the website claiming it is not a fitness regimen but a “transformative mental toughness program”.
“This is an unnecessarily harsh regime which almost no one would succeed at. I’m a PT and I wouldn’t want to do this,” Nikki told news.com.au.
“We want people to love fitness and feel like winners, not losers. An hour and a half of exercise every single day and zero cheat days. Yikes.
“This is setting people up for failure and they will not stick to it and may suffer injuries from overuse or even exhaustion. No trainer I know would recommend something like this.”
Nikki said people should check with their general practitioner before going “all out” on exercise – but there are some key things to look out for.
She said as a fitness professional, she saw a lot of compound movements in TikTok fitness videos using one set of dumbbells.
“You can dead lift way more than you can curl. That is why we change weights constantly in a gym setting,” she said.
“So the one set of dumbbell workouts which become almost like cardio are a bit silly and aren’t going to be anywhere near as effective as doing progressive resistance training in a gym setting.”
She said the social media platform can be used for inspiration but they shouldn’t replicate exactly what they see.
“Red flags should appear with any trends that promise super fast results and are coupled with overly restrictive dieting,” she said.
“Basically avoid any extreme workout regimes. Tried and true trends based on scientific research are the way to go.”
