It’s all well and good to create hybrid workouts to make exercise programs more functional and appealing. However, how much is too much? For example, can skipping around in the park be counted as a workout?
Well, we’re in the third quarter of the year and we’ve run out of fingertips to keep count of the nonsensical WTF diets and workouts that are doing the rounds. That said, the winners of the 5 most ridiculous fitness trends of 2015 are…
Prancercise®
Prancercise®: This one requires you to move forward in a springy, rhythmic way, similar to a horse’s gait. Fascinated by animals from an early age, it was created by Joanna Rohrback, who uses the imagery of horses in her Prancercise® coaching videos to help people picture themselves as symbols of strength, beauty and grace. To be honest, it’s a spruced-up version of the skipping-walk that everyone’s done at least once, as a child. There’s no denying it may give you a calorie burn, but so does breathing, walking, and sleeping. We’re not so sure if this qualifies as a workout program. It’s like taking an everyday thing, and repackaging and patenting it to make it seem cooler than it is.
Yoganja
Yoganja: Also known as pot yoga, it claims to help you tap into a higher level of consciousness that most people associate with yoga and meditation anyways. Here’s the catch: You achieve this so called state of zen by doing yoga when you’re high on cannabis—in the states that have decriminalized its use, of course. So while you’re trying to engage with your inner self in mind, body and spirit through yoga, the weed is supposed to help heighten the experience by making you uninhibited. The instructors encourage participants to smoke up before a yoga session (not during). Now, whether you call it getting high, meditating or sacramental use, the practice of smoking up during what is traditionally a cleansing, spiritual and healthy act, seems a little counter-intuitive.
Mono Meal Diet
Mono Meal Diet: This batshit crazy diet restricts you to not just one food group, but one ingredient in excess, right through the day. It claims to improve digestion and absorption of nutrients. Mono meals aim to cut back on the fat content, and limit your (bad) choices by leaving you with no other food option, but that one fruit or vegetable. There’s no account of the fact that your body cannot get the sufficient amount of fat and protein it needs to perform the most basic functions. Plus the calorie intake is warped. For example, one medium-sized banana contains 105 calories, so if you plan to eat 50 bananas in a single day, your daily count will explode to 5250 calories.
Sun Gazing
Sun Gazing: Apparently, who needs food when you can live off the sun’s rays? Women in Hong Kong are spending as much as 44 minutes staring at the sun (a goal that’s achieved over nine months), with the hope that the solar energy absorbed by the body will replace their need for food for survival. They believe that it satiates your hunger and leads to a loss of appetite, which inevitably helps you lose weight. There are no studies that prove this works. Worse, imagine what you’re doing to your eyes and skin as you expose them to such high levels of radiation. Humans do not have the ability to convert solar energy into nutrients to feed the cells in the body (otherwise, we’d be plants!).
Waist Trainer
Waist Trainer: The likes Kim and Khloe Kardashian, and Snooki swear by it (there’s your vote of no-confidence). You have to wear the corset contraption while you exercise, even if it’s a grueling workout like kickboxing. Never mind the fact that it causes breathlessness and dehydration, and increases your body’s core temperature which gives you a feeling of overexertion. Power on, you weakling! *eye-roll*
PS: Here’s the low-down on Exercise Programs For Weight Loss.
Also, head here to catch the latest in Fitness Trends.
Read More:
Why We’re Floored By The Latest Workout Trend
The Kangoo Jumps Workout Will Make You Lose Twice As Much Weight
Workout Trends 2015: Are They Here To Stay?
