Fitness and Exercise Trends You Can Try

Shake the Monotony Out of Your Boring Fitness Routine

We’re always searching for new ways to exercise and enjoy life. In everything we do, change is inevitable. Here are some fitness trends you may want to try out:

Zumba. A well-known fitness trend that combines dance and aerobic elements accompanied by a little bit of resistance training. Zumba classes are conducted by a licensed instructor, and there are several different variations of the Zumba program depending on your age and fitness level. It’s very flexible. It originated in Columbia way back in the 1990s.

Zumba is basically a cardio workout (includes high and low-intensity intervals) that improves your flexibility and strengthens your core. On average, a single Zumba class can burn 369 calories. It can be modified to fit almost any fitness level. There are Zumba programs for people with physical limitations (like in a wheelchair), kids (that’s right), and those with back or knee problems. By the way, the word Zumba means ‘buzz like a bee and move fast’ in the Spanish language.

Paddleboard Yoga. It’s as if yoga wasn’t satisfying enough, they’ve managed to add a little more twist to it. If you love the water and doing yoga, then you’ll absolutely love stand-up paddleboard (SUP) yoga. It’s a well-known fact that bodies of calm water promote peace and tranquillity in the mind. This adds a certain quality to how you do yoga.

Simply put SUP yoga is the act of performing yoga poses (called asanas) while on a paddleboard out on the open water. The body of water must be calm for you to do SUP yoga. Uhm, let’s state the obvious that you should know how to swim before you engage in SUP yoga. You also have to know how to do yoga first before you can try out SUP yoga. Yoga improves your muscular strength (especially your core muscular strength), flexibility, endurance, and balance.
Roller skating or rollerblading. Research studies have documented that roller skating is a complete cardiovascular workout. It involves all the major muscle groups and is equivalent to jogging when it comes to decreasing your body fat, strengthening of your lower limbs, caloric consumption, and other health benefits. When it comes to your joints, roller skating has a 50 percent lower impact on them compared to running. Basically, you get all the benefits of running without the joint damage to your knees and ankles. On average, you can burn more than 300 calories from a full hour of moderate roller skating. Let’s not forget how fun it is! Hey, have you seen a frowning or sad roller skater?
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT was formulated for people who always complain that they don’t have time for any form of exercise. As long as you have 10 minutes, you have time for HIIT. HIIT is a mixture of short, high-intensity bursts of cardiovascular exercise followed by periods of rest. Imagine a quick 30 seconds of running immediately followed by brisk walking. Rinse and repeat for 10 minutes, and you get a full HIIT exercise workout. Sounds simple eh? Not really. Research data have consistently shown that HIIT promotes the same benefits as your usual 30-minute cardio workout. With HIIT, you lose weight, strengthen all your muscle groups, lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, improve your overall fitness, and eliminate risk factors for diabetes mellitus type 2.
Boot camp workout. So, you want to march your way to boot camp huh? You better be prepared. Boot camp workouts are designed to build your strength and endurance, in an old-school military training fashion. There’s a lot of variation in the workouts, but all of them include a combination of intense aerobic and strength training factors. Most of them include callisthenics like push-ups, crunches, lunges, pull-ups, and sprints. A boot camp workout is a special type of interval training. Benefits of a boot camp workout include a variety of challenges, a sense of camaraderie with your fellow soldiers, uhm, I mean exercise participants, and it's relatively inexpensive. Boot camp workouts are generally reserved for people who want more intense and exciting fitness regimens.
CrossFit. It’s one of the newer exercise trends to hit exercise enthusiasts. It started in 2000 and was created by Lauren Jenai and Greg Glassman. It includes elements from powerlifting, gymnastics, plyometrics, Olympic weightlifting, HIIT, callisthenics, and other exercises. As you can see from the list, CrossFit isn’t for everyone. You will need to workout in CrossFit gyms which include a variety of equipment from several disciplines. Its benefits include increased flexibility, power, balance, agility, stamina, strength, coordination, and endurance. If you’re really interested in CrossFit, make sure the gym you’re joining is licensed by CrossFit Inc. Of all the exercise trends listed here, CrossFit is perhaps the most challenging and poses the highest risk for injuries.
Hula Hoops. It’s not funny. Hula hoops do burn enough calories (between 150 to 250 calories) to give you a workout. It sculpts your body and trims the fat off your waist. It’s the cheapest and easiest to do on this list of exercise trends. If you know how to move your hips, you can hula hoop. Modern hooping has come a long way from the 1950s. There are on the body, and off body moves, you can try to mix up your routines. Hula hooping may also be incorporated into the other exercise trends mentioned here. It targets your arms, abdomen, lower back, and legs. It increases your flexibility, motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. You can also use a weighted hoop which can provide resistance to strengthen your core muscles. Lastly, you can enjoy it with your kids for some quality family time.

There’s no reason to get bored with your present exercise regimen. There are still plenty of exercise trends to try out. These have stood the test of time and are definitely here to stay.