The Wellness Edit: is HIIT still hot? Exploring cardio trends

The interconnected world of social media allows fitness trends to spread rapidly, and this can create a feeling of community amongst fitness circles. Having trends and challenges to follow can be inspiring and motivating to many as partaking in something popular can push the idea of it being helpful. If everybody is taking on the same challenge, then of course it must be effective, right? Cardio in particular has always been followed by trends; everyone knows cardio is good for us but sometimes it can be more fun to engage in it with other people. With everybody posting and talking about a trend it can seem obvious that it will be a good idea to follow everyone else – this has been the case for many decades, not just with the rise of social media.

The harder your heart and lungs work, the better these exercises are for you and can have lasting benefits on your body

The 1980s saw the rise of aerobic fitness with everyone going leotard and leg warmer crazy. It appeared across many forms of media, including John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis’s iconic scene in Perfect. In the 1990s it seemed everybody had got bored of this and moved to spinning, a revolutionary form of exercise that made cycling accessible indoors. For those that are younger, we might especially remember the more recent HIIT which stands for High Intensity Interval Training: workouts that are shorter but made to make you sweat. HIIT became especially popular due to its accessibility throughout Covid where many of us were left to use YouTube home workouts that used minimal equipment. But is it still as popular today?

These cardio workouts became popular because they promised the best results. Cardio workouts are any exercise that elevates the heart rate so that the heart and lungs are working. They can vary from moderate to vigorous intensity. The harder your heart and lungs work, the better these exercises are for you and can have lasting benefits on your body including lower blood pressure, stronger immune systems, regulation of blood sugar, and helping to maintain a healthy weight. Therefore, it’s no wonder that these trends became so popular when they help work up a sweat, especially HIIT which offers more vigorous training.

Whether you like spinning, Zumba, or HIIT, these cardio exercises are benefiting you now and in the future

Although HIIT is a great cardio activity and is still very popular, there has been a movement towards other cardio trends more recently. Firstly, we have seen the rise of running across social media and offline with growing numbers of run clubs around the UK. The running community has taken off massively with a new rise of running creators within fitness influencer niches. Brands are even pushing the trend, with Gymshark having numerous running clubs around the UK. Not as intense but still guaranteed to raise the heart rate, is the rise of ‘hot girl walks’. This is a social media trend aimed at boosting confidence and physical health by working out whilst engaging in mindfulness. The phrase also adds an extra touch of enjoyment to the idea of a walk, making it more exciting and appealing to the many who have engaged in the trend.

With all the cardio trends that have risen in the past, it’s apparent that there will be many more to come. Whether you choose to engage and hop on these trends, or choose the cardio that works best for you, the benefits of trending activity are plentiful. It is encouraging to everyone to try out a new trend as it offers a different type of exercise to get us moving whilst providing an opportunity to find what works for us. Whether you like spinning, Zumba, or HIIT, these cardio exercises are benefiting you now and in the future.