Back to the future

Why call this newsletter ‘Back to the Future’? Well, from keto to HIIT, the fitness industry ran out of original ideas ages ago. Let’s take a quick look at some of the ideas which are just new twists on old methods that work.

Nothing was buzzier a couple of years ago than the keto (or ketogenic) diet, in which you get more calories from protein and fat than from carbohydrates. But low-carb diets are not new. Atkins was extraordinarily popular in the 1970s, and many other incarnations have cropped up since then, like The Anabolic Diet in the ’90s. But the method predates Atkins too. In 1863, a London undertaker named William Banting wrote about losing 50 pounds after cutting out “bread, butter, milk, sugar, beer, and potatoes.” The diet became so popular that his name became a verb; a person on a low-carb plan would tell friends ‘I’m Banting.” And before that, 2,500 years ago, the father of medicine himself, Hippocrates, developed a ketogenic-type diet as a fasting treatment for epilepsy.

Detoxing and cleansing have really exploded in lockstep with social media platforms, where a general lack of accountability makes it easier than ever for celebrities and influencers to endorse products whether they work or not. But “cleansing” practices are actually old as dirt. People have been trying to rid their bodies of “toxins” for thousands of years. Colonics and water fasts date back to ancient Egypt and biblical times. Up until fairly recently, bloodletting, enemas, and fasting were considered medical therapies. However, in medical terms, there’s no such thing as ‘detoxing’. If toxins did build up in a way your body couldn’t excrete, you’d likely be dead or in need of serious medical intervention. The healthy body has kidneys, a liver, skin, even lungs that are detoxifying all the time.

Intermittent fasting is gaining traction in the research community, and has gone mainstream as a weight-loss strategy. But fasting is nothing new. Depending on your faith, mainstream as a weight-loss strategy. But fasting is nothing new. Depending on your faith, like cleansing, it dates back to biblical times, and many religions use fasting rituals for focus, healing, and purification. That ancient Greek, Hippocrates, recommended fasting for his patients when they were ill. Science began looking at fasting in the late 1800s. Studies suggest fasting is not just a healthy way to lose weight but may improve other health biomarkers as well; allowing the body to be better able to fight disease. While more research is needed to understand that mechanism, the primary benefit is pretty straightforward: “If you don’t eat, you lose weight.”

If low-carb is in now, what’s next? Believe it or not, low-fat might be coming back. The ‘carbs are good, fats are bad’ mantra might be making a come-back despite it being debunked a few years ago. You have been warned that the food industry might be pushing this again.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and his mates trained using lighter weights for longer, and more often in the ’60s and ’70s, and it became popular again in the ’80s. This is known as High Volume Training. It lost favour in the ‘90s and 2000s, but now the tide is turning toward high volume again, and is a phrase you may well hear more of. Endurance athletes used to be all about high volume, low weight. But now science is now proving Arnie and his mates right and showing that this method is actually good for building bulky muscles, which cyclists and runners don’t want. Heavy weights, lower reps are better for neuromuscular stimulation and strength. So more endurance athletes are lifting heavy.

High intensity training (HIT) was first popularised among weightlifters in the 1970s, and reemerged in the ’90s. The cardio version of HIT – high-intensity interval training (HIIT) – also rose popularity and continues to be sold in a variety of ways, like Joe Wicks’s BodyCoach, metabolic circuits (like Les Mills), Tabata, and HIIT hybrids (P90X). Not surprisingly, the promise of maximum benefits in minimal time resonates in an era when many of us are busier than ever. But runners have used the technique since the 1800s. Just as HIIT became ubiquitous, low intensity steady-state cardio has made a comeback. And it’s part of a renewed interest in moderate fitness. For a long time, everything was about HIIT and pushing yourself to the extreme. But a lot of people injured themselves or just didn’t like feeling that uncomfortable.

Peloton and treadmill classes keep things interesting with climbs and moments of intensity, but the sessions are essentially the steady-state cardio that was so popular in the ’80s and ’90s. Live-streaming and online classes have made follow-along sessions more accessible, all from the comfort of your own home. People are following their favourite fitness personalities as they train, rather than taking their workout to the gym. It’s really the same approach people like Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda took decades ago. Serious fitness people viewed them with derision, but they tapped into something that people wanted. Before them, The Jack LaLanne Show, a television exercise program hosted by the fitness icon in the US, ran from 1951 to 1985.

When it comes to old stuff that’s new again, body-weight or calisthenics training may be the ultimate example. In the earlier part of the last century, Charles Atlas made his fortune selling body-weight training programs by the bucket load. These days, the ability to get a good workout anywhere and anytime may suit millennial tendencies toward minimalism and working from home. And social media has helped to bring body-weight training back to the fore.

People are realising that the effort they put into their sleep is almost like adding drugs to their training and fitness protocols. It’s that powerful. Those ancient Greeks were on the case thousands of years ago, when “waking and sleeping” was identified as a main influential factor in health. Back in the 1950s Jack LaLanne was preaching the benefits of sleep. And in the ’80s, some bodybuilders took supplements in an effort to improve sleep quality and increase growth hormone. Recently, sleep prioritisation has risen in tandem with a shift toward self-care and anti-aging. The phrase ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ isn’t heard much any more. Now people brag about how much sleep they get, which can be even more annoying.

The takeaway from this newsletter is that there are a lot of different exercise training methods and ways of eating. Be aware that the brightest, and shiniest newfangled idea might not be that new after all. And that’s why it is so important that I work with clients to find the approach that works best for them, that they enjoy and will stick with.