The Health Huns
The Messy Side of Health and Fitness!
Your favourite amateur athletes keeping it real, discussing the messy side of health and fitness
The Health Huns
EP.30 Top 10 Fitness Trends We Love And Loathe
One day Rhi will get the episode number right
Trend cycles promise transformation, but not all of them care about your health. We dig into the last decade of fitness with a clear lens: what actually helps you feel strong, sane, and supported—and what’s just discipline theatre for the algorithm. From the 5am club and 75 Hard to carnivore feeds served on chopping boards, we unpack the hustle aesthetics that burn people out and sell shame as self‑improvement. We also get honest about SkinnyTok’s return of thin‑obsessed messaging and why using vulnerable kids to build a fitness brand crosses every ethical line.
Then we celebrate the good. Strength training for women has changed the game—better bones, confidence, and performance goals that go beyond shrinking. We talk about the quiet power of accessible programmes like Couch to 5K, and how inclusive run clubs create community without the cult vibe. Zumba and Clubbercise earn love for making movement joyful for people who would never touch a barbell. Tech gets a balanced take too: wearables and platforms like Strava can be brilliant when they inform rather than control, while saunas and cold plunges are positioned as nice-to-have rituals, not magic bullets.
Throughout, we keep it real about illness, periods, and low‑motivation weeks, because life doesn’t pause for macros or morning routines. You’ll leave with a simple filter for the next viral trend: is it accessible, adaptable, and kind to your nervous system? Does it build strength, skill, and community over time? If the answer’s yes, keep it. If not, bin it and go lift, walk, eat well, and sleep. Enjoyed the conversation? Follow the show, share this episode with a friend, and drop your favourite trend we should celebrate next. Your reviews and shares help the community grow.
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Hello and welcome to the Hell Huns. We are your hosts, Ree Riley Timms, and Amber Green. And we're here to talk about the messy side of health and fitness. So, episode 29. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You're on your deathbed.
SPEAKER_00:I am on my deathbed. Um, I said to Amber before we started recording, we've got about an hour before my cold and flu wear off. So we're gonna get this done quickly. Yeah, this is commitment. Um, and you're drawing your period and having a bit of a outbreak. Outbreak? Breakout. Yeah, look, I don't normally get spots, but it's bad. So we turn up for you through sickness and health. Yeah, we do. We are committed. Um, so first things first, who is getting our shout-out this week as our biggest fan? Our shout-out this week as our biggest fan is the one and only Sarah Gamble. We love Sarah Gamble. If you're ever lucky enough to meet Sarah Gamble, well, you've legends.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Everybody loves her. She is hilarious.
SPEAKER_00:Very, very funny.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. Really appreciate her shout-out last week as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Who's gonna be next week?
SPEAKER_00:Get in touch, DM us, tell us, tag us, you know, if we see you interacting and doing the most, we might choose you.
SPEAKER_01:And what's been nice this week is uh that we're part of people's Spotify Unwrapped.
SPEAKER_00:I know, that's pretty cool, isn't it? Yeah, you know, to be in someone's top five podcasts. That's a lot of time. Well, Cookie Co., we were her number one. You know, we're just a nice comfort, I think, for people. Our soothing tones.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, that was actually really nice to see.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, super fun. If you are, or if we are in your Spotify, unwrapped or wrapped? Unwrapped. Unwrapped. You know what I mean? Um tag us in it. But then I think, are we supposed to boycott Spotify?
SPEAKER_01:Probably, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so watch this space.
SPEAKER_01:But this is where most of our listens come from.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, but how's your week been, Amber?
SPEAKER_01:It's been okay. Um, I'm just you know, sitting here waiting for my period to start any second.
SPEAKER_00:Doesn't that just sum up the life of a menstruating person? Yeah. Just waiting. Waiting.
SPEAKER_01:I feel dislike because it literally probably is gonna be today or tomorrow. I just feel tired. I can't be bothered, and I just wanna I th I I I wanna eat loads of snacks, but also I'm not really hungry, so it's a a weird position to be in. I haven't seen you this week, have I? No, you have not. So from that, I guess your week has been terrible.
SPEAKER_00:Um it started well, yeah, because Meg came down with the the flu Saturday and then has been like pretty much bedridden until today. So, you know, the mother's load was really on me this week. And um how's Ziggy been? Has he been ill? He's fine, touch wood. Okay. But I feel like three-year-olds have always got some sort of runny nose and cough. Do you know what I mean? They're always like hacking up some. And then I started getting ill yesterday, so or Tuesday, I can't remember. But yeah, no, um, haven't done anything this week apart from the bare minimum. Sometimes you need that. Yeah, so hopefully I'll be back in the gym next week. Because why is it when you're ill and can't go? Like that's when motivation is at its highest.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Cool joke. You can't go that you want to go. Yeah. Um, but yeah, boring weeks all around, really. Today we're gonna be talking about our favourite and our least favourite fitness trends of the last decade or so. Yes. But I managed to get more of her favourites. I managed to get more of my least favourites. Yeah. And I think that really highlights where we both are in our fitness careers right now. Maybe. But we'll see as it goes on. So, without further ado, yeah. Hit it off with your first least favourite.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so I'd just like to add I've never actually done this, but I don't like it. Reforma Pilates.
SPEAKER_00:I nearly had that on mine.
SPEAKER_01:Why don't you? I just think I do don't get me wrong, I actually think it probably is a great exercise, but I don't like the aesthetic and the vibe. I think it's really expensive and unaccessible for people.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And for that reason, it's out. It's out.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yeah, I think it's it promises a lot.
SPEAKER_01:Have you seen those reels where it's like I stopped strength training and now I go to Reforma Pilates twice a week and look at how ripped I am. And I'm like, I don't think that would happen. Like, because you are also like probably, you know, in a calorie deficit, and I just I think that that is propaganda.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think be careful with anyone who's claiming that one thing caused XYZ or solve all their problems. Probably not 100% true. But yeah, I get where you're coming from with that. Um my first least favourite thing was I mean, there's still a bit of it now, but there was a real moment in time, like the 5am club or the 4am club.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, where it's like get up super early, get this done, get that done.
SPEAKER_00:Get up at 5 a.m. read 10 pages of a self-development book, um, do a work block, exercise, cold dip or something. And now I mainly see it. Um men normally do it a lot, like coaches and stuff, and it's like come and spend 12 hours of me at work after a three till nine morning routine. I'm like, when are you sleeping? Yeah. I just think it's douche.
SPEAKER_01:Don't want to get up that early in the mornings.
SPEAKER_00:No, and like keep it to yourself, yeah. Keep it to yourself, please. It's kind of giving like Alpha, alt right, has no responsibilities, or their wife does everything in the house and with the kids. Yes, yeah. That's what it's giving, guys. Right, what's your second least favourite? 75 hard, similar vibe. Is that what it's called?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, hard. Yeah, yeah. I just think, well, I mean, when you started to say about the book, like you're meant to like exercise for so many hours inside a day, so many hours a day outside, read a book, do this, do that, like, oh my god, who has got the time?
SPEAKER_00:I think this is a thing. I just think, why? What are you getting out of it? And it's not gonna be sustainable. What's the point? Is it just the social media trend, you know, for content like well, yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just gonna get 75 hard up to read you the exact what it is. Okay, so daily tasks, follow a diet, work out twice a day, 45 minutes each time. One must be outdoors, drink a gallon of water, read 10 pages of a non-fiction book, and take a picture. No exceptions, any missed tasks means you must restart the 75 days. Take a picture of what? Yourself. Oh, right, okay. Sorry, yourself to track your progress. Oh, I see. Mental toughness over fitness, consistency is key.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it just sounds boring. Yeah. It's just it's not for the everyday person, it really isn't. No, it's not. It's quite Americanized as well. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I get what we Andrew Tate and David Goggins, not Andrew.
SPEAKER_00:How about just talk about your feelings?
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_00:How about go for a coffee with a friend and ask them how they are?
SPEAKER_01:That's too easy. Not when you've got 75 hard.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, God. Really be doing the most out there. Um, my second least favourite trend of the last decade is the carnival diet, and alongside eating off wooden chopping boards. The carnival diet was gross, like your insides aren't probably doing that well. No. And chopping boards, just get a fucking plate, you loser.
SPEAKER_01:There's nothing wrong with a plate. You can get some really nice plates, you know.
SPEAKER_00:I think more of the ick is like all these people just copying each other. I think that for me is more of the ick of it.
SPEAKER_01:It's just uh Yeah. Just get alive. I don't think this is the carnivore diet, but there's a woman that I've seen on Instagram. Maybe it is a carnivore diet, but she basically eats butter. Oh, just the butter.
SPEAKER_00:I think she's called butter babe or something. Oh, okay. What the fuck? What the fuck? The texture, the thought of that texture makes me feel gross.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. I can't even, I really can't.
SPEAKER_00:Love a bit of butter, but not chunks of it. Like, what's your third least favourite then?
SPEAKER_01:Uh my third least favourite, I'm probably gonna make me very unpopular because I know that loads of people love this, but this is just my opinion. Group training facilities, including CrossFit. It's too people-y for me. I'm I this is this is my personal opinion, and I would not go to one of them because there are too many people there.
SPEAKER_00:I just saw an orb fly across the screen. My screen or your screen? Yes, like I saw it on your screen, like far in front of your face.
SPEAKER_01:It's probably the ghost of uh a group training facility. Or the child, yeah. I've got a small Victorian child living here.
SPEAKER_00:Disclaimer, they are dead. Oh, yeah, they're dead. Um but didn't kill them.
SPEAKER_01:They died a long time ago. Now they just haunt the hallway of my house.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yeah, I was gonna put higher ups, but I was trying to be above it. I was trying to like no be a little bit unpredictable, but I do agree. I it's I mean, I don't hate them, but they do give me cult. It gives me cult vibes. If you want to be part of a cult, that's fine. You do you boo.
SPEAKER_01:I just don't like people. So I could never join any of these things because I like I am actually like quite chatty and stuff. If you put me in a group situation like that, I'm mute because I'm like overwhelmed. It's just not for me.
SPEAKER_00:Fair enough. My third uh least favourite trend of the last decade, and this is more recent one, but it has re-emerged, is skinny talk. The whole I don't think I need to even explain why I don't like that. But no, I don't think you do the trend of skinny talk, that side of the algorithm, is ultimately pro-anorexia, and it's just not ideal. And I'm shocked, well, I'm not shocked because of the way the world is, but how that has risen to popularity in the last 12 months is insane, yeah. And I hope that sooner rather than later the pendulum swings back and we find some more even footing with that kind of stuff again. But yeah, skinny talk is my third least favourite friend uh trend. I've actually just thought of another one.
SPEAKER_01:So I now have four because I was finding it hard to think of five, but my fourth one is using vulnerable children to build your fitness brand.
SPEAKER_00:Boxwave.
SPEAKER_01:Well out you. Like, I'm sorry, there is firstly I feel like it is given toxic masculinity because they are mainly focusing on boys and they are going for this like quite toxic, manly, disciplined, push yourself vibe. And I just don't think using the stories of vulnerable children to build your business is ethical. Did you see the most recent one? The boy that had been adopted. Yeah. Like, I don't think that's okay.
SPEAKER_00:And I just think, and the comments are like, oh my god, this is brilliant! Well done, Boxwave. This is what kids should be taught.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm thinking, is everyone alright? No, they're not, because they're just basically thinking children need to be thin.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, it goes back to the skinny talk, it's all related, isn't it? Yeah. One, that child cannot give informed consent, they're too young.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, if he's got adopted, I wonder if he still has a social worker and what the social worker would think about this. I thought the exact same thing. Could potentially like put him in danger. Yeah. Depending on what he had been adopted from. Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and using that story and the stuff they make like it's almost like do you remember when Biggest Loser did like a kid's version? Yeah. It's no different to that, and we all know how toxic that was. I just I don't get how they're being crowned as heroes. You're exploiting children for an engagement. That's what you're doing. You're not helping anyone really. They're just helping themselves. Yeah. We won't get any more into that. We might get um, what is it, done for defamation.
SPEAKER_01:It's just my opinion. I think you're exploiting vulnerable children.
SPEAKER_00:Um, my fourth one is barefoot shoes. You wanted some the other week. No, I I nearly got thought, you know what? And then I thought, I'll just take my shoes off. Fucking hell, as barefoot as you can get. No, I just think don't oh I can understand why you might want to wear them to the gym. I can understand for exercise, in the gym, better connection, you know, for your big lifts and whatever. Please stop wearing them with jeans. Get a f just accept that maybe your feet are gonna be a little bit crushed.
SPEAKER_01:That's not what you're meant to be.
SPEAKER_00:And I just maybe I'm jealous of their confidence. Maybe that's what it is. Maybe I'm really insecure.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think they would even be that comfortable, you know.
SPEAKER_00:I just think really thin soles. Well, you need a bit of glass going down Prince of Wales on a Sunday morning. Yeah, right. Imagine if you slept in dog poo.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I don't like them. And they're really expensive too.
SPEAKER_00:And gross. Yeah. They're plimp soles that we used to wear for PE in school. Anyway, have you got a fifth one?
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, my fifth and final least favourite trend of the last decade, fitness trend, is when coaches and personal trainers film their videos and they're watching a video on their phone, which is like playing on the screen and like reacting to it. Oh, okay. I don't know why it annoys me so much, but I just think how fucking boring and unoriginal. Yeah, that's fair enough. I think that's why I sometimes struggle to do like to know what content to post on like social media, because I'm just thinking how boring and unoriginal everyone is.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm thinking, stop, hey, stop pretending like you haven't taken about 10 takes of this video and you've never seen this video before. You've had to screen record it originally to put it up on the screen to watch it. Yeah. And also like, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. That's just my least favourite trend at the minute. Nothing more, nothing less than that. Right, go on. Your favourite, first favourite trend of the last decade, Health and Fitness Edition.
SPEAKER_01:Strength training for women. Because I feel like that is a relatively new thing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I agree. Um the I I put big and strong women. Okay. So pretty much the same thing, I guess. The encouragement of lifting heavy, working out in order to be strong and not to shrink. Yeah. Is a really positive message that I think has kind of stood the test of time in m in the m like last two years of the awake of skinny talk and other such things. People want to be strong. I do still think that's the overarching message being pushed. But then again, I'll be in an echo chamber. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. I think women do want to be strong. I do. Although I had a client today who I was showing her somebody that I follow on Instagram, um, and this person had like gone from being quite they're a PT and they'd gone from being quite like skinny, and now she's like, I think she looks amazing, but she's obviously like got bigger because she's really strong now. And my client was like, um, oh, she's like, see, I would prefer to look like how she did before, and I'm like, but look at her now, look at her bum. Like, and she's like, I just I like the small look, and I'm like, I mean, I think each their own.
SPEAKER_00:Some people see the value in strength, obviously the value in petiteness.
SPEAKER_01:Each strong, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, okay, number two, your favourite trend.
SPEAKER_01:So, I mean, maybe this is controversial, but uh I like to I like the trend of tracking things and having some data. So having my garment, which Lives. To Strava, and there are things like I mean, I haven't got one of these, I'd like one, but they're very expensive, like those aura rings that track your sleep and stuff. Yeah. I mean, because I and but the issue is I get in bed and like within about 10 minutes I like fling my garment off because it just annoys me. So I don't think I would be able to keep a ring on either. Um, but yeah, I like to track stuff. I think it's good from a progress point of view, but it also just like I don't know, I think it's quite helpful. But then I also see the other side where it's not so helpful if you are someone that is like a bit obsessed and like it worries about what you're doing, what other people are doing. So I guess there is a flip side to it, but for me, I like it.
SPEAKER_00:Um my second one, and this is gonna surprise you, Amber. I put Zimba slash club aside. Well, I've done neither of those things, and I never will. However, I really like it because it hit a demographic of mainly women who would probably never step foot in a gym, but definitely felt more comfortable doing this as a form of exercise and like socializing and that kind of stuff. And I think I just like the Zumba moves. I think the coaches are always really fun, and it's just a I've never seen anything toxic come from Zumba or Club of Size.
SPEAKER_01:You know what? I about when I was 30 and I lost weight before, I used to go to Zumba like three times a week. I don't know who this woman was. She was an olderish lesbian that had chihuahuas, and she taught Zumba a lot in Norwich. And she used to do like Zumba, but to like modern music, so it's like to pink, Nicki Minaj, that kind of thing, and I loved it.
SPEAKER_00:That maybe is a glimpse into my future. Maybe. But yeah, that was my second favourite trend. Okay. What was yours?
SPEAKER_01:Um well this kind of like goes against one of my dislikes, but maybe it's just because we have one that is really nice, but run clubs. What was your old group? But actually, I love our little run club and the little community that has come from it. Uh, and there's not too many people, so I'm okay. Yeah, um, I I wouldn't want to go to any other run clubs because I like ours. So yeah, I'm gonna say gay to 5k is one of my top fitness trends of the past decade.
SPEAKER_00:Woo! Um funnily enough, my third one, my favorite trend was couch to 5k. Okay. Again, something that is very accessible if you are able-bodied, obviously, and have access to a phone. Um and it got people out, it got people feeling more confident in their own abilities, it caught people doing something they never thought they'd be able to do before, and it's led to creation such as Gate 5K or people being able to come along to these things, build community, make more friends. Um and yeah, I mean, any sort of that kind of, and I think it's encouraged a lot of people to take the slower approach to running, so like intervals and and making that but that entry level so much lower. Um yeah, that was my third one. We're so wholesome. We are. We haven't even slagged off any men yet. Oh, maybe I did for the chopping box wave. But that's not because they're men, that's because they're just they're principles.
SPEAKER_01:Uh so my fourth one, which I really like, is uh saunas and cold plunge. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You can keep them to yourself.
SPEAKER_01:I love I mean I I love being hot, so I love the sauna, but there is also something I I don't I would I don't think it particularly like helps me with recovery or anything like that, but I love getting in the cold plunge, being freezing cold, and then you get back in the sauna and you're freezing cold, but you're also hot. It's a really weird.
SPEAKER_00:I think some people get their kicks elsewhere in life. But again, don't want to yuck anyone's yum, each their own. I personally I don't have anything against them. I'm not like, you know, protesting outside them saying don't do it. But personally, for me, I don't have any urge in my body to take part in that activity.
SPEAKER_01:I like it while I'm doing it, but what I hate is I hate the stress of having to get changed for it, and then when you get out of it, you're like wet and you've got to put clothes back on. That's the bit that I don't like, but the actual experience I do like.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's actually a major part of why I'm not bothered by it because I hate swimming for that exact reason. Swimming on holidays, fine. You get out, you dry on the sand lounger, it's all good. Swimming here is just gross. It is a hassle. I think it's the hassle behind saunaering. Yeah. Just doesn't appeal to me. Um, but yeah, fair enough. I don't have a fifth favourite or fourth favourite.
SPEAKER_01:Oh. Well, I have got a fifth favourite as well. Uh so mine is strong men and strong women, like not just strength training for women, but like actual strong men and strong women. Yeah. Because I just think they're really impressive. I don't want to do it, but they're just like out there lifting up lorries.
SPEAKER_00:It's pretty cool, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Lifting rock is like this big.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, I I love I love strong people competitions. I really want to go to the the gym near us, Big Andes. Endurum. Indeed. Um, I need to uh actually arrange to go, but I just think impressive feats of strength. I don't really care too much about endurance, but strength I just find so that's insane. Do you know what I mean? Um so yeah, I'm definitely with you on that one. Any more? No. That's it. Yeah, we've done that quick, we got through that quite quick today. Well, which is good because you need to get back to your deathbed. Yes, exactly. Alright then. Well, there were uh top five and bottom five trends.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Let us know what you think. Oh, I found out we have 71 followers on Spotify. Oh!
SPEAKER_01:That's actually quite a lot, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Because I worked out how to look on all our stats, not just overall. And people have been commenting on our podcast too. So we have a big fan from Australia. Sam or Sammy, I think their name is. I'll have to double check. Apologies. I how do how do we not see the comments? Can you only see them for the I don't know? I I'll send you the details later. But what are people saying? Just like how much they love it, like rating us and stuff like that. So thank you. Yeah, um, which was reassuring. So thank you. And if you haven't yet, subscribe on whatever platform you're listening to. Give us a follow on Instagram, send it to a friend because sharing this podcast and telling people about it is how this is gonna grow. Um, and if you have any topics you would like us to cover, we have the next few planned, but in the new year, we will anything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we will uh cover anything within the world of health and fitness for you. Maybe beyond if the price is right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Alright then. Well, short and sweet this week. Yeah. But we'll be back. Bye.