The past decade has seen an impressive rise in focus on personal health and wellness. It has led to the introduction of many workouts, diets, and fitness trends. However, not all of them have proven to be effective. While working out in a sauna suit or using vibrating belts and dumbbells was a massive trend in an era, they didn't last as they were ineffective. Workout trends like Aerobics, Zumba, and HIIT, introduced in the 1950s, have sustained over the years due to their positive impact on weight loss.

The current trends in the fitness industry are coming through social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Tiktok, but several workout trends have failed. However, the two latest trends with high efficiency to help reduce weight are the primal movement and 12-3-30 workouts. These have been introduced by fitness influencers and tested by experts for their positive weight loss effects. Both the workouts are opposite, while primal movements are ideal for home workouts and reduce weight by easing functionality movements and core strengthening, the 12-3-30 is a treadmill workout that sheds weight by building strength and endurance.

Besides being effective for weight loss, a commonality that workouts like primal movement, 12-3-30, and HIIT share is that they allow you as an individual to feel good about your body and create a positive mental shift towards fitness.

Primal Movement workouts started gaining attention in early January 2023 and claimed its title as the fitness trend of the year. Primal movements are natural body movements that the body is capable of. It is a mixture of yoga, gymnastics, and calisthenic that allows the body to move away from the sedentary life and recalibrate. It improves the body's physical functioning through basic and instinctual movements like the ancestors moved for survival in the primitive state.

Ideally, the 7 primal movement patterns are considered the foundation of basic human movements. They include squat, hinge, lunge, push, pull, twist and gait. These basic movements improve body mechanics and provide more strength to the core. It decreases pain and discomfort, improving the quality of life and longevity. You can begin practising primal movements by starting with simple squats and turning them into lunges or lateral lunges. Running, hiking, bending, push-ups, pull-ups, regular planks and many such exercises can be tweaked with a shoulder tap or rotational movements to add primal movements to your regular workout.

Although these movements include some calisthenic exercises they do not add bulk to the current muscle mass. Primal movements are compound exercises which means it engages multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Compound exercises like these increase heart rate, improve metabolism and create an afterburn effect post-workout. It enables your body to continue burning calories and promotes fat loss. It also improves the muscle group definition leading to lean mass building.

The latest workout trend of 12-3-30 simply aims at burning calories and losing weight by boosting cardiovascular health and glute muscles. Every number represents a component of the workout where 12% is the incline level on the treadmill, which is set to 3 miles per hour, and you walk for 30 minutes over it.

However, they must be considered as guidelines, and the speed and incline level can be modified according to your preference and fitness level. Beginners can start with a slow walk or a lower recline and continue towards the 12-3-30 combination. The 12-3-30 workout is an aerobic routine that mimics an uphill hike allowing your lower body strength to improve. It is recommended to include this workout with other physical activities for an overall body workout.

Walking on an incline challenges the muscles to work hard rather than on a flat surface. The increased effort engages lower body muscles like glutes, quads, hips, knees, ankle extensors, hamstrings and calf muscles. This workout keeps burning calories and builds resistance that strengthens the cardiovascular muscles. It allows your blood sugar to remain in control and contributes to reducing weight.

Despite being introduced in the 1950s, HIIT is still a major trend. The top reason HIIT workouts continue to be a major hit among the masses is their weight loss effects in a relatively short time. It remains the highest in-demand exercise in gyms, home workouts, remote workouts, apps, and boot camps. The fast-facing life and time are the most common excuses used for avoiding workouts. HIIT workouts, however, require 10 to 12 minutes of minimal exercise that can help you lose weight.

It includes basic exercises like push-ups, squats, burpees, mountain climbers, and other exercises that require no equipment. However, you can use dumbbells, resistance bands, or kettlebells to increase the intensity of the workout.

HIIT improves cardiovascular fitness and lean body mass, lowering the risk of heart disease. It can burn more stubborn and unhealthy fats compared to other exercises allowing you to reduce weight. It works effectively for the younger as well as, the older generations, providing everyone with its benefits.

These workouts are highly effective for weight loss when practised with consistency. It is necessary to work out at least a couple of days a week to ensure you receive the desired weight loss results. The additional benefit of the above-mentioned workouts is their ability to be modified according to your strength and endurance levels and add a variety to monotonous workout routines.