As the year careens toward its close, Google upholds its annual tradition of releasing the most popular search terms from the past 12 months. That means the search terms that saw the highest spike in traffic in 2017 as compared to 2016.
Broken down by categories like “calorie counts” (most searched: Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino—the 16-ounce version of which will set you back 410 calories and 59 grams of sugar and song lyrics (not surprisingly, it was “Despacito”), the rankings give a handy snapshot of top trends that may carry over into next year.
Like the calorie-dense coffee drinks and Bieber earworms, the top diet and fitness picks that had people clicking this year were wide-ranging, from “boiled egg diet” to “burpees.” Pro tip: Probably not best to combine those.
If you’re looking for some inspiration to revamp your fitness and food lineup for 2018, though, this list has some good starting points. Here are some of the terms that made up top 10 workouts and exercises searches, and the top 10 diet searches for 2017. How many have you checked out?
MURPH CROSSFIT WORKOUT
Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy developed this sequence—consisting of a 1-mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, and another 1-mile run, all done while wearing a weighted vest—while on deployment in Afghanistan. He was killed during a mission in 2005, and posthumously awarded the medal of honor for his role in saving a soldier’s life.
To honor him, the CrossFit community adopted his workout, and renamed it the “Murph”—it’s often considered the hardest workout the athletes have to face.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR DIET
Often touted as a quick fix for a host of issues from acne to low energy, apple cider vinegar—the cloudy, dark kind—does have some benefits, thanks to its acetic acid. There’s evidence that it can be good for weight loss, since it’s suggested that it helps fat burn more efficiently. But there are caveats as well, like the length of time (three to five months) it takes to see a few pounds shed off.
So if you’re looking for major weight loss, don’t look to apple cider vinegar as your magic potion—you’ll likely need more significant changes to your diet and exercise routine instead (Need an eating plan that will help you build muscle and lean out? Try the Metashred Diet from Men’s Health).
TABATA WORKOUT
Fat-frying, scorching, intense, belly-fat-blaster: Tabata gets all the best descriptors. Originally developed as a way to train speed skaters, the workouts combine high-intensity training with short rest periods. Although you can change up the exercises done in a set, the standard is to do four or five options—for example, 20-second intervals each of jump squats, burpees, jumping jacks, and lunges—with 10-second rest periods between each.
The 2-1 ratio of work to rest means your heart rate stays high, making it a great routine for frying fat.
PLANT-BASED DIET
Plant-based diets are gaining popularity for a whole slew of health benefits, one being that it can help reduce your heart risk. In fact, a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that plant-based diets overall can reduce your risk of heart disease by eight percent. But it matters what you’re eating: Healthy plant-based diets—those including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and oils—were linked to a 25 percent reduction in risk, but unhealthy plant-based diets, with things like sweetened beverages, refined grains, fries, and sweets were actually linked to 32 percent increase in heart risk.
So while a plant-based diet is not a health cure-all, if you do it right, it can work.
Deceptively innocuous-looking and simple in design, TRX suspension straps have become a fitness staple for many gyms and home setups for a reason—they provide a full-body workout in hurry. The suspension effect takes away your usual stabilization, making your core work much harder. You can also play around with greater range of motion than you’d get in non-Spiderman mode.
TOM BRADY DIET
Sure, you try to drink enough water every day, but is it Tom Brady enough? The New England Patriots quarterback detailed his diet in a new book this year, The TB12Method. One of the most surprising pieces of info in there? He drinks 25 glasses of water a day—in addition to protein shakes and smoothies. Not exactly crazy for an athlete of Brady’s caliber if he were working out extensively in the heat but not really necessary for average gym goer.
Apart from his hydration, his diet is a mix of Eastern and Western philosophies, he writes, with a strong anti-inflammatory focus.
Yes, they work, and no, you’re far from being the only one who hates them. But it’s worth gritting your teeth and doing them anyway, because burpees are one of the most demanding bodyweight exercises you can do. The quick movements give you a cardio boost, while the pushups and jumps build muscle, and it’s all done with no equipment. You’re welcome—and sorry.
Love eating fat? Welcome to keto. In this diet, you aim for fat—the good kind, of course— to comprise 60 to 80 percent of your calories, 10 to 15 percent from protein, and less than 10 percent from carbs.
It’s been suggested that if you rely less on carbs, your body will burn more fat as fuel, leading to potential weight loss, better insulin regulation, and better immunity. But it can be a tough diet to maintain, and it’s not exactly practical for the average guy looking to drop 10 pounds. So be sure to do your research before you empty the bacon section of your supermarket.
Tabata is actually a form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), with focused exercises in short bursts followed by brief rests, as a way to get your heart rate up and keep it there for the duration of your set. HIIT workouts are intense, so do them two to three times per week, max.
Far from the gimmicky tricks and eyeroll-inducing rules of some diets, the Mediterranean diet earns its cred, in large part because research has confirmed it can help you lose weight, lower your cancer risk, and improve heart health.
It combines the traditional Italian, Greek, and Spanish ways of eating—plenty of vegetables, occasional additions of lean protein like fish and chicken, and healthy fats like olive oil and nuts, with very little processed food in there. If you’re looking to switch up your eating style, this is often suggested as one of the healthiest ways to eat.
Who doesn’t want lean, defined obliques? Those are the muscles that run along the sides of your core, and are responsible for help stabilizing your spine when you rotate.
Now, we’re sorry to say, abs exercises won’t necessarily give you abs—you’ll need to be at a lean enough body fat first to see them—but they will help you build a strong core. Need some inspiration? Try these 8 best exercises for your obliques.
OTHER TOP DIET AND FITNESS SEARCHES
As for the other top 10 fitness and top 10 diet queries?Other items that rounded out the top 10 in workouts were bungees and PiYo, as well as exercises for inner thighs and CrossFit’s 17.2 challenge. For diets, the rest of the top 10 searches included the Emily Ratajkowski diet, Golo diet, the shepherd’s diet, the coffee diet, and the boiled egg diet.
In 2016, Trent Knox founded the 440 Run Club, a group who meet each Saturday morning at 5am at Sydney’s Bronte beach. While the club has been pivotal in Knox’s sobriety journey, this year he began training for events like the Sydney Marathon and fell in love with running all over again
The 42.2k is a bucket-list feat for many and a goal for most serious runners. Here, Australian marathon record holder Brett Robinson reveals the key to running a race you’ll never forget
Looking for reasons to lace up? From a longer, healthier life span to greater mental clarity, there’s no shortage of reasons to start pounding the pavement