The gym can be intimidating. It’s loud, oftentimes crowded, it can smell, the list goes on and on. For me, the most intimidating aspect of the gym is the anxiety that everyone is looking at me in turn making me think everything that I am doing is wrong. When I feel that way, it turns me off of the gym immediately and then I feel let down. It’s a vicious cycle, but in the last year or so I have found my groove to get out of the cycle: Low-Intensity Steady State Cardio. Or, as TikTok likes to call it, hot girl walks.
Low-Intensity Steady State Cardio (LISS) is less known to many of us because HIIT workouts (high-intensity interval training) are more common. With LISS, the average heart rate through the workout should be roughly 50% of your maximum heart rate whereas HIIT has an average of 80-95%. Examples of LISS are things like walking, cycling, running, and swimming and are great for people of all exercise levels and comfort zones.
LISS is a great recovery style workout but it is also great exercise overall. While it takes more time than a HIIT workout normally would, it is often a comfortable spot for beginners to start and it burns fat and improves fat distribution. In my opinion, the best way to do a LISS workout is to do a long treadmill walk or a long outdoor walk while listening to anything that makes you feel good.
Now, to refer back to TikTok, a hot girl walk is a long walk, roughly 30-45 or more, where you get yourself in the best possible headspace and really hype yourself up as you work towards feeling your best. For a lot of us, music during a workout is what pushes us to do that last set or to turn up the treadmill speed by 1 or 2. Music/podcasts play a key role in these hot girl walks.
To get that hot girl walk going, the first step is to put together an empowering, female-forward playlist. Some of my favorite artists to include are Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, and Little Mix. As for podcasts, some good ones are Girls Gotta Eat, Gals on the Go, Call Her Daddy, and even some zodiac/horoscope podcasts. Once you lace up your sneakers and get on the treadmill or head outside, the last steps are to turn up the sound, hold your chin up high, and engage in that LISS to be the hottest girl you can be.