Skip to content

Top Navigation

Shape Shape
  • Fitness
  • Healthy Eating
  • Beauty
  • Sex and Love
  • Celebrities
  • Mind & Body
  • Lifestyle
  • Video
  • Shop
  • Sweeps

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Your Profile
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Log Out
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Shape

Shape Shape
  • Explore

    Explore

    • The Keto Meal Plan for Beginners

      Everything you need to know to get started with this high-fat, low-carb diet. Read More Next
    • 10 Things I Learned During My Body Transformation

      Twenty months and 17 pounds later, I came away with 10 big lessons. Read More Next
    • The 30-Day Squat Challenge

      The ultimate 30-day squat challenge, featuring 12 squats that tighten and tone. Read More Next
  • Fitness

    Fitness

    See All Fitness
    • Workouts
    • Cardio
    • Strength Training
    • Bodyweight Training
    • Yoga
    • Exercise Recovery
    • Exercise Tips
    • Race Training
    • Workout Trends
    • Playlists
    • Workout Clothes
    • Workout Gear
  • Healthy Eating

    Healthy Eating

    See All Healthy Eating
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Diets
    • Food & Nutrition
    • Healthy Cooking
    • Healthy Drinks
    • Weight Loss
  • Beauty
  • Sex and Love
  • Celebrities

    Celebrities

    See All Celebrities
    • Interviews
    • Celebrity News
    • Celebrity Workouts
  • Mind & Body

    Mind & Body

    See All Mind & Body
    • Coronavirus
    • Transformations
  • Lifestyle

    Lifestyle

    See All Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Fashion
    • Healthy IRL
  • Video

    Video

    See All Video
    • Workout Videos
    • Cooking Videos
    • Weight Loss Videos
    • Celebrity Videos
  • Shop
  • Sweeps

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Your Profile
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Log Out
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Shape.com Chevron Right
  2. Fitness Chevron Right
  3. Workouts Chevron Right
  4. 7 Fitness Progams with Cult Followings

7 Fitness Progams with Cult Followings

By Charlotte Hilton Andersen
July 05, 2012
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
Need workout motivation? It may be time to drink the Kool-Aid and try one of these uber-popular programs
Start Slideshow

1 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Bodyrock.tv

If you've ever wanted to look long, very lean, and slightly Eastern European, then you will love the short-but-seriously-hardcore Bodyrock.tv workout. To find "Bodyrockers" in their element, you'll have to look past the gym—proponents of this "at-home fitness movement" love to do their workouts either in their living rooms or in public places such as beaches and parks, as evidenced by all the fan photos adorning the site. Minimal equipment is one of the main selling points of Bodyrocking, but the few things they do use include sandbags, stability balls, and chin-up bars.

Secret handshake: While the actual moves aren't the sexiest (unless deep squats and burpees are your thing), the way Bodyrockers do them sure is! One of the original founders, Zuzana (who has now started her own workout channel called Zuzka Light), popularized the workouts with her impressive cleavage and heavy breathing.

Photo Credit: Bodyrock.tv

1 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

CrossFit

You've probably heard about how hardcore CrossFit is from one of the program's fanatic followers who likely wakes at 5 a.m. to work out at a spartan gym equipped with climbing ropes, gymnastics rings, and lots of weights. The program's short yet intense workouts include elements of Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, plyometrics, sprints, and other intense training regimens that turn CrossFitters into lean, mean, deadlifting machines.

Secret handshake: CrossFit has its own special vocabulary. For instance, the workout of the day is called the WOD (pronounced "wad"). Many WODs have weird names like "Fran" or "Fight Gone Bad"—very important to know when a CrossFitters brags "I killed Fran today! It was awesome!"

When it comes to clothing, sports bras and shorts are the norm (because 8-pack abs on both genders mean shirts are optional). A CrossFitter's one concession to style is their crazy knee socks. Bonus points for anything that says "beast mode" on it.

Photo Credit: CrossFit.com

2 of 7

3 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

P90X

Followers of P90X, the 12-DVD at-home workout program that has swept the nation in recent years, sweat through 60- to 90-minute workouts six days a week. Or rather, as program founder Tony Horton puts it, they "get extreme."

Secret handshake: Horton is a funny guy but after watching the videos every day, people form very strong opinions about which jokes are tired, which of the supporting cast they prefer to copy (and ignore), and what exactly is the recipe for German Potato Soup..

Photo Credit: FitnessBodyOnline.com

3 of 7

Advertisement

4 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Turbokick

The punching and kicking in Turbokick may first appear to be kickboxing, but the killer dance moves, choreography, and pop music make it more like a rave, kicking your butt in time to an eight-count beat.

Secret handshake: The signature move, called "the Turbo Twist" is a jab, cross, knee lift, but each Turbokicker adds their own little flare to it. The current controversy: Are you cheating if you tap your rear foot instead of dropping into a full lunge? It's all in the details!

Turbokick also has its own line of flashy workout duds, consisting mainly of tanks and cargo pants with more buckles, straps, and ties than a fishing vest.

Photo Credit: GoToTheEdge.com

4 of 7

5 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Zumba

Zumba acolytes are hard to miss in the wild—think Miami club gear but with even more neon spandex, which speaks to one of the best parts of this Latin dance class: how uninhibited the program is. Go big, go loud, and go sexy!

Secret handshake: Zumba instructors are taught to cue without words by relying primarily on example and an elaborate set of hand gestures. For example, a pat on the head usually means "from the top." You can spot a hardcore Zumba-ite pretty easily by the word "Zumba" written on at least three items of clothing.

Photo Credit: Zumba.com

5 of 7

6 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Insanity

If you yell "run and drop!" in a crowded room and someone actually drops and does pushups, they are either in the military or an Insanity lover. If they jump back up into a tuck jump and grab their knees, you can be sure they're part of the Insanity clan.

Secret handshake: Inventor Shaun T is one of the most high-energy people you will ever "meet" (on DVD). Consequently a lot of his followers take "bouncing off the walls" literally as well as figuratively.

Photo Credit: BodyPowerFitness.com

6 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Bikram Yoga

Real Bikram yoga classes follow a precise series of 26 poses in a 107-degree heated room. Anything else is just yoga in a hot room. You can spot a Bikram devotee by her scant clothing, two-liter water bottle, and crazy-flexible hamstrings.

Secret handshake: When asked why anyone would ever want to be inside a room that hot much less do anything athletic in it, Bikram yogis inevitably talk about cleansing and detoxifying. Chakras and heart centers may come up as well.

Photo Credit: BikramYoga.com

7 of 7

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 7 Bodyrock.tv
2 of 7 CrossFit
3 of 7 P90X
4 of 7 Turbokick
5 of 7 Zumba
6 of 7 Insanity
7 of 7 Bikram Yoga

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Login

Shop | Shape

  • Activewear
  • Training Shoes
  • Workout Videos
  • Skin Care
  • Running Shoes
  • Headphones
  • Vitamins & Supplements
  • Water Bottles
  • Resistance Bands
  • Workout Leggings
  • Shop More Next

Shape may receive compensation when you click through and purchase from links contained on this website.

Shape

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Shape is part of the Instyle Beauty Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.shape.com

View image

7 Fitness Progams with Cult Followings
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.