SHAKE IT UP OR SHAKE IT OFF

No pain, no gain is no longer hip. After a taxing workout, just exclaim 'sheesh' or 'skibidi.' Your kids will totally get you.

- RICARDO T. PAMINTUAN

There was a time when fitness and dance crazes were indistinguishable from each other. Remember Olivia Newton John and Physical? Can't unhear it now, huh? Or the Zumba revolution that was as big as Konami's Dance Dance Revolution?

Fitness trends are like your wardrobe from high school. They start as a good idea, but time passes, and suddenly you're wondering, "Why did I ever think leotards and leg warmers are okay in public?" or "How could Richard Simmons have been a fitness icon?"

Dance and fitness have always been strange bedfellows, especially when fashion comes into play that could make you either the epitome of cool or of dowdiness.

Sure, each era has its "what were we thinking?" moments when it comes to staying in shape, and every generation finds a new way to make fools of themselves while burning calories. But that's just one of the things that make life interesting.

As a member of Generation X, my perspective is colored (befogged?) by fond memories of '80s aerobics and the glory days of Jane Fonda's Workout tapes, followed a decade later by Cindy Crawford's Shape Your Body.

Today, we live in a world where TikTok rules, Gen Z dances into fitness challenges, and everything is one algorithm away from going viral.

Fitness and dance trends have certainly evolved through the years, from the simple military-inspired exercises and boogie shoes of our lolos and lolas to today's online-driven routines.

In the 1940s, fitness was straightforward: stretch, jump, repeat. A few jumping jacks and a bit of running around kept our forefathers in top form, mostly because life itself was already a workout (hello, wartime rationing and constant physical labor).

Then the '50s hit, and with it, the hula hoop. Over 400,000 of those wobbly circles were sold across America alone. Talk about revolutionary! For the life of me, I could never go beyond a couple of twirls before the darn contraption drops to the ground.