Appreciation for the "Hot Girl Walk", TikTok's Pandemic Workout Trend

The year was 2020, and a little virus took the world by storm (you might remember it? It was called COVID-19 and was kind of a big deal). We all took to our houses, binged television shows ("Normal People" was a big one, if I'm remembering correctly), and were introduced to Zoom calls for the first time! Wow, what an era! We also were introduced to things being completely closed: indoor dining, movie theatres, and...gyms. 

With the closing of gyms, millions of Americans were forced to find newer and more innovative ways to workout. Lots of boutique fitness studios opened up online streaming classes like The Sculpt Society and A Sculpt Body, or @alessiasculpt on Instagram. We were introduced to Youtuber Chloe Ting for the first time. All of these allowed viewers to do quick and effective workouts for in the comfort of their own homes. Whether you opted to pay for an online class pass or do the simple yet effective Youtube workouts that were readily available (I became a huge Yoga with Bird fan, FYI)...you found exactly what you needed to do to pass the time. 

During the pandemic I was laid off from my job, or technically, temporarily furloughed. I freelanced for quite some time writing, and when I wasn't doing this, decided to work out as much as I could and read more than I ever had. It started with my downstairs treadmill jogs, but this got taxing once I realized I was watching Friends reruns on a giant path to nowhere. Then, once the weather hit warmer temperatures, I started doing HIIT workouts in my front yard with a massive Bluetooth boombox on top of my car (sorry to my neighbors for this one). Around June of 2020 when restrictions started lifting and public parks and "social distanced gatherings" became a thing, I noticed that our public parks and forest preserves were flooded with moms in Lululemon and Alo gear power walking like there was no tomorrow. And this, readers, was my first experience seeing The Hot Girl Walk. Yes, you read that correctly. 

Dubbed The Hot Girl Walk on TikTok, the trend, as one TikToker described it was a four-mile walk where you basically only think about positive things. Of course, this evolved, and it became a walk of epic proportions. Some girls made it a walk where they woke up and walked, then walked before bed, and then basically walked whenever they were stressed. Some walked as a low-impact option to the not-necessarily horomone friendly HIIT workout trend that was extremely popular pre-pandemic and extremely unpopular now due to its cortisol-raising effects in already stressed people. Basically, the walk became a huge trend that women all over the country were partaking in. It was a way to stay in shape and also, for some, socialize safely outside without having to worry about getting sick. 

I started doing the hot-girl walk in 2021 when I lived downtown Chicago and the lakefront trail was just a stone's throw away. I was in school full-time, working a full-time job as a server at a trendy Chicago restaurant and was stressed out of my mind. In mid-2021 mandates were loose, but they weren't gone. Rules changed rapidly in the city of Chicago and post-pandemic fatigue was real. A lot of people were scared of their lives being pulled from under them again; and it was terrifying to work with the public again after being told to be scared of everyone for the last year-and-a-half. After work I'd get on the lakefront trail and start walking, or, I'd just start my days with it. And it worked. I noticed when I ditched heavy weight lifting and excessive cardio workouts for simply, well, walking...that my stress dropped by a major amount and I felt happier again. I was sleeping better, I felt like I had a clear head to start or end my day, and I didn't feel so mentally and physically taxed from the gym that I couldn't do anything else for the rest of the day. It was peaceful to walk by the water, pass other people doing the same thing as me, knowing that they probably had their struggles they were walking off, too. 

Marlin on his first #HotGirlWalk.

Today, in 2023, I'm still doing the #HotGirlWalk. I moved back home to the suburbs; ditched my trendier city workout sets for comfy hoodies and jogger pants; and I recently adopted a mini-Dachshund named Marlin who needs near-constant attention and realized that he loves these walks as much as I do. We walk around the neighborhood, around town, or just in loops around the trails in our area. We walk to music, we walk to silence, and we walk to podcasts. But I've never stopped walking. My cortisol has dropped drastically, my anxiety is better now that I've almost entirely cut out running for good, and I've lost inches over my whole body. But more importantly, I feel like me again. My mental health, like most people, tanked during (and especially after) the pandemic; I turned to over-socializing post-pandemic to drown out the anxiety that I felt every day; and in direct correlation, then became extremely introverted after becoming extremely extroverted because I was so tired from trying to live for the time I'd lost. And during this tumultuous period post-COVID, I never walked. Again, I was hyper-fixated on making up for lost time. But now, in this lovely and calm period of my life that I'm thankful every day I've stumbled across, I've found walking and peace again. 

This is an ode to a trend on TikTok I found ridiculous in 2020 but came to love by simply trying it out. This is an ode to the Lululemon moms who were walking the forest preserves during the pandemic to forge connections when there wasn't a light at the end of the tunnel, and this is an appreciation for everyone who has found a vice that has kept them sane during the strangest of times. This, simply, is an appreciation piece for a TikTok trend that brought, and still does bring, so many people joy every day just by walking.