Top fitness trends for 2016. Which ones are you doing?
/The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has announced its’ top fitness trends for 2016 and the #1 fitness trend you may already be doing. For the past ten years, ACSM has conducted a yearly survey designed to uncover fitness trends for the upcoming year. More than 2,800 health and fitness professionals worldwide took the survey with some unexpected results.
The #1 trend for 2016 is wearable technology which includes fitness trackers, smart watches, heart rate monitors, and GPS tracking devices.
Wearable technology appears to be a sign exercise enthusiasts have a strong interest in fitness technology where they receive instantaneous monitoring and feedback. This immediate information can be a strong motivator helping the user to reach their fitness goals. This also seems to signal an end to low cost, do-it-yourself exercising.
Along with wearable technology, here are the other top 10 fitness trends for 2016:
1. Wearable Technology – Examples include Misfit, Garmin, Jawbone, and Fitbit.
2. Body Weight Training – Typical body weight training uses minimal equipment making it more affordable but involves more than just push-ups and pull-ups. It’s predicted to be a trend to watch in the future.
3. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) – This top trend in 2015 involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a short period of rest and typically takes less than 30 minutes to perform. It is a popular form of exercise in gyms worldwide
4. Strength Training – Both men and women, young and old alike, are focusing on weight training to improve and maintain strength. Many fitness professionals use strength training for all kinds of clients including those with cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation.
5. Educated, certified, and experienced fitness professionals – There is a large number of organizations offering fitness and clinical exercise programs. Choose a fitness professional who has completed training through accredited programs such as the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) or ACSM. One of the largest and most prestigious fitness-certification organizations is ACSM.
6. Personal training – Personal trainers are becoming more and more common in both the health and fitness industry with many states requiring licensing of this profession. A variety of settings now hire personal trainers such as corporate wellness programs, community-based programs, medical fitness programs and many are self-employed and work independently.
7. Functional fitness – This fitness trend is geared more toward someone who is looking to improve their balance, coordination, force, power and endurance helping enhance the ability to perform daily living activities. It is typically used for older adults seeking to live independently in their own homes.
8. Fitness programs for older adults – As we continue to age as a nation, there is a growing market for health and fitness professionals to take advantage of providing exercise programs for the elderly. This age group tends to have more discretionary money which fitness clubs can gain from targeting this growing market.
9. Exercise and weight loss – It has long been known that combining diet with exercise is vital to help lose weight and for weight maintenance. Many organizations are realizing the trend of not only providing a weight loss programs but also incorporating an exercise program along with it.
10. Yoga – Yoga seems to be here to stay as it continues to reinvent itself each year making it a desirable method of exercise. There are many varieties of yoga to choose from such as Power Yoga, Yogalates and Bikram Yoga, all enticing yoga enthusiasts to keep coming back.
Rounding out the top 20 fitness trends include:
11. Group personal training
12. Worksite health promotion
13. Wellness coaching
14. Outdoor activities
15. Sport-specific training
16. Flexibility and mobility rollers
17. Smart phone exercise apps
18. Circuit training
19. Core training
20. Outcome meaurements