It's the time of year that I spend much of my time planning future group fitness classes, small group training methods, and innovative ways to engage my one on one clients. Although the basic components of fitness never change, really, the way we present it changes. Whether or not a particular class/method catches on with the public, becomes popular, stays popular or becomes part of our collective understanding depends on a number of factors.
I choose classes/formats/exercises for their function,safety, effectiveness and enjoyment. I also keep in mind ease of presentation. We are a small club and my personal mission is to have all my clients reproduce our workouts at home with little added expense or difficulty. So I tend towards small equipment or no equipment at all. I also ensure to include in our schedule/training programs a variety of classes that feed our bodies as a whole. I always make sure I have options that include all aspects of fitness to ensure that we are working towards our ultimate human goal - balance.
I was reading
"A Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends 2015" from ACSM (American College of Science and Medicine) Health and Fitness journal. To read the full article please click the link above. I always find it interesting what is catching the imagine of gym goers and exercises lovers. Below is the Coles Notes version of the Top 20 Fitness Trends of 2015:
1.
Body weight training., people have been using their own body weight for centuries as a form of resistance training. Typical body weight training programs use minimal equipment, which makes it a very inexpensive way to exercise effectively. As the no. 2 position in the survey suggested last year, body weight training is a trend to watch for the future.
2.
High-intensity interval training. Falling from the top spot in last year’s survey, high-intensity interval training typically involves short bursts of high-intensity exercise followed by a short period of rest or recovery and typically takes less than 30 minutes to perform (although it is not uncommon for these programs to be much longer in duration).
3.
Educated, certified, and experienced fitness professionals.
4.
Strength training. Strength training remains popular in all sectors of the health and fitness industry and for many different kinds of clients.
5.
Personal training. As more professional personal trainers are educated and become certified (see trend no. 3), they are increasingly more accessible in all sectors of the health and fitness industry. Personal training has been in the top 10 of this survey for the past 9 years.
6.
Exercise and weight loss. Exercise in weight loss programs has been a trend since the survey began. The combination of exercise and diet is essential for weight loss maintenance and can improve compliance to caloric restriction diets and in particular weight loss programs.
7.
Yoga comes in a variety of forms including Power Yoga, Yogalates, and Bikram Yoga (the one done in hot and humid environments). Other forms of Yoga include Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga, Vinyasa Yoga, Kripalu Yoga, Anuara Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, and Sivananda Yoga. Instructional tapes and books are abundant, as are the growing numbers of certifications for the many Yoga formats. Yoga seems to reinvent and refresh itself every year, making it a more attractive form of exercise.
8.
Fitness programs for older adults. Health and fitness professionals can take advantage of this growing market by providing age-appropriate and safe exercise programs for the aging sector of the population. The highly active older adult (the athletic old) can be targeted by commercial and community-based organizations to participate in more rigorous exercise programs, including strength training and team sports. Even the frail elderly can improve their balance and ability to perform activities of daily living when provided appropriate functional fitness activities. Fitness programs for older adults will remain a strong trend for 2015.
9.
Functional fitness. Replicating actual physical activities someone might do as a function of his or her daily routine, functional fitness is defined as using strength training to improve balance, coordination, force, power, and endurance to enhance someone’s ability to perform activities of daily living.
10.
Group personal training. Group personal training will continue to be a popular trend in 2015. The personal trainer can continue to provide the personal service clients expect but now in a small group typically of two to four, offering potentially deep discounts to each member of the group and creating an incentive for clients to put small groups together.
11.
Worksite health promotion. Designed to improve the health and well-being of employees, this is a trend for a range of programs and services that evaluate health, health care costs, and worker productivity. Once a need is determined, worksite health promotion professionals build programs based on greatest need.
12.
Outdoor activities. Outdoor activities often include hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and games or sports. Outdoor activities also can include high-adventure programs such as overnight camping trips.
13.
Wellness coaching. Wellness coaching integrates behavioral change science into health promotion, disease prevention, and rehabilitation programs. Wellness coaching often uses a one-on-one approach similar to a personal trainer, with the coach providing support, guidance, and encouragement. The wellness coach focuses on the client’s values, needs, vision, and goals.
14.
Circuit training. Circuit training is a group of 6 to 10 exercises that are completed one after another and in a predetermined sequence. Each exercise is performed for a specified number of repetitions or for a set period before having a quick rest and moving on to the next exercise.
15.
Core training. Core training stresses strength and conditioning of the stabilizing muscles of the abdomen, thorax, and back. It typically includes exercises of the hips, lower back, and abdomen, all of which provide support for the spine and thorax.
16.
Sport-specific training. This trend incorporates sport-specific training for sports such as baseball and tennis, designed especially for young athletes. For example, a high school athlete might join a commercial or community-based fitness organization to help develop skills during the off-season and to increase strength and endurance specific to that sport, something like functional fitness for sport performance.
17.
Children and exercise for the treatment/prevention of obesity. As public school systems continue to face the challenge of cutting programs such as physical education and recess to spend more time preparing for standardized testing, programs for youth is a potential new market for commercial and community-based organizations.
18.
Outcome measurements. A trend that addresses accountability, these are efforts to define and track outcomes to prove that a selected program actually works. Measurements are necessary to determine the benefits of health and fitness programs in disease management and to document success in changing negative lifestyle habits.
19.
Worker incentive programs. This is a trend that creates incentive programs to stimulate positive healthy behavior change as part of employer-based health promotion programming and health care benefits. Worker incentive programs are associated with the trend to provide worksite health promotion programs in an attempt to reduce health care costs. This trend represents a potential resurgence of corporate health promotion programs as a result of rising health care costs experienced by both small and large companies and corporations.
20.
Boot camp. Boot camp typically is a high-intensity structured activity patterned after military-style training. Boot camp includes cardiovascular, strength, endurance, and flexibility drills and usually involves both indoor and outdoor exercises typically led by an enthusiastic instructor.
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