Last month, The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) released its world-wide fitness trends survey for 2008 So here are the trends, with a little dissection from yours truly.
- Educated and experienced Fitness Professionals:
As the personal training and group fitness industry continue to expand, so to does the demand for educated professionals. This will hopefully bring some credibility to a largely unregulated industry. I also expect to see a continuing wave of meaningless certification programs (BOSU, Kettlebell, etc)
Children and Obesity: With the crisis of overweight youth on our hands, the industry is responding with programs to help youngsters that struggle with weight. With the threat of a shorter lifespan than their parents, look for commercial gyms, camps, clinics, schools and other groups to provide services for overweight children. I believe we’ll also see initiatives aimed at parents. Look for video game manufacturers to hop on the bandwagon.
Personal Training: One of the fastest growing health professions will continue to have a mainstream presence. Personal training studios will continue to be popular, with small group training becoming more prevalent. Look for trainers to have more discernable specialized expertise.
Strength Training: The benefits of strength training are numerous and more and more people will continue to occupy weight rooms and home gyms alike to reap its benefits. Look for people to lift weights for general health and not just body building. Strength training equipment will continue to progress but will still not hold a candle to plain old free weights.
Core Training: Conditioning that focuses on the stabilizing musculature of the abdominal and lower back area has been a steady focus from athletes to post-rehab needs. “The core” continues to be a poorly understood and oversimplified concept and I personally believe that the term will continue to be poorly understood, albeit popular and marketable but also useful.
Programs for Older Adults: As the early boomers are entering retirement, look for seniors’ fitness programs to continue to grow in popularity. Adding life years as well as years to life with proper activity will be the order. This age group continues to be a tough sell, though – so I wouldn’t expect an interest level proportionate to its population.
Pilates: This trend will have staying power as it can help posture and flexibility in addition to core stabilization. Look for it to remain popular in health clubs, studios and community centers as both group and individual offerings. Also look for added, gimmicky equipment to accompany traditional Pilates.
Functional Fitness: Exercise that mimics and thus helps improve daily function will be an emphasis of many programming initiatives. Exercise to help walk up stairs, moving from a sitting to a standing position and reaching for objects is a practical way to think about training.
Stability Ball: The big, rubber balls that have pervaded gyms over the past decade is still a staple when it comes to fitness trends. Its simplicity and versatility will keep it here for a while longer. I personally see stability ball use falling out of favour with newer gadgets entering the market and research on its benefits are mixed.
Yoga: Where I live, yoga probably occupies the #1 spot. With the popularity of mind-body exercise, it is no wonder that yoga makes the top 10 on this list. With many forms and permutations of the art such as yoga-lates, hot yoga, and power yoga (how you can mix these 2 contradictory terms is beyond me) yoga has become more than just a passing phase. Yoga does have merits but it is goal-specific and should be accompanied by other forms of exercise.
Some trends that I think will also be popular: Youth conditioning, boot camp style group classes, activity-based video games, dance-based classes and exercise-based TV programs (and even stations).
Find something that works for you and have a fun and active 2008!
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Interesting list, I highly second the "bootcamp" industry as a bigger trend in the next year. Ran a few of those last year and people love to be outdoors and motivation with group effort pushes everyone as well.
As for the whole "fitness" industry, I am totally sickened on what it has become. As a former engineer turned personal trainer, I got into it 5 years ago full time to help people. Now it's all about fancy fads and balancing boards, Core this and that, and whatever makes equipment manufacturer's more money. Please. Go find a weight and lift it. Done. That and I can't tell you how many instant trainers there are out there that worry about someone's core and don't focus on getting the person any results. That and the big gyms and franchises just teach trainers how to SELL, not train. No one is training the trainers on results, just how to sucker people into year long contracts they know they will never use. Sad to say some of my best clients have been trainers, as they do not know about basic nutrition and just keeping it simple to get results.
My guess is you will also see trainers moving into a more "coaching" role (as they should be). Educating people on the right exercises, safety and form, nutritional habits, and then checking their progress every few weeks to make sure they are getting results. That is what trainers need to become, not the overpaid rep counters who are checking their MySpace page on their cell phone. It will also help to weed out the trainers who don't know what they are doing and force trainers to learn how to get people results. (Rant over, ha!)
I hope the newest trend is Personal Responsibility on eating right and living an active lifestyle.
ReplyI agree that the personal training industry needs to make a big leap forward in professionalism. I am a physical therapist turned personal trainer, and my clients love the fact that I actually have a degree in the field and read constantly.
ReplyGreat list. I am always happy to see a bunch of things like this becoming popular. I remember years and years ago when running became popular and nothing else mattered, also when I played tennis and people thought that lifting weights was counter productive to making you faster on the court.
As baby boomers age I am sure that we are going to see that people are not just focussed on one thing to do with fitness and instead will dabble in a lot of different types of exercise, cardio, weights, pilates, stretches, yoga and isometric exercising should all be important for a more holistic type of fitness regimen
Replyi weigh 121 lbs. and im 5'5" am i overweight? how much should i weigh?
ReplyI just signed up for my first series of yoga classes. I do cardo stuff and some weights, but I'm hoping for a bit more flexibility.
Functional fitness is definitely a good idea, especially for new exercisers and older people.
ReplyLooks like there's something for everyone! I'm just getting into Yoga myself. Feels soo good to stretch.
Replyno ur not overweight and u shouldn't say that at all, ur weight is perfect for ur height Reply
I'm glad to see strength training on that list. I think it definitely gets underrated for importance, especially with women. Most of us think cardio=fat loss and we tend to forget that it is EXTREMELY important to try to maintain that muscle mass that we do have as we get older.
As far as childhood obesity goes, my personal theory is that kids shouldn't be eating "diet" foods or anything, but they shouldn't be eating crap either. Buy the kids apples and cheese or yogurts to snack on; not chips and cookies. And don't let them play video games 24/7...get them a jump rope and a bike and let them climb some trees for cripes' sake.
ReplyI am friends with many of the trainers at my gym and many have inquired why I'm seeing results with my current trainer and not my former trainers. Part of it has been personality differences, but its mainly because he doesn't push products on me, and he really is my life coach. He has taught me things I should learned while growing up.
Also, potential clients need to do research before jumping in with a personal trainer. They need to know what they want (and not waiver) and what they are getting into. Clients are purchasing a service and a product, and with any major purchase, they need to do research and shop around.
ReplyHannah
January 2, 2008 10:53 AM
i weigh 121 lbs. and im 5'5" am i overweight? how much should i weigh?
Reply~ Hannah, how old are you?. . 5'5 and 121 lbs is not over weight!. . Do you feel like your over weight? most people in this country that are 5'5 weigh about 150 and thats the average. I'm not saying that 5'5 and 150 is super healthy but it's still not obese. If you need fitness help or eating eating tips, check out my website www.trainingbyloo.com I have healthy food ideas and quick tips, plus you can see me when I was obese, and maybe you'll change your mind.
"meaningless certification programs."???
Maybe you've never researched the Certification requirements to become an RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge). It's one of the few certifications you can't get for $300 and an internet connection. Doing your homework is a good idea to find what certification courses are credible.
ReplySo little mention of brain fitness - it explains the rise and rise of yoga, but yoga is not for everyone. I definitely believe a healthy mind precedes a healthy body in my experience of training 1000's of bodies.
ReplyAnd don't forget using technology, such as FitFiend.com, to help you reach your fitness goals by connecting you with activity partners and fitness professionals who meet your specifications.
ReplyMike - definately share your sentiments here... the industry does have mnay bad apples - moreso it seems than most other professions due in large part to the lack of standards. It is a profession where style wins out over substance and the sexy and faddish tend to stand out (not unlike diet books). We can only do what we can to help people sift through the hype and get back to basics.
ReplyGreat points here Michelle.. I think this is such an important message. There are a lot of criticisms of large scale clubs - much of it well deserved. It's great that it works for you. They can be wonderful facilities if you use them.
ReplyHi Mark,
No disrespect to you or others that advocate kettlebells. I do think that certification systems for many things (kettlebells included) are money-making schemes with little meaning. I would have to ask you - should we have dumbbell certification? what about exercise tubing or gym stick, slastik, nordic walking etc, etc?.. I wasn't so much trying to disparage kettlebell training as I was trying to point out how the industry gets carried away.
As for kettlebells - use em', like 'em and I'm a big fan of Pavel's. Have my clients perform some exercises such as the snatch and turkish get-ups. They give an extra bit of variety and with certain exercises they are advantageous such as swings and shoulder presses where the balance dynamic really promotes wrist stabilization. That's about it though. Are they revolutionary... nope. Are they better than dumbbells from an overall conditioning perspective? not in the least. Are you missing out on potential benefit if you don't use kettlebells? Depends on the circumstance but for 95% of the population.. no. Changing the stimulus of training using kettlebells or other implements is always a good idea.
As far as the certification requirements, I'm glad there's a practical component - you're right about the insdustry's very low standards when it comes to certification. I'm all for people taking workshops to learn how to teach kettlebell exercises but I maintain that a certification is not necessary.
As with many other aspects of fitness, kettlebells are useful but it's promoters overstate its benefits and try and tout it as groundbreaking. To quote TC Luoma (loosely) "Kettlebell proponents think that Teri Shiavo was only a couple of kettlebell sessions away from competing on dancing with the stars".
ReplyThanks for the response.
I think the potential of injury when performing KB exercises incorrectly justifies the need for anyone attempting to teach KB's successfully pass a certification program.
I've seen coaches and other trainers who have tried to learn KB's from a book or DVD and then begin training athletes and clients. In my experience they greatly compromise their safety.
I do agreee with you on too much hype. Not from me. Just results. And KB's are not for everyone.
Lead By Example
ReplyMark
Hannah,
I'm a Personal Trainer & Diet Coach, and I can tell you that you are NOT overweight. Better yet, go to the Centers for Disease Control web site which has Body-Mass Index calculators, and you will see that you are on the LOW end of "Healthy Weight" - nowhere near overweight.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/
This will give you a factual report on your weight which you can hopefully use to dispel your "perception" that you could be overweight. Overtimes, our perceptions are formed by the people around us, the media or other unhealthy influences.
Kimberly
ReplyI'm suprised that there isn't a fitness trend that has to do with the effects of music on workouts. The music you listen to makes such a difference. The New York Times printed an article January 10th - "Studies have shown that listening to music during exercise can improve results, both in terms of being a motivator (people exercise longer and more vigorously to music) and as a distraction from negatives like fatigue." (www.newyorktimes.com)
also visit www.workoutmusic.com and www.powermusic.com
ReplyHaving worked in the fitness industry for years I completely agree. There will be a large push for more personal training and that service will become much more common. Also the use of strength training will be more widely used as the article mentioned.
ReplyI shop online at mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/83148 I get paid a % for everything I buy, I watch for free shipping, or I buy online then go pick up my item. there are 1000+ stores and most are close to me. this is the best thing I have ever found
ReplyI know this article talks about fitness trends, but one thing I am curious about is overall participation in fitness activities.
Last I heard IHRSA said the percentage of people with health club memberships was down slightly.
I think a lot of people have given up going the the gym, although I'm sure some people are working out at home.
Maybe that's a trend, not going to the gym for fitness. I actually know a ton of triatheltes and cyclists who just hit the outdoors.
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