Is the new year inspiring you to get back in shape? If so, you might want to try an exercise tracker, group fitness or high-intensity interval training (HIIT). There are the top three fitness trends for 2019, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, and each has been ranked highly for several years.
For the 13th annual forecast, ACSM asked more than 2,038 fitness professionals employed by commercial gyms, medical facilities, nonprofit organizations, and corporate health programs to ran 39 possible fitness trends. Among some changes and surprises, core training and circuit weight training fell out of the top 20 trends, while Pilates and online training didn’t make the top 20.
Wearable technology moved back to the number 1 stop after having fallen to number 3 in 2018. This is because even the low-end wearables have gotten more accurate.
Even though the survey results indicate that we love to measure our outcomes, the continuing popularity of group fitness, at stop number 2, suggests we don’t just want to compete against ourselves.
Devin Maier, managing director of Balance Gym, a D.C.-based gym with four locations says “Group exercise is the future”. Devin explains, “It definitely delivers on the community aspect, but you also have the instructor who motivates and pushes you harder.”
Also important are the accountability and acknowledgment inherent in a class of regulars, Maier says. When you do a good job, you get a shout, and when you don’t, you might hear about that, too.
Group fitness, of course, is not something new. But it is, however, different from what we used to see in the 1970s and ‘80s. This is because it’s driven by boutique studios that motivate everyone to up their game.
This brings us to number 3 on the list which is HIIT. This type of training is generally 30 minutes or less and incorporates short, intense intervals that can push your effort level up to 90 to 95 percent of your maximum heart rate. It has long been a mainstay amount elite athletes but has just recently made its way into the time-crunched public.
HIIT has taken the country by storm as people try to squeeze in affective workout amount 1,000 other obligations.