In their 11th annual survey, the ACSM found that wearable tracking devices will be the most pervasive trend in exercise.
Check out 2017 top fitness trends,
1. Wearable Technology:
Topping the list are fitness trackers, pedometers and heart rate monitors. The market sales are expected to hit over $4 billion during 2017. But if you’re buying wearable technology to lose weight, you might want to hold off. A recent study found that overweight participants in a randomized clinical trial who wore a wearable device actually lost less weight than another group who followed the same food and fitness plan without a fitness tracker. This might be because people overeat after seeing exactly how much they exercised or moved that day or the exact opposite — someone who didn’t break a sweat one day might have gotten discouraged. Make sure you do not wear wireless devices beyond a short workout due to the exposure to electromagnetic radiation, instead use your smartphone to track your workouts or how much your eating can help you gauge patterns. (And quickly pivot from unhealthy ones.) If you’re a data geek, you can mine through days, weeks or even months of info to notice patterns in your habits.
2. Bodyweight Training:
Yep, bodyweight training is one of next year’s top exercise trends, and for good reason. Fancy equipment, an expensive membership are out, so bodyweight exercises sure are appealing and effective. Bodyweight training helps increase lean muscle mass in individuals, especially when combined with aerobic activity. Bodyweight training is a great way to ease into strength training, particularly if you’re new to the gym. You can modify the exercises to your level as well — take out time to look at 32 push-up variations.
3. High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT):
Most of us are short on time these days, so it’s no wonder that high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, is one of the major exercise trends of the coming year.
With HIIT, you can engage in short bursts of exercise at maximum or near-maximum heart rate. That means you’ll burn more calories in 20 to 30 minutes than you would in a longer session. The benefits of HIIT are extensive. One study shows that after just two months of HIIT, participants could bike twice as long as they could before the study — and maintain the same pace.
4. Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals:
Working with an fitness professional, like a personal trainer, can be a great way to get tailored guidance and accountability to reach your fitness goals. In fact, working with a trainer on a one-to-one basis can actually change an individual’s attitude toward fitness, helping to increase their physical activity. Because there are so many personal trainers out there, it’s critical to find someone who is certified in their area of expertise and understands your goals and motivations.
5. Strength Training:
Strength training is critical to keeping our bodies healthy, especially as we age. It helps preserve muscle mass and increase your metabolism to burn more calories even when you aren’t working out. One study found that in 10 weeks, inactive adults could see an increase in lean weight of more than 3 pounds and a reduction in fat weight of nearly 4 pounds, while increasing metabolic resting rate by 7 percent.
6. Group training:
makes trying a new exercise, like spinning or boot camp, more fun. Having an experienced instructor can help keep you motivated and push you to go that extra bit. And bringing along a friend or making new ones in class has an effect, too. A little friendly competition can increase motivation to work harder. In a bike study, the participants either exercised alone, exercised with a partner or exercised with a partner and were told that test results were based on who was weakest. While the solo riders were on the bike for 10.6 minutes, the ones with a partner stayed on for 19.8 minutes. And the ones who were told their performance relied on their partner? They stayed on for double the amount of time, or 21.9 minutes. So grab a friend and get to class.
7. Exercise is Medicine:
Food & exercise are true medicine. The benefits of exercise go so much farther than how you look physically. From boosting happiness levels to reducing your risk of heart disease, exercising can help. In fact, doctors are going so far as to prescribe exercise to patients in an effort to get them moving.
8. Yoga:
This fitness trends is certainly not new, but it’s just as popular as ever. And it should be because the benefits of yoga are vast. It helps to decrease anxiety and stress, improves sleep quality, allows blood to flow through the body better, helps digestion and so much more. In fact, practicing yoga changes your brain. It increases the “chill-out” neurotransmitter in your brain, a chemical that’s in low supply for people who suffer from depression and anxiety. It also helps counteract chronic pain.
9. Personal Training:
You don’t have to be a college student to take on your own health “personal training.” Increasing health literacy is critical to preventing health problems and managing those that might arise. Continuing to learn more about healthy food, treating ailments through natural remedies and improving your physical fitness through exercise is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
10. Exercise and Weight Loss:
While nutrition is more important to weight loss than exercise, fitness does play a key role in any weight loss program. What’s critical is finding workouts and healthy lifestyle activities that you like.
What’s discouraging is the news by the ACSM reports that exercise programmes targeting obese or overweight children have been decreasing for several years, currently occupying the 28th slot. Among the lowest on the list? Zumba at 39 and indoor rowing at 41.
Disclaimer
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
