2020 FITNESS Trends
Are you ready to put your best foot forward this year?
A great place to start is educating yourself on the top fitness trends of 2020. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conducted a worldwide survey in order to forecast these trends. Here are the top four trends, and how you can incorporate them in your fitness offering!
#1 Wearable Technology
Number one again! Wearable technology held the number one spot in 2016, 2017, 2019, and now 2020. This is definitely something your exercisers are interested in. Through their Apple Watch®, Misfit®, Garmin®, FitBit®, or other fitness tracker, they can monitor heart rate, track calories burned, count their steps, and help gauge their fitness progress.
How to address. One way to address this trend is to incorporate leaderboards that sync up with their tech. This creates a sense of healthy competition, a powerful motivator, and can even help build community between your exercisers. Go here for more information about incorporating wearable technology in your offering.
#2 High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
HIIT has stayed in the top five fitness trends since 2014. HIIT is a training method that involves pushing the body to its limit. Short periods of intense work (ex. 30 seconds) are followed by a brief period of rest. This is repeated over the allotted amount of time or number of rounds. This method has risen in popularity greatly because of its efficient, results-driven design. It can feature strength training, cardiovascular exercise, or a mix of the two. There’s the option to go solo, or participate in a group class.
How to address. This trend is actually very simple to address in your fitness center if you get the right equipment. Precor has partnered with Assault Fitness to offer equipment specially designed for HIIT workouts. Additionally, you can install functional training units. Consider Queenax by Precor or an Escape HIIT Hub. Incorporate HIIT zones into your space where performing these workouts is ideal. For more information on how to address HIIT in your fitness space, check out this blog post.
#3 Group Training
Group training means at least 5 participants trained together in a fitness class. It can cater to different fitness levels and cover a wide range of equipment use. Classes can range from simple open-format functional training to cardio-based group training to spin classes. This trend continues to be popular for its highly motivating atmosphere and community feel.
How to address. You do not have to be a dedicated gym with tens of fitness staffers to offer group training in your facility. This can be done in apartments, clubs, colleges, universities, hotels, resorts; pretty much anywhere! All it takes is just a little planning and the right tools. If you have staff available to lead a group class, you have an array of options for awesome group training. For example, see what we did with the Turtle Bay Resort staff to get them trained to offer an Escape BattleFit group class in their resort. Additionally, with Precor spin bikes, you can offer a high-quality spinning class.
For some programs, you don’t even need an on-site instructor to offer group training. Through programs like Wellbeats and Spivi, all you need is a screen and some equipment and you’re golden!
#4 Free Weight Training
Coming in 4th place is free weight training. This would be training using equipment like kettlebells, medicine balls, dumbbells, barbells, etc. It can be done individually or in a class setting. The focus is primarily on form, and once proper form is achieved, the intensity is raised and more weight is added.
How to address. More than likely, you’re already offering some kind of free weight training in your facility, such as dumbbells or maybe kettlebells. But since this is one of the most popular trends in the industry right now, why not expand your offering? A great tool for free weight training is the MARS screen by Escape. The MARS screen provides education for how to use different free weights, and even has suggested workouts.
So how about it? Are you ready to address these trends in your facility and grow along with the industry? Each and every one of these four trends can be addressed at your facility. We are prepared to help you with each one! Let us know, and we’ll be happy to keep your 2020 going strong!