The 2019 Worldwide Fitness Trends
The annual survey of worldwide fitness trends is now in its 13th year. Although we know that no one can accurately predict the future, this survey can help us fitness nerds keep an eye on what the rest of the world is up to, and glean some insight into what is a worthwhile trend and what is a passing fad.
Brock Armstrong
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The 2019 Worldwide Fitness Trends
Over the past 13 years, the editors of ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal® (FIT) have circulated an electronic survey to thousands of wellness professionals around the world to determine the current year’s health and fitness trends. The first survey was conducted in 2006 and it introduced what was meant to be a systematic way of predicting health and fitness trends. The survey has been conducted annually since that time, using the same methodology.
Since this is a survey that is solely about trends, the participants of the survey were asked to make the very important distinction between what they thought was a “fad” and what was a “trend.” These are the definitions they were given as a guideline:
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Trend: a general development or change in a situation or in the way that people are behaving.
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Fad: a fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period.
Responses were received from just about every continent and included the countries of United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.
Top 12 Fitness Trends
So, without further delay, here are the top 12 (of 20) trends from the Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2019. You can take a deeper look if you visit the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal website.
Trend #1: Wearable Technology
Wearable technology includes fitness trackers, smartwatches, heart rate monitors, and GPS tracking devices like those made by Misfit®, Garmin, and Apple. These devices can track heart rate, calories, sitting time, and much more. As angry as my Apple Watch makes me from time to time, it is undeniable that wearables are here to stay.
See also: Do Fitness Trackers Lead to Better Fitness?
Wearable technology first appeared as a fitness trend in 2016. It was the #1 trend in 2016 and 2017 before dropping to #3 for 2018 but it is back on top in 2019.
Trend #2: Group Training
Group exercise instructors teach, lead, and motivate individuals through intentionally designed, in-person movement classes of five participants or more. There are many types of classes using various equipment, from cardio-based classes and indoor cycling, to dance and step classes. If you are a fan of my Undercover Get-Fit Guy episodes, you will be familiar with a few of these, including BodyPump, SoulCycle, PureBarre, 9Round, and OrangeTheory.
See also: Why SoulCycle Isn’t Worth Your Time or Money and Does Pure Barre Work? Getting Fit with Barre Classes
Group exercise training programs have been around for a long time and have appeared as a potential worldwide trend since this survey was originally constructed. However, it was only in 2017 that group exercise training made the top 20, appearing at #6, and #2 in the 2018 survey.
Trend #3: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
These exercise programs typically involve short bursts of high-intensity bouts of exercise followed by a brief rest period. Although there are several commercial examples of HIIT, all emphasize higher intensities (above 90%) of maximum during the higher intensity segments followed by periods of rest and recovery. Despite the warnings by some fitness professionals of potentially increased injury rates using HIIT, this style of exercise is popular all over the world.
If you do a search for HIIT on the Quick and Dirty Tips website, you will find a ton of info on this topic going all the way back to 2012. Although it was offered as a possible trend in previous surveys, HIIT didn’t hit number one until 2014 and 2018 but it has been in the top five since 2014.
Trend #4: Fitness Programs for Older Adults
This is a trend that emphasizes the specific fitness needs of the current Baby Boom generation and older. Aside from their age, what sets this generation apart is that these individuals, in general, have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts. Fitness clubs have figured this out and are capitalizing on this market.
See also: The Secrets of an Aging Athlete
This trend is making a strong return after being in the top 10 since 2007 (when it was number two trend) before dropping to #11 for 2017.
Trend #5: Bodyweight Training
I am so happy to see this one on the list since I am a believer in sprinkling in “movement snacks” throughout your day. So, including a combination of variable resistance bodyweight training and neuromotor movements using multiple planes of movement is all about using your bodyweight. And it’s a serious and effective training program.
See also: How to Build Muscle with Body Weight Exercises
Bodyweight training appeared for the first time in the trends survey in 2013 (at number 3) and was in the number two position for 2017 and number 4 for 2018. Crazily enough, bodyweight training did not even appear as a survey option before 2013 because it only became popular in gyms around the world over the past few years.
Trend #6: Hiring a Certified Fitness Professional
There has been a steep rise in the popularity of hiring a certified health/fitness professionals over the years. This is likely due to there being more certification programs available in both wider and more focused areas of health and wellness.
See also: How to Choose a Personal Trainer
Employing certified fitness professionals was a new survey item for 2019 replacing “educated, certified, and experienced fitness professionals,” which was determined to be too broadly defined as a survey item.
Trend #7: Yoga
Ah, good old yoga. Where would we be without yoga and its variety of forms (Power Yoga, Yogilates, yoga in hot environments)? Aside from the studio style, instructional videos, audios, and books also are plentiful—and, as mentioned in the previous trend, so are certifications in the myriad yoga formats.
See also: Can Yoga Get You Fit?
Yoga first appeared in the top 10 in this survey in 2008 and has bounced around in that area ever since.
Trend #8: Personal Training
Being a personal trainer myself, I am pleased to see this in the top 10. It shouldn’t be a surprise though, as personal training becomes more accessible online, in health clubs, in your own home, on specialized gear, and even in more progressive workplaces.
Since this survey was first published in 2006, personal training has been a top 10 trend.
Trend #9: Functional Fitness Training
This is another fitness trend that is near and dear to my heart. Functional Fitness uses strength training and other movements to improve balance, coordination, strength, and endurance to enhance activities of daily living. This means replicating actual physical activities someone might do as a function of their daily routine, not just on race day or in competition.
Functional fitness first appeared on the survey in the #4 position in 2007 but has been in and out of the top 10 ever since.
Trend #10: Exercise Is Medicine
Exercise Is Medicine (EIM) is a global health initiative that is focused on encouraging primary care physicians and other health care providers to include physical activity assessment and associated treatment recommendations as part of every patient visit, and referring their patients to exercise professionals. In addition, EIM recognizes fitness professionals as part of the health care team in their local communities. You can find out more about this important and fascinating topic at exerciseismedicine.org.
EIM was the #7 trend in 2017 and #12 for 2018.
Trend #11: Health/Wellness Coaching
This is a trend to incorporate behavioral science into health promotion and lifestyle medicine programs for individuals. Health/wellness coaching uses goal-setting, guidance, and mindset to focus on the client’s values, needs, vision, and short- and long-term goals using behaviour change intervention strategies. This is exactly what the Nutrition Diva (Monica Reinagel) and I use in our Weighless program to help our clients achieve sustainable fat loss.
Wellness coaching has been in the top 20 since 2010 but this is the closest it has come to breaking into the top 10.
Trend #12: Exercise for Weight Loss
This trend is why my list is the top 12 and not the top 10—the idea of using exercise for weight loss has been fraught with misuse and misunderstanding for years now. Yes, most sensationalized diet programs incorporate some kind of exercise program into the daily routine. However, this report indicates that in 2019, the combination of diets, diet supplements, lifestyle interventions, and even cooking classes, along with exercise programs, will become more prominent. I for one feel that this is a move in the right direction away from “exercising to burn calories” to a more realistic and holistic view.
This is a move in the right direction away from “exercising to burn calories” to a more realistic and holistic view.
What’s Out for 2019?
Before I wrap up, how could I not also list some of the trends that have fallen out of fashion for 2019?
Dropping distinctly and notably out of the top 20 from 2018 were:
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circuit weight training
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sport-specific training
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core training
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boot-camp style training
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virtual/online training
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worker incentive programs
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children and exercise
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low-cost and budget gyms
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boutique fitness studios
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walking/running/jogging clubs
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Pilates
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dance-based workouts
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barbell training
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boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts
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water workouts
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virtual reality
In my opinion, there are some great trends listed here with my top three being Exercise as Medicine, Functional Fitness Training, and the potential for us to reset our idea around exercise simply being a way to burn calories. I have said it before and I will say it again—in a perfect world, calorie counters would be banned from all exercise machines. Instead, I would add “number of limbs moved” or “variety of planes used” or, even better, I would add a “level of enjoyment” meter. Perhaps in 2019, we can start heading in that direction.
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Woman exercising in VR glasses image courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021. He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.