HI,
Maik Wiedenbachch here, while the year is still somehwat young here is alist of the top 10 the top ten fitness trends and my to take on them!
1. Wearable Technology
Wearable technology, like smart watches, fitness trackers, heart monitors, has taken the industry by storm and there is a certain value to it such as tracking steps and workout time as well as heart rate. Other features like caloric burn are usually way off and lead to overeating ( Oh I earned that!!). Also, part of me thinks the last thing most people need is anymore data. In the end what do you do with the data if you do not have a to a proper understanding of training and diet?
2. Group Training
Group training as any workout with more than five participants. It has its pros such as low entry barrier and you can do it with friends. The main issue is that high impact programs like cross fit have a very injury rate whereas others such as dance classes will not achieve much in terms of changing you body. But if you goal is more of a cardiovascular workout, then this is the place.
3. HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training)
HIIT has been around for a long time, it is basically a series of sprints to induce fat loss. It is effective just as low intensity steady state cardio, HIIT takes a bit less time and has a higher after burn effect but it is also more demanding on you recovery. All in all the advantages are not as breathtaking as we are told to believe
4. Fitness Programs for Older Adults
As the population ages, it’s only sensical that fitness offerings would age along with us. This makes a great amount of sense as exercise help with bone density, muscle mass and improves quality of life in general. Seniors, go and pump iron!
5. Body weight Training
This modality uses just you body weight—think push-ups and planks—to get you sweating. Sounds great on paper but really isn’t. Why ? because body weight exercises do not allow for pulling or hip hinging with a counterweight, so 50% of all exercises just got canceled. Additionally, what you can do for the squat and push is limited unless you can do single arm push-ups or piston squats so the average trainee will just do more and more squats / push-ups.
Lastly, you can not cover the strength curve very well since it is mostly mid range, so the injury risk is high.
6. Employing Certified Nutrition Professionals
As the fitness industry grows, there’s an increased importance and emphasis on hiring certified professionals. That is a great trend since the nutritional side of coaching often lies in the hands of snake oil sales men or people who have done a bodybuilding competition and are now reselling the diet their coach scribbled on a piece of paper to you. It is about time we get people in that have actually opened a book!
7. Yoga
yoga has taken on many forms, like “Power Yoga, Yogilates, yoga in hot environments,” and more. Now that we’ve seen goat yoga, who knows what other forms of yoga the future holds? I am not sure what to make out of it
The answer is it depends. What is that you want to achieve? Have a better body ? Then I vote no.
How come? Several reasons;
1. Since you are only using you body weight, progressive overload becomes difficult to achieve unless you plan on gaining weight.
2. You have no means of pulling which means training most of you back muscles are not being worked.
3. Since the focus is on isometric holds, you will not get the same benefits as if performing traditional weightlifting since you are foregoing most of the eccentric and concentric phase.
4. The rep count is rather low
Will yoga help with recovery?
This goes back to the static stretching question and the answer is : maybe, not sure. There is some scant evidence that it might help but its not much to do on
So is yoga useless?
If it does not make me bigger nor does it help to recover faster, why bother?
Well, lets step back and look what yoga was invented for : spiritual well-being! If we look at the pictures of famous yogis, they do not come across as Mr Universe but rather non-athletic guys, at times even with bellies
Personally I believe that yoga was never meant to be a physique changing workout but rather helping with
8. Personal Training (NYC)
Here I am obviously biased since I am a personal trainer in NYC but if that is a hot trend it has my vote!!! All kidding aside, quality personal training can and will greatly enhance someones results. Of course, it all depends greatly on the quality of the coach. Here is my check list for finding a great coach.
1. Is in reasonable shape. Sounds superficial but if you can not take care yourself, how can you help me.
2. Has a proper certification such as ACE, ACSM, NASM
3. Will listen do you and not about his athletic exploits
4. Is available outside the session for questions and feedback
5. Has a blog that published regularly. Why? It shows that this person can produce output over a longer period, not just in spurts
6. Does this full time. My industry is full of aspiring actors and dancers who will ditch the client when a promising audition comes up/
9. Functional Fitness Training
This one makes me cringe because usually it means “stand on wobble board, hold dumbbell overhead and swing wildly.” How is that functional ? When will you ever encounter a situation like this?
Weightlifting is plenty functional. Let’s say you are traveling by plane. Putting you luggage in the overhead bin= overhead press. Picking up luggage= Sumo dead lift. Pulling luggage from carousel= one arm dumbbell row. No need to create injury prone situations.
10. Exercise Is Medicine
That might be my favorite trend. I just read in a German magazine that the best way to cure and avoid back pain is to build muscle in the back. While this is a no brainer for those of us pumping iron regularly the public is still within the mind set back hurts= do not do anything with it. Training with weights is the single best rejuvenation medicine we have, it builds bones, muscles, ligaments, the heart, helps with cognitive abilities, memory and is a natural mood enhancement.
Therefore, it should be the number one prescription!