Top 5 Fitness Trends to Explore

Fitness trends will come and go but will any of these top 5 stay for good; only you can decide their popularity and staying power by exploring each one to find which one re-ignites your fitness routine.

1. Boot camps: This trend’s staying power and level of popularity make it number one on this list of fitness trends. These fast-paced military inspired classes were a huge hit all of 2010 and continue to be a first choice among fitness enthusiasts this year as well. Boot camps are packed with high intensity circuit style workouts that leaving participants signing up for another week of this butt kicking workout. This approach combines compound exercises with fun cardio to build endurance and lean muscle mass while dropping your body fat percentage levels all in less time than traditional workouts. .Participants enjoy the results and variety of schedules so they can always fit a boot camp class in their busy schedules. For these reasons this trend may become a staple offered at health clubs nationwide.
2. Zen Workouts: With today’s ever increasing stress levels and jam packed busy lives people are searching for just a moment of calm but not at the sacrifice of their fitness goals and they’ve found it with yoga inspired workouts. This trend serves many purposes: reduce anxiety, improve work productivity, lower stress levels and increase flexibility and balance. Pilates and Yoga mixed into one class is another combination gaining popularity as well as classes that combine spinning with yoga as the warm up and cool down.
3. Youth based fitness: Classes and programs are springing up all over in schools and local community centres to combat and avoid the growing childhood obesity crisis. Expect to hear and see more about these classes offered in your area due to the global attention to this expanding issue. It has been reported that our current generation of children are the first in over 200 years expected to have shorter lifespans than their parents. Program leaders of these classes hope to derail this threat by teaching children about physical activity and proper nutrition.
4. Dance inspired classes: This trend presents a mix of cardio, upbeat pulsating music with Latin dance chorography and is an alternative to more traditional classes. Zumba and other similar workouts fuse dance with fitness to create an atmosphere that keeps the participants panting for more. Participants appreciate they need no dance experience to take part in these classes and in most cases participants forget they are even exercising because they are having so much fun with others dancing to the fun music and following along with the beat. Many of those who enjoy these classes report an increase in self confidence, more energy and improved balance.
5. Group personal training: popular in health clubs and private studios, group personal training allows people to save more of their hard earned bucks as well as make them accountable to others in the group which fuels great results. There is a strong social element attached to this trend which fosters a great deal of motivation among the group which in turn creates a great ripple effect of long term commitment and achievement of goals.

Doris Ward, Fitness NB Personal Trainer since 2003
fortheloveoffitness@hotmail.com