Top Ten Fitness Trends of 2012
Fitness fads come and go. We all know that, whether it’s a diet, clothing (leg warmers anyone?), or piece of equipment (thigh master in the closet?). We’ve been both victims and perpetrators of some of that craziness. Fads, by definition, are short-lived (Thank God), but trends are those behaviors that stick around for a number of years. The Amercian College of Sports Medicine has released their survey results and published The Top Ten Fitness Trends of 2012. Right now FBD offers 9 of the 10 “trends”. We like being trend setters.
Fitness Trends for 2012
1. Educated, Certified and Experienced Fitness Professionals. (We’ve got plenty of those!)
2. Strength Training. (We’ve been doing it since 1989….I guess everyone else is finally catching up.)
3. Fitness programs for older adults. (Our oldest client is 90)
4. Exercise and Weight Loss. (See our related blog post about Rob and Lisa’s Clean-up in November.)
5. Children and Obesity. (A trend that is simple to reverse. Our Youth Conditioning Class begins again in January. Our coach is Andrew Sroka. Sign your child up today!)
6. Personal Training. (Again…been doing it for 23 years.)
7. Core Training. (I consider this a fad. Strength training is core training. If you are lifting weight over your head, you are using your core. Doing a chin-up? Core. Push-up? I call them moving planks.)
8. Group Personal Training. (Rob, Cheryl, and Travis have been providing group training since 2009, Jeremy since 2011.)
9. Zumba and other “dance” workouts. (We are just UN-trendy when it comes to this stuff. What’s that rule?…if you can’t say anything nice…sorry, we consider it a fun activity.)
10. Functional Fitness. (Our group fitness class focus on functional movement. It started out as bootcamp class, but has progressed to Functional Interval Training Classes or Strength & Conditioning Classes at FBD. We dedicated an entire room to it in 2009. To date we have 6 coaches teaching classes here.)
Of course, I have a couple of my favorites: Strength Training (of course!) and Functional Fitness Training. FBD has been trending toward Functional Fitness for all our clients over the last 2 years. We have opened up floor space on the main exercise floor getting rid of duplicate equipment and other strength pieces that were seldom utilized. I truly believe that it is important, especially as we age, to be able to move and lift and carry with the same ease that we have always done these things. Working out on a machine has the benefit of safe and controlled lifting, however, moving and balancing your own body weight is just as important.
You might be wondering why I chose the picture that I did of the Airdyne…let’s just say there is a reason why the Schwinn Airdyne bike never made it as a fitness trend…it is just too hard when used properly, that is why we use it here at FBD!
~ Rob Hudson
Tags: acsm, fitness fads, fitness trends, Fitness trends 2012, zumba
