Over the past 8 years, editors of the American Health & Fitness Journal (part of the American College of Sports Medicine) have developed a survey and sent it worldwide to thousands of professionals to identify trends in the fitness industry. This survey is mainly used by professionals who want to know where to focus their energy in the coming year. For example, are you still hiring XCO instructors or maybe a yoga teacher?
Fitness Trends 2014
Let’s take a look back at the fitness trends of 2014. The overview for 2015 will follow in a few weeks!
Last month, the results for 2014 were announced with some notable shifts in the top 20. I will only discuss the top 4 and the most notable shifts here.
A total of 3815 professionals responded, including Personal Trainers, Exercise Instructors, Health Fitness Specialists, and Clinical Exercise Specialists. All certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.
After analyzing the survey, it was first presented to four “internationally recognized experts representing all sectors of the fitness industry.” Their responses to the results have been added to the survey results.
Nr. 1 High Intensity Interval Training
New at number 1 is High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). This may surprise some because HIIT is not exactly new, it has been known as a training method for about forty years. However, the savvy will realize that CrossFit usually involves HIIT-like exercises and then notice that CrossFit itself is not on the list. However, the survey creators do not mention the word CrossFit anywhere.
One of the “internationally recognized experts” does mention this and says about number 1:
With the popularity of CrossFit, it is no surprise that High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) made its first appearance on the 2014 Worldwide Surveyof Fitness Trends in the no. 1 position. HIIT is everywhere! CrossFit centers are popping up in every city, fitness centers are offering a wide range of HIIT classes, HIIT fitness videos are flooding the market, and, every other weekend, there is a CrossFit Challenge on ESPN.
-Leah E. Robinson, School of Kinesiology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL
The author of the analysis, Walter R. Thompson (Georgia State University), doesn’t mention CrossFit at all. However, he expresses clear concerns about HIIT, such as the risk of injuries. The same risks that are often mentioned for CrossFit (which, according to some studies, may not be as severe). In that sense, CrossFit is like Dubstep for many, you either hate it or you’re a big fan.
Fitness professionals jealous of CrossFit’s success?
Thompson and most respondents of the survey, in my opinion, fall into the former category as they speak quite negatively about HIIT:
High-Intensity Interval Training was no. 1 in the survey for 2014 despite the warnings of many survey respondents about the potential dangers. Most of the comments were “clients love this because of the short time,” but many others warned “Very, very popular. However, high injury rates. We need more highly trained professionals working this area.” Still others working with clinical populations said “I work with a high-risk clinical population. A lot of my patients have heard about these programs and think this would be a way to get more fit at a faster rate. We do a lot of work explaining why it isn’t appropriate for them.” Despite the warnings by health and fitness professionals of increased injury rates using high-intensity interval training, this form of exercise has become popular in gyms all over the world.
– Walter R. Thompson, Georgia State University
I understand this negative association. As mentioned, HIIT has been around for decades. CrossFit has only been around since 2000 and utilizes many already known HIIT and other exercises, with the large variation in exercises and seemingly arbitrary training schedules (“WODs”) being characteristic.
HIIT is a training method selectively presented to clients by personal trainers and other professionals as a training method. Selective in the sense that it is assessed whether HIIT is suitable for the client and their objectives. Moreover, this is done under the guidance of the trainer.
With CrossFit, HIIT is the basis for everyone and this selection is not made. The license to guide clients as a CrossFit instructor is negligible compared to what you have to learn as a fitness teacher or personal trainer. It is therefore not surprising that professionals see CrossFit instructors a bit like amateurs (although some of them have already completed a training as a personal trainer or similar before CrossFit).
It is also not strange that they are disappointed to see this trend in the first place. The personal trainers who have undergone months to years of training do not benefit from this popular trend while a CrossFit instructor follows a two-day workshop for this and shares in the success.
Now you might say, “If you can’t beat them, join them. Then why not take that two-day course?” However, many professionals find the system unethical, so this is not an ethically responsible option for them.
However you look at it, the popularity of CrossFit has once again been demonstrated, so we might as well get used to it. Perhaps we are waiting for “CrossFit 2.0” or “Crossfitter”, a system with the benefits of CrossFit, but with good guidance and more attention to safety and differentiation between different target groups.
Nr. 2 Body Weight Training
Last year, “Body Weight Training” appeared on the list for the first time and immediately took the third place. As described by Thompson, training with body weight as resistance has existed for centuries. Think of push-ups and pull-ups. However, Thompson mentions the following reason for this:
New packaging by commercial clubs as an exercise program has now made it popular in all kinds of gyms.
Maybe I missed something or it’s different outside the Netherlands, but that seems unlikely to me. The true source behind the sudden popularity of Bodyweight training is not a smart marketer from some gym, but the street. More specifically: Hannibal for King.
Street fitness or calisthenics has become very popular in recent years, and no one has contributed more to the popularity of training with body weight than Hannibal. The internet videos of his workouts and those of his crew in New York are widely known thanks to the Youtube videos, and Calisthenics is now also a craze in Russia and popular in many other countries.
So it’s a bit disrespectful to completely ignore his contribution, or that of the street, and talk about marketing by clubs that at most jumped on the hype. I also see nothing of the latter myself, given that people who want to train in this way either do it outside or in the gym where they use normal facilities like pull-up bars. This often greatly annoys other, more traditional gym-goers (like me) who are immensely irritated by the “circus artists” who occupy the only pull-up bar in the gym for an hour because all they do is muscle-ups. It would indeed be smart for a gym owner to capitalize on this by setting up a separate area with multiple bars and rings, etc.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Street fitness/Calisthenics is a very cool system. I did many of the exercises as a child, and they’re just cool to be able to do, just like freerunning and tricking, for example. The downside of Hannibal as a major inspiration is that many people think they can also get such a physique through Calisthenics, and that’s not (for most) the case. Whether Hannibal has superior genes or trains sneakily at home with dumbbells doesn’t matter. For most others, they would look much better doing traditional strength training and cardio for a nice figure. Compare the participants in the World Street Fitness Championships with the participants in the beginner class of a small regional bodybuilding competition and you will see that the latter look much better. So it’s a nice system as long as you do it for the right reason.
Nr. 3 Professional Guidance
Well, that also hurts. If you’ve been at the top of this survey for six years as a professional only to be pushed to third place now by CrossFit instructors with a two-day education and a trend developed on the street.
In a time when the crisis seems to have reached its lowest point and when more and more gyms are adopting a basic concept, I’m surprised they stayed at the top for so long.
Incidentally, apparently all professionals fall under this category except for personal trainers since they are separately listed in sixth place.
Nr. 4 Strength Training
Although I am trained as a fitness instructor, this one hurts me more than the previous one as a bodybuilder. Strength training was in second place for the past two years.
However, as Thompson describes, strength training consistently scores well in the survey every year. He sees the development that, in addition to especially young people, now also older people (men and women) are incorporating more strength training into their programs.
Notable Shifts
In the survey, respondents were asked the difference between a fad and a trend. Sometimes a trend turns out to be a fad or vice versa. Here I mention some other notable risers and fallers in the top 20.
Nr. 10 Yoga Makes a Comeback
Yoga ranks tenth. Although you can’t call this ancient system a trend, let alone a fad, its popularity is subject to influences of the time.
Yoga appeared in the top 10 in this survey in 2008, fell out of the top 20 in 2009, but seemed to be make a comeback in the 2010 (no. 14) and 2011 surveys (no. 11). In 2012, Yoga was no. 11 on the list, falling to no. 14 in 2013. Seemingly reinventing itself every year, Yoga comes in a variety of forms, including Power Yoga, Yogalates, and Bikram Yoga
Nr. 11 Children and Obesity Prevention
Since 2007, training programs for children to prevent obesity have been in the top 5 every year. No explanation is given for this decline. Moreover, Thompson mentions reasons why the demand for such programs should increase. For example, schools spending less on physical education while the trend of children becoming overweight in Western countries continues.
Nr. 13 Core Training, the “mega dildos are becoming less popular”
From 2007 to 2010, Core Training was in the top five. Then the popularity declined, placing it at 13th now. So don’t be surprised if you see BOSU balls, foam rollers, wobble boards, and the mega dildos used for XCO lying in the dumpster next to the gym.
Nr. 20 Bootcamp on the Decline?
The rise of boot camp seems to have halted. Bootcamp entered the top 20 in 2010, ranking 16th. A year later, it was even in 8th place. In 2012, however, boot camp dropped to 13th place and dropped three more places in 2013. For 2014, boot camp just made it into the top 20.
Zumba Falls out of the Top 20
Yes, fads and crazes come and go while trends last longer. Zumba seemed to be becoming a trend but now turns out to be a fad or craze as described in the survey.
…first appeared on the list of potential trends in 2010 and ranked no. 31 of 37 potential trends; in 2011, it was ranked no. 24 out of a possible 31 choices. In 2012, it jumped into the top 10 (no. 9) and then fell to no. 12 in 2013. It appears as though the popularity of Zumba, which was growing, with a rapid escalation between 2010 and 2013, can now be called a fad and not a trend.
What Do I Gain from This Knowledge of Fitness Trends?
As an athlete, not much. You choose a sport or activity that suits you best. Of course, you may be guided by a hype or trend because you are more often confronted with certain advertisements or hear people around you talking about it. However, you won’t start doing Calisthenics if you need to lose 80 kilos just because it’s currently a trend. After pulling yourself up once with the help of four people, you’ll understand that it’s not (yet) for you.
This survey is mainly intended for professionals who have to earn their daily bread in the fitness industry. For example, if you are a gym owner wondering how to attract more members to your gym, you will probably now think that hiring a new Zumba instructor is not the best option. However nice that Brazilian lady may look, you’re probably better off opening a CrossFit box as part of your gym or creating a “monkey cage” for Calisthenics.
