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It’s time to take a look into our crystal ball and predict what the fitness trends for next year might bring.
Of course, it’s always hard to predict the future but, by looking backwards, we may get a clue to what might happen in the next year.
As the fitness industry is a business just like any other, they react the same way to financial trends and pop culture that any other business does.
The giants behind the public face of fitness are well aware of their market, so to second guess where they will move next year we have to think like they do.
The starting point is technology and how it affecting the leisure world.
Firms spent millions developing wearable technology last year, and we saw fitness fans investing in Fitbits and i- Watches to monitor their progress in the gym.
Next year we will see another rise in technology specific to gym- users. Expect new lines in tracking apps and monitors that will streamline the functionality of already available tech.
Last year, some products were criticized for not recording data efficiently enough, so expect upgrades to the way we count how many calories we burn at our fitness sessions.
Along with wearable tech, expect to see a rise in group exercise classes that require participants to wear monitors that record everything they do in class.
We have seen a rise in such classes late last year, with group exercisers wired up in their class, with the results being projected on to screens so everyone can see who’s doing well and who’s letting the side down.
Such classes will appeal to high- velocity exercisers who want to push themselves to the limit – and let everyone know it at the same time.
As well as technology in the gym, there was also a definite rise in more specialised fields of fitness last year – trend likely to continue in 2017.
More and more niche classes appeared on timetables up and down the country, and next year we can expect to see even more fringe sessions in the schedules.
Classes such balleti ns p i red barre, and multifunction yoga classes look set to capture the imagination of the general public, while more people will drift towards high- quality specialist training in areas such as pilates.
With the increase in more bespoke fitness, the UK can expect to see a rise in fitness boutiques that specialise in sessions such as yoga, pilates or dance.
This trend will steer people away from bigger allpurpose gyms that tend to offer everything to everyone, as exercisers look for more personal approaches to their fitness.
Large budget gyms will continue to do well – we saw a rise in that area last year – but as big chains drop prices and expand, I imagine more discerning clients will look for quieter and calmer fitness diversions.
Also on the increase next year will be fitness breaks and holidays.
As we embrace a new era of fitness, people will start to think about fitness holidays instead of the usual two weeks on the beach in Spain. Holidays designed specifically for the healthconscious public could become big business.
Think of walking holidays or even more specific fitness holidays that come complete with specialist sessions for whatever it is you want to do.
Yoga and pilates retreats are already popular, so take that to the next level and you find holidays spruced with assault- course training and bootcamps.
On a more ground- level approach, it would appear dance- based fitness will still be popular, a relaunch recently of Fitsteps classes, and the arrival of Darcy Bussell’s own fitness class, DD Mix, suggests dance is still on trend.
Hybrid classes, sessions that combine more than one discipline, also seem to be on the rise as people still want to do as much as they possibly can in as little time as possible.
Finally, online training will make sure that even if you can’t get to the gym, you can still train at home.
Live- stream classes will allow more of us to book 20 minutes of free time in the living room, where we can work out with our own personal trainer beaming live to us.