3 Health and Fitness Trends to Expect in 2020

Health and Fitness Trends 2020
The new year is here, and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has released its top fitness trends to help guide health and fitness businesses for 2020. As a business serving this industry, we wanted to give an in-depth look at three popular health and fitness trends for the new year.

Wearable Technology

Technology innovations continue to advance fitness, and maybe none more so than wearable technology and smartphone apps. This trend has sat atop the ACSM survey for four consecutive years and is still growing. Over 56.7 million American adults , or 22% of that population, utilized wearable technology while exercising in 2019. This number is expected to rise to 60.6 million (23.3%) in 2020 and will continue to increase over the next few years. This technology has become immensely popular as it provides a more personal way to exercise. Smartphone apps and products like Fitbit make it easy to track important metrics like steps, distance traveled, heart rate, and calories burned, and more. Wearable technology also tailors information to help people reach whatever goals they set out to achieve. Fitness businesses have begun capitalizing on this rising trend by incorporating wearable tech in their business model, allowing clients to get a personalized summary of their health during and after workouts. This can add significant value to their experience and be critical for retaining members, and we can expect to see this continue in 2020.

Personal Training

Another way people are making their fitness regimens more unique and accessible is through personal trainers. Trainers and coaches have the distinct ability to further personalize workouts and classes while providing motivation on their clients, which can pay big dividends during a workout. Personal trainers can come from health clubs, gyms, and fitness facilities. Some even make house calls to clients’ home gyms. There are now around 340,000 certified trainers working in the U.S., a 21.5% increase since 2012. Innovation and personal training have collided this year through apps and virtual coaching, which is a key trend in fitness that we will see growing in 2020. Trainers are more accessible than ever with products like Peloton bringing personal training into the home and social media influencers teaming up with trainers to release on-demand virtual workout content. Kathleen Post, an Indianapolis-based lifestyle blogger, teamed up with her personal trainer to launch KPFit, an 11-unit workout video package that brings at-home fitness content to her 244K followers.

Health and Wellness Practices

This trend has been featured in the ACSM survey for the past nine years and is growing due to more people beginning to invest in their mental and emotional well-being. Applying these practices can entail anything from taking yoga classes to hiring a health and wellness coach. This then helps people figure out ways to make proper behavioral decisions to better their lives. Following health and wellness practices can end up positively affecting aspects of peoples’ lives in ways like relieving stress and anxiety, serve as a treatment for depression, and as a motivator to eat healthier. Dealing with things such as stress or depression can be tough for many people, which is why many people try simple things such as exercising or even using CBD related products (check out sites like https://www.everydayoptimalcbd.com/ to see a range of these products) in the hopes of managing the symptoms effectively. In recent years, there has been a lot of research to suggest that CBD products can have a significant mood-boosting impact on the mind and body and therefore if you are looking for an alternative way to manage your mental health, it is well worth giving CBD a try. You can learn more about the potential health-boosting benefits of CBD products by taking a look at this useful guide that explains the difference between cbd and hemp oil. As our health is important, it makes sense for us all to make this a priority. As always, it’s best to be safe than sorry.   The mental and emotional clarity one receives from health and wellness also expands to their physical wellness. In fact, 75% of those who participate in yoga also take part in additional exercise activities such as running, cycling, and group sports. For more information on how Upper Hand’s software can help your business stay ahead of these trends and others, schedule a demo.
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