Wearables Lead 2019 Fitness Trends
Survey suggests they're international industry trends, not fads.
Wearable technology—like fitness trackers, smartwatches, heart rate monitors and GPS trackers—are the top fitness trend for 2019, according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s 13th annual survey among industry professionals.
The second leading trend is group training, defined as including more than five participants and considered a separate category from small-group personal training. Interestingly, group exercise did not appear in the top 20 until 2017; last year it also ranked second. The third top trend is high-intensity interval training. HIIT first appeared in the top 20 in 2014, ranking as number one, and has appeared in the top five every year since.
Trends to watch include fitness programming aimed at older adults, which ranked as number four for 2019, as well as body-weight training, listed fifth.
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
