Although it’s only October, it’s never too early to talk about 2016! The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual survey of fitness trends has been released. This is a survey of professionals from around the globe and has now entered its 10th year. It is distributed to almost 27,000 people worldwide by the editors of ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal®. It aims to represent input from professionals working in different sectors of the health fitness industry including:
- Corporate
- Clinical
- Community
- Commercial
- Academic
Responses were received from just about every continent. Respondent demographics included:
- 66% females
- 46% having more than 10 years of experience in the field
- 23% with more than 20 years of experience
- About 32% of the survey respondents earned an annual salary of more than $50,000
This years results actually had some newcomers to make the list. The top 20 trends predicted for the year 2016 were:
- Wearable technology
- Body weight training
- High intensity training
- Strength training
- Educated, certified, experienced fitness professionals
- Personal training
- Functional fitness
- Fitness programming for older adults
- Exercise and weight loss
- Yoga
- Group personal training
- Worksite health promotion
- Wellness coaching
- Outdoor activities
- Sport specific training
- Flexibility and mobility rollers
- Smart phone exercise applications
- Circuit training
- Core training
- Outcome measurements