Samsung Watch/Communication
As in many other fields, the world of fitness is influenced by trends and fashions that influence it.
Sometimes these are fleeting trends and sometimes they are long and lasting, ones that really bring with them a new and refreshing line that establishes itself in a stable way among fitness and health seekers around the world.
As every year, since 2006, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) releases its list of top trends for the current year of activity.
The selection of the top ten trends is made through a large-scale survey, conducted among thousands of fitness professionals worldwide and with extensive demographic segmentation.
Among the experts who choose are, of course, many fitness trainers, but also physiotherapists, dietitians and other professionals related to the field.
These are the top ten trends for 2024 according to the people who breathe the field of fitness every day:
1. Wearable technologies
In the first place on the list of trends you can find the wearable technologies.
These are the same wristwatches, pedometers, pulse monitoring and GPS-based distance measurement that we have all become accustomed to their presence in our lives in recent years.
All of these constitute a real market that generates billions of dollars, and help us measure, monitor and guide ourselves in everything related to our fitness, but not only - they monitor the quality of our sleep, blood pressure and even blood sugar level.
And to think that this field is now only in its infancy.
The fitness bracelet will measure and monitor all the required data.
Run in the sea/ShutterStock
2. Physical activity in the workplace
You know it from the daughter's kindergarten who is constantly running from place to place with a pedometer next to her 24/7?
It is very possible that she is part of the trend and is participating in one of those competitions in the workplace that encourage employees to stay active and accumulate as many steps as possible.
Expect more and more proactive activities from workplaces that would rather you be healthy and fit than sick and missing valuable work days.
3. Intervention programs for the elderly
In third place on the list you can find special intervention programs that meet the needs of the older training audience.
At the municipal level, too, you can find programs on behalf of the municipalities that encourage adults to engage in activities suited to them in the public space.
Such programs may include, for example, tai chi, flexibility and yoga training, resistance training and bone-building exercises.
It is possible even in the middle of the desert.
Tai Chi training/Wala system!
NEWS, Lior Naor
4. Weight loss programs
A special emphasis and response to the global obesity epidemic in the form of dedicated programs that include nutritional intervention and tailored training programs for those dealing with excess weight and obesity.
These can be individual one-on-one programs or a group program in the style of those we have been exposed to in recent years.
5. Recognition and anchoring of the status of qualified fitness experts
A client who currently requests from his private insurance company participation in the expenses of fitness trainers is often met with a refusal.
A new trend in the world is a policy change in the level of recognition of the certification of service providers in the field of health and physical training, which will make it easier for clients of fitness trainers, for example, to submit to the private insurance companies a request for participation in training expenses and the like.
In Israel, too, an effort has been made in recent years to enshrine the status of fitness trainers in law, which will make it easier to receive reimbursements from health funds or private insurance companies.
6. Employing qualified fitness experts
In direct continuation of the previous trend - giving special emphasis to the employment of qualified and experienced service providers only in companies that provide fitness services to customers, with the understanding and acceptance that the professional service of a qualified and experienced expert translates into high quality training and quality training.
The status of the gym is increasing, but the significant increase is precisely in the many options outside it/ShutterStock
7. Mobile training applications
The seventh and honorable place in the list of the leading trends in fitness corresponds to the great popularity in the widespread use of the thousands of training apps that can be downloaded to smartphones, with the help of which you can get back in shape and upgrade your abilities.
These apps provide customized training programs for each level, allow you to share the training you perform with other users and above all make the world of fitness accessible even for those for whom the gym is not an option, for one reason or another.
8. Training for mental health
According to the ACSM, one in eight adults worldwide suffers from some or other symptoms of poor mental health.
Mental health is a complex of normal emotional, psychological and social health.
Many studies all over the world have drawn a direct line between regular participation in physical activity and improvement in mental and cognitive abilities.
This field is also just in its infancy, and is expected to expand.
9. Development of athletic abilities for young people
The young people of today are the athletes of the future and in the ninth trend we see trends in the development of sports centers and training programs for young athletes in order to improve motor skills, increase self-confidence, improve coordination and more.
10. Personal fitness training
In the 10th and honorable place is personal fitness training as a strategy to improve the abilities of people around the world to reach the physical goals they have set for themselves.
The status of the personal fitness trainer is getting stronger over the years, because people recognize this help as a precise intervention for a deep and fundamental physical process, one that requires outside help.
Just as a dietitian will be able to provide us with a balanced menu, tailored to our measurements and desires, the personal fitness trainer will also be able to help us reach the unique goals we want to reach, check our body measurements along the way, and instill the right habits towards the change we wish for.
Yossi Zaevi is a personal fitness trainer and Wingate Institute certified sports instructor
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