By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Perhaps one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get fit. If so, check out the trends area experts predict as becoming more popular in 2020.
Sarah Lane, exercise physiologist at Riedman Campus Wellness Center of Rochester Regional Health:
• “I think we’re going to keep going on the circuit training path we’ve been taking with the studios like Orange Theory, Metabolic and Burn. It’s the new generation of not doing aerobics classes, but they have a little of everything. You leave feeling you have a little piece of everything.
• “I’m happy to see that over the past few years, people are getting smarter about their workouts. There’s more interest in the current 20- to 40-year-olds to get fit for health than the vanity of it. They’ve taken interest in it at a younger age. I think we’re finally getting out of ‘No pain, no gain’ and replacing it with ‘Let’s work smarter and more efficiently.’
Billy Sobolewski, head performance coach at Power Train Sports & Fitness in Rochester:
• “People are looking for someone who’s a performance coach. Everyone has their own niche or goal or something as simple as hiking in the morning or swimming every day. They don’t want a trainer anymore, but someone who can help them perform better at their activity.”
Kaitlyn Vittozzi, SUP director, Finger Lakes Yogascapes, Canandaigua:
• “Boutique fitness will continue to be big.
• “Group fitness will be popular, because people like motivation that comes from a group setting.
• “Yoga is going to start to move toward not just the body benefits but the mind-body connection. Yoga practices are going to start to slow down. That’s influenced by mindfulness.
• “I think overall, people are going to start to move toward a fitness and health routine that’s inspired by themselves, not something they have to do but something they want to do. There’s so much variety. We have everything that most big cities have. This helps people find something they find joy out of, instead of, ‘I have to go to boot camp or spinning or Pilates.’
• “Whether on-trend or not, I hope if people feel they can’t find a fitness routine they love that they realize it’s still out there and they can keep looking until they find some joyful movement for themselves.”
Daniel DiMarco, manager, Riedman Campus Wellness Center, Rochester Regional Health:
“Wearable fitness technology, like FitBits was a top trend last year and it’s still growing. The Apple Watches can be synched to your mobile device. They can track pretty much everything these days without needing extra equipment. The apps can keep you motivated. They can also provide you with your own workouts. They’re really easy to use.
“Functional training is becoming more popular among people of all ages. It’s something that when it first stared becoming popular, was for older adults or athletes. Now people are incorporating it into their workouts regardless of age. It can directly translate to a movement you do on a day to day basis, like squatting down, going up and down stairs or reaching overhead. It mimics a movement. It’s good for range of motion, strength within that range, increasing your awareness in space with balance and perioperception and core strength.
“Lifestyle medicine. It’s reaching outside of the fitness world. Health and wellness is so much more than just the physical aspect, it’s emotional, social and cognitive. Introducing those goals improve overall wellness.
“Taking time for mindfulness and meditation. I’ve seen more meditation classes popping up. They’re 30 minutes to get away from everything and get in tune with yourself and refocus.
“Word puzzles for brain health. The workout only takes you so far for this.
“Exercise and aging adults. Due to advances in everything else, the population is living longer and working longer and has an overall higher quality of life. To maintain their levels of activity, exercise in the population becomes more of a priority. We need to keep our employees healthy and able to provide care for the community members that need us.”