The American College of Sports Medicine has released its annual survey of fitness trends telling us what to expect from in the world of fitness in 2016.

Taking the top spot is wearable tech.  It’s been a big year for activity trackers. The market for these devices has really exploded with more affordable options also coming to the table. But trackers like Jawbone and Fitbit could be just the start of the wearable tech revolution.  According to the survey we should be on the lookout for smart apparel, active wear which measures things like heart rate and muscle activity. In the future we may even see clothing which stimulates muscles for greater calorie burn when working out – think t-shirts with built in Slendertone!

Bodyweight training is in at number two. Most people think of body weight training as being limited to push-ups and pull-ups, but it can be much more than that. Keep an eye out for calisthenics or ‘street workout’ sessions (you can read more about this in issue 3 of BESTFIT). Calisthenics is a bodyweight training system best known for its iconic moves including the muscle up and the human flag. It’s still considered an ‘underground’ or ‘urban’ sport but it’s growing fast and could well move more into the mainstream in 2016.  Street workout already had a social media reach of 48 million users daily and it is estimated that there will be over 158 million practitioners worldwide in the next five years.

Also appearing in the top trends list is foam rolling. I have a real love/hate relationship with my foam roller, I know what a difference it makes to keeping niggles and injuries at bay yet it’s about as enjoyable as sticking your head in the oven.  Consequently I don’t do it nearly as often as I should.  As this trend has grown in popularity we’ve started to see more Grids and other foam rollers in gyms. Rolling has even been incorporated into group classes such as Apex and Primal Release, making it much easier to get your fix – or in my case, harder to ignore.

Falling out of this years’ list is the trusty boot camp. It appears exercisers are shunning this style of training in favour of small group PT, which makes it into the list at number 11. Small group personal training is much more affordable than a one-to-one session but you get more personal attention and opportunities for progression. Fans of this style report greater camaraderie with fellow participants too. HIIT training, strength training, functional training and yoga all feature in list indicating that these methods of training are here to stay.