3 Fitness Trends That Will Improve Your Health

How do you know which fitness trends you should leave behind, and which ones you should pay attention to? These 3 fitness trends have wormed their way to the top of my list this year…here’s why.

Regular exercise and good nutrition are #1 and #2 on the list of what to do to build your fittest, strongest self and improve your overall health and body composition. And we all want that. Which is why fitness trends pop up every other minute of the day, offering a brand new way to get in shape.

So what popped up in 2020? And what is actually, really, legit worth taking into 2021? Read on.

3 FITNESS TRENDS TO PAY ATTENTION TO THIS YEAR

COVID through our norms for a loop. And while change can be hard, it often opens doors that we didn’t realize were in front of us.

Virtual Training

Long before COVID forced gyms to shut their doors, online training was on the rise. I’ve been training clients virtually for years and I find that once we’re over that initial “how does this work?” phase, the results are outstanding. Here’s why I adore virtual training (and why it’s a trend to pay attention to this year):

• Flexibility. Since workout sessions aren’t done in-person, you choose the best time to complete your workout.
  
• Adaptability. Your workouts are designed for you – which means that no matter what equipment you have at home, you can make it work.
  
• Affordability. Depending on what kind of training you choose to do, virtual training can be far less expensive than 1-on-1 personal training sessions*
  
• Accountability. I’m in touch with my online training clients daily. We have weekly coaching calls, recaps and check ins so that we stay on top of progress.

*For example, my month-to-month, app-based coaching program costs less per month than 2 one-on-one personal training sessions.

Gyms have closed. Some will re-open and some will not. While some people are craving that in person experience, I know a lot of women who are just as happy working out from the comfort and ease of their living rooms.

Tips to making the most out of at home workouts:

Designate a specific spot that is “Your Gym”. Even if that space is your basement, or your garage, or a corner of the living room – make it your own!

Invest in some weights, bands and matts. You don’t need much to complete a great workout but it’s nice to have options. Plus as you get stronger, you’re going to need some heavier weights!

Ask your family or roommates to respect your time. If you are in gym-mode, that’s YOU time!

Total Body Health and Life Coaching

Although we associate health mostly with movement, exercise, nutrition and health markers…total wellness is about so much more than that.

Deep dive into physical wellness as an example. You know that regular, physical activity promotes better health. But as soon as you talk about moving more you also have to talk about recovery and sleep. You have to talk about stress, physiological and external. You have to talk about fuel. You have to talk about hormones.

As one door opens wider, you find another door behind it. And that’s just thinking about physical wellness!

There are seven dimensions of wellness and each deserves it’s fair share of the lime light:

• Spiritual
• Physical
• Mental/Emotional
• Career
• Intellectual
• Environmental
• Social

Taking a total mind/body/soul approach to your health sounds daunting but at it’s core, it’s actually more natural than simply focusing on going to the gym, or removing carbs from your diet (it’s far more natural than that!).

For example, a lot of my nutrition clients are surprised (and maybe a bit anxious), when we get started because there is no strict set of rules…no calorie derived meal plan. To start, we focus a lot more on the WHY and the HOW than we do the WHAT. That’s because the food we choose to eat is about more than calories and macro nutrients. Food is so closely tied to emotional, environmental and social health that it’s not only impossible, but detrimental, to isolate it to numbers. We talk about it all – and often find out a lot more about ourselves than we thought we were in for!

Exercise as Medicine

If you don’t make time for wellness, you will be forced to make time for illness.

First, a personal story. For as long as I’ve known my grandmother, and as far back as the stories go, she has played tennis regularly, walked consistently, danced and enjoyed playing (read: roughhousing) with her children and grand children. My grandmother just turned 92 and in the last few years she started a walking/jogging routine that my dad built for her, took dancing lessons at the senior center, kicked my butt in ping pong and is generally and genuinely capable of taking care of herself.

She is #goals.

Exercise can heal the body. It promotes a higher quality of life, and a longer one.

If you want to compare apples to oranges, exercise is often prescribed in specific dosages. My clients are given a program with specific intensities, exercises, volumes and rest periods. Too much and you risk injury and burn out. Too little and you risk missing out on the benefits.

That being said, one way the exercise is not like medicine is that it is preventative. It doesn’t matter whether you are healthy now or not. Exercise will only work if it is a part of your lifestyle. There is no time like the present to start exercising regularly and with luck, we’ll make it to 92 with sass and spunk left in our toes.