Looking to change things up in the gym? You’ll have plenty
of opportunities to do that thanks to the promise of a new year with new
workouts. From upgrades in digital fitness, exercise tech and better recovery
systems, you can look forward to sweating your booty off and reaching your New
Year resolutions! Get a jump start by learning about them before everyone else,
by reading below.
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Are you ready to kick the New Year off with a new and
improved workout? Check out Women’s Health Magazine’s
top new workouts for 2019 and get a jump start on the new you!
Your HIIT will get a twist.
Plenty of fitness studios are creating HIIT hybrid
classes—like CorePower Yoga, a Colorado-born studio chain that took the reins
on yoga-HIIT classes. Life Time Fitness just launched a HIIT yoga class called
Fire Yoga, too. “All of the high-intensity classes are great and this category
will continue to grow,” says Tom Manella, Life Time’s national vice president
of personal training.
Workouts will become shorter.
Pete McCall, certified strength and conditioning specialist
(C.S.C.S.), and host of the All About Fitness podcast, sees HIIT workout
classes becoming shorter and shorter. “If you do 15 minutes at the right
intensity, that’s all you need,” he says. “So while HIIT is going to continue
to be popular, we might see it in different forms [and times].”
Recovery will be key.
Life Time already offers recovery tools like a steam room
and cold plunge tubs—but Manella says they’ll soon offer compression sessions
and sports massage, too. Other studios like Mile High Run Club and Tone House,
in New York City, offer compression massages via NormaTec boots, access to foam
rolling tools, and more. “People are learning they don’t have to beat
themselves up every day of the week,” McCall says.
You'll see new, better ways to loosen muscles.
In 2018, percussion guns (think TheraGun and Hypervolt) took
off, and that popularity is going to continue. Some studios even offer access
to these types of tools pre- or post-workout.
Another thing we might see more of? Scrubbing, McCall predicts. Picture
rubbing down your fascia with a device that looks like a potato scrubber. “As we learn more about connective tissue and
how it plays into exercise, we’ll see more tools coming out,” McCall says.
Sleep will get extra attention.
As wearables get better at tracking sleep, recording your
REM hours and more, people may start getting more shut-eye (or at least really
trying to do so). Kat Ellis, certified personal trainer, says "great sleep
quality is vital for fine motor control and metabolic function,” she says. “If
your sleep patterns are out of whack, it’s near impossible to see any
performance and weight loss goals.” She sees sleep coaching becoming an
offering at meditation studios, to really get you to relax, wind down, and
perform better.
Work and working out will merge.
You might see big gyms adding more areas where people can
hop on their laptops and work, post-sweat. Vice versa, more work spaces are
incorporating fitness into their offerings. For example: fitness club Rise by
We, opened in the co-working space WeWork, in Manhattan October 2017. Also: The
soon-to-open workspace and networking club Luminary will offer fitness classes
so women can squeeze exercise between meetings.
Boutique studios will expand to smaller cities.
With cities like New York and Los Angeles getting saturated
with boutique fitness studios, Ellis predicts we’ll see more spots open up in
smaller cities, like Austin, Boston, Cincinnati, and more. “Due to the
competitive landscape in major cities, opportunities are endless in smaller
markets,” she says. Manella also believes boutiques will start offering more
types of classes, like yoga at a CrossFit studio, or stretching sessions at
your favorite HIIT place. They may also start extending their hours to
accommodate more people.
Big box gyms will aim to offer a studio experience.
McCall mentions that big gym brands are also offering a more
tailored approach to fitness. So, if you’re obsessed with yoga or barre, there
may be a studio room where you can get your flow on. Or your gym may open its
own spin-only area for cycling fanatics. “The gyms will brand the workouts
differently, catering more to a custom user experience like you’d get from a
boutique studio,” McCall says. That way, you still have access to all the main
gym amenities, with the option for the group classes you like.
Streaming workouts will be everywhere.
Your gym might start offering streaming workouts during
off-peak hours. McCall says he’s seeing this at his local YMCA in California,
which brought in a Peloton bike for people to hop on and join a class whenever
they can. Plus, more and more virtual workout options are emerging—like
ClassPass Live and Our Body Electric (Obe)—which give you a chance to follow a
live class from the comfort of your living room.
Treadmill workouts and audio-guided runs will ramp up.
Peloton's treadmill, which offers virtual running
"classes," will continue to gain steam. Equinox also still offers
Precision Running programs in their locations across the U.S., and Mile High
Run Club, Barry’s Bootcamp, and Speedplay (all featuring treadmills) remain
popular in big cities. McCall believes these will really take off in 2019.
Plus, workout apps like Aaptiv offer audio coaching during your runs, to help
you hone your form and speed.
Your social media feed will still get flooded with fitness.
Whether you love or hate the influencer moment, and all your
friends' posts about crossing a finish, the trend of publicly sharing fitness
feats is here to stay, says Manella. “People are posting their goals on social
media in order to be held accountable which is pretty cool,” he says. “I love
watching a community motivate each other to meet those goals.”
Brands and sports teams will create their own workouts.
A Dallas Cowboys-branded gym in Texas, a Spartan gym in
Miami—big players in sports and fitness are putting their names on facilities
near you. McCall sees more brands and sports teams collaborating with fitness
facilities (or creating their own) to bring workouts to their fan base. Love
the Eagles? Always do Tough Mudders? Maybe you’ll see them open a fitness space
in the new year.
Personalized workouts will be all the rage.
Finding out your VO2Max, getting a metabolic assessment,
learning more about your genes and how they relate to fitness—this info is all
becoming easier to grasp thanks to centers like the NY Sports Science Lab in
Staten Island, DNA tests like Fitness Genes, and biohacking places like
Bulletproof Labs. Though typically pricey, you might see these tests and stats
become more popular for anyone who wants to take their fitness to the next
level, seek out ways to prevent injuries, or even just better understand how
their body works.
You might start training your brain more than your body.
Another aspect of fitness McCall is excited to see expand:
Training your brain for better performance and results. “We’re learning more
about how the brain responds to exercise,” he says. “How can we teach people to
move better?” We’ll likely see more research around this topic, helping people
learn to focus on the mental side of training.
Your mental health also becomes important to your workouts.
Mindful running definitely had a moment this year,
especially when Headspace and Nike teamed up to created guided runs. And we
will likely see more meditation-based workouts in the future. “Meditation will
become much more main stream in fitness,” McCall says. “You might be training
your body, but what are you doing to train your mind?” That’s the question
we’ll start addressing more in the New Year. Also, if you don’t already have a
meditation app on your phone, you should probably welcome in 2019 by
downloading one.
Get excited for 2019 and your new workouts! With new
technology and new ways to get fit, you can accomplish your big New Year fitness
goals. But, while you get your sweat on at home, make sure you are
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