The past 1.5 years in particular were a challenge for individuals, society, and especially the fitness industry. Forced into lockdowns due to the pandemic, many gyms, class providers, and personal trainers were compelled to take creative measures—primarily consisting of live-streamed online workouts. Nevertheless, the industry is still recovering. Due to the loss of members, sports providers need time to realign financially and conceptually. At the same time, taking personal care of physical and mental health has never been more significant. Everyone has realized this in recent months. Sales of home equipment exploded, bike shops were sold out. But where will these exceptional pandemic months lead us next year? What are the sports, health, and fitness trends for 2022?
Creative solutions: Live classes, online training, and more
Creative solutions are still needed to provide sports enthusiasts with a good training offering. According to the 2021 Les Mills Global Fitness Report, many people still want social interaction during group workouts. In other words: On-site classes remain highly requested and popular. But how can gym operators, personal trainers, and instructors prepare for a situation where a pandemic forces shared workout spaces to close again? A hybrid model is needed. A mix of online training options and group classes whenever the latter is possible on-site. However, quieter sports and health classes such as Yoga, Bodybalance, or stretching can easily be joined from home via live stream. This also brings benefits such as more peace and better focus in familiar surroundings. Live classes—training together on-site—remain the most popular option. But online offerings have caught up significantly over the past two years.
Bodyweight exercises like calisthenics or Les Mills are becoming increasingly popular
Necessity was the mother of invention: During the lockdowns, everyone had to make do with what was available. What could be more obvious than bodyweight training, i.e., working out with your own body weight? Although sales of home equipment rose to unimagined heights and in-stock kettlebells and dumbbells were probably sold out as quickly as flour and toilet paper, the workout tool of choice for many fitness providers was one's own body weight. And working out also works with filled water bottles or six-packs of water – everyone got creative. Gyms recognized the trend and are now offering new and previously less prevalent class formats everywhere in their facilities: functional fitness sessions, boot camps, and HIIT classes are now integrated into class schedules almost everywhere and continue to enjoy growing popularity.
Mental health and stress management as a trend
Only through being forcedly confined to one's own four walls due to lockdowns and working from home did everyone truly realize how important exercise is for mental health as well. Workout sessions not only make your body fitter, but also significantly contribute to calming your mind, strengthening your resilience and immune system, and keeping you mentally and hormonally balanced. And so calmer sports like yoga or hormone balance workouts have become a new trend and will surely continue to gain importance in the sports world in 2022. Even now, you can, for example, get costs for many MBSR courses subsidized by your health insurance. Here, MBSR stands for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Meditation, PMR (Progressive Muscle Relaxation), or Tai Chi and Qigong are also gentle ways to become aware of your body, move, and relax body and mind through gentle movements.
Train in 2022 with your new four-legged friend
Many families adopted a dog during lockdown. Now, as employers partially return to mandatory office attendance or introduce a hybrid model of working from home and office work, your four-legged friend still wants to spend time with you and stay active. Why not simply include your dog in your workouts? Canicross combines your jogging routine with a fitness session for your four-legged friend. You'll learn which leash and harness work best for running together—with your furry friend setting the pace. Agility training and dog biathlon are also sports where both owner and pup get plenty of exercise and become fitter as a result.
Personal training is becoming increasingly popular
As another consequence of the pandemic, personal trainers are no longer just for the ultra-wealthy. Personal trainers also had to adapt to the new circumstances. Visiting clients in person wasn't possible for months due to social distancing. So personal trainers had to adapt their coaching methods: Online training sessions and later outdoor workouts in the fresh air with proper physical distancing were the methods of choice. And they will continue to be. I have many sports colleagues who treated themselves to a personal trainer alongside group workouts to work on their individual fitness goals. Personal trainers have also become much more affordable. Especially when meeting virtually, travel costs and commuting time are eliminated. This makes it significantly more affordable for the average person to work toward their personal goals with a personal trainer—such as improved nutrition and custom-tailored workout sessions.
Outdoor workouts and pop-up training spaces
Forced to close due to the pandemic, all sports providers had to come up with ideas to retain their customers. As a result, municipal sports parks, green spaces, parks, meadows, & forests were suddenly heavily visited in spring, summer, and fall. The trend is clearly moving toward outdoor workout sessions, and this will continue in 2022. Working out and meeting up happens in the fresh air, allowing safe distances to be maintained while still nurturing important social interaction. Wherever possible, gyms suddenly opened large tents open on the sides in front of their facilities as outdoor workout areas to offer members a place to train. Cities are recognizing the importance of fitness trails and fixed stations around lakes and in forests and are continuing to upgrade them. Personal trainers are now heading out into parks or public meadows with their clients to complete workouts.
So you see, the major themes in 2022 will be the type and location of training: Outdoor workouts and online classes will be expanded further to seamlessly continue offering members workout options in emergencies in the future. Training with dogs and mindful workouts are additional emerging trends. And outdoor workouts—heading out into nature has always been great, but now it has arrived in the sports world as a lifestyle of its own.
