Fashionable Fitness for 2019 – What’s on the List? (Part 2 of 2)

It’s finally here, the blog you’ve all been waiting for… Rugged’s view on ACSM’s 2019 Health and Fitness Trends (Part 2)!

Employing Certified Fitness Professionals – A new addition to the list this year, it shows how much the fitness industry is doing to become more credible. PTs will now need more than an online course to be employable. This will undoubtedly benefit the general public with those paying for a personal trainer receiving a much higher quality of training than they may have received in previous years.

Yoga – Despite potentially being seen as an activity for only a select few, yoga can benefit all of us. Yoga has many benefits for both your mind and body, and can benefit anyone from a rugby player to an older person. It can help with relaxation after a stressful week and also help relieve any aches and pains. As a rugby player myself I was sceptical about trying yoga but having started this year, I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Personal Training – Struggling for motivation? Training plateaued? Not even sure where to start? These are just a few reasons to get a personal trainer. Not only will they help motivate you through a session, you’ll be learning new techniques to benefit your workouts. If you’re totally new to training then having a personal trainer can be the safest and most productive way to start. Even if you’ve been training for years, a PT can help tailor your training towards your specific goals. Most PTs will also be able to offer you advice on nutrition too.

Functional Fitness – Functional fitness is training to benefit you in your day to day life. It gives you the speed and stamina to run and catch the bus when you’re running late. It gives you the strength to carry all your shopping in to the house in one go. It will improve your flexibility which will in turn improve your posture and reduce your susceptibility to injuries.  What is the point in being able to squat 800lbs if you end up in a wheelchair? Unless it is your life-long dream to be the strongest man in the world then functional fitness should be a lot more important to you.

Exercise as Medicine – Probably Rugged’s favourite trend of 2019. We all strongly agree that exercise is a great form of medicine. Other than its obvious medical benefits in terms of physiotherapy, exercise can be beneficial for many different medical issues. Exercise can be a great form of psychological health therapy, when we exercise our body releases endorphins into our blood to make us feel good, exercise can also help to temporarily distract us from other things in our life. With GPs now prescribing exercise to patients, exercise is medicine is likely to rise up the ranks in years to come.

I’d like to end this piece in a similar vein to my last blog, at Rugged we strongly believe that making fitness fun, motivational and accessible to all is incredibly important and hopefully these trends will go some way to making this happen.

So whatever trend you decide to follow this year, whether it be to help you stick to your New Year’s Resolution or to continue on from last year, remember to enjoy yourself and have fun - fitness is too important to be boring.