Studio Pilates (above) and exercise prescription in action (below).
Healthy New Year
Nigel Benton looks at trends in the fitness industry for the coming year
T
he end of the year and the beginning of a new one - or decade according to some reckonings – sees the fitness industry look to predictions of how the upcoming 12 months will unfold and the trends that the industry will follow. Traditionally led by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), which has published its Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends annually for the last 14 years, the final months of 2019 has seen others - including Fitness Australia, technology platform MINDBODY and Shaun Krenz, Event Director for the Fitness Show – give their own analysis of prospects for the market. Largely concurring with the ACSM’s survey (see page 40), but in a somewhat different order, a Fitness Australia survey of its industry business members asking for predictions for next year anticipates that ‘Exercise is Medicine’ will be the hottest trend in the fitness industry for 2020. Commenting on the significance of the results, Fitness Australia Chief Executive, Barrie Elvish advised “having our
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members identify exercise as medicine as the top trend for 2020 reinforces that preventive health should be at the top of the Australian health agenda. “Through the Exercise is Medicine program, doctors are provided resources to assist with recommending exercise to their patients - as obesity levels continue to rise it has never been more important for primary care practitioners to take a proactive approach to exercise prescription as a form of preventive medicine.” Within Australia’s Top 12 Fitness Trends for 2020, the additions for this market were exercise for stress management and inclusive fitness - something that Australia may be more accepting of than the USA. Patented by the ACSM in 2007, the origins of Exercise is Medicine go back to the early 1990s when GP referral and ‘green prescription’ initiatives were pioneered in the United Kingdom. That Australian fitness businesses see linking health care providers with fitness providers is of massive significance with implications that not only see fitness providers reach new sections of the population but also go towards governmental goals to get Australians more active and healthy. Such potential has frequently been boxed as a ‘must do’ for fitness but it is significant that business operators now see it as a key issue. With Fitness Australia reporting that almost four million Australians are members of fitness clubs - around 15% of the population - for these business owners as well as the rest of the industry, reaching a portion of the remaining 85% of the population has to be a goal. With Fitness Australia’s vision of having more people more active more often comes reaching a broader user-base, with Elvish noting “what we also see is a large shift towards
