Press Release: Australia’s inaugural Top 12 Fitness Trends for 2020
as ranked by Fitness Australia’s industry business members
Australia’s fitness industry has voted Exercise is Medicine as the number one hottest trend in the fitness industry for 2020.
Barrie Elvish, CEO of peak industry body Fitness Australia explains that Exercise is Medicine® is a global health initiative that is focused on encouraging primary care medical professionals and other health care providers to include physical activity assessment and associated treatment recommendations as part of every patient visit and referring their patients to exercise professionals.
“Having our 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,” says Elvish.
“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.”
Fitness business managers have recognised that employing Registered Exercise Professionals (#4) is critical in supporting the unique and wide-ranging needs of their clients.
“It’s encouraging to see that industry standards and a quality workforce is predicted as trending in 2020 – a key factor in delivering effective and safe exercise to Australian communities, and in having the credibility and trust of medical and health professionals.”
“This underpins our mission to continuously raise industry standards through evidence-based education, professional development and research,” says Elvish.
With Fitness Australia’s vision of having more people more active more often comes reaching a broader user-base.
“What we also see is a large shift towards guaranteeing the accessibility of inclusive fitness services (#10) – addressing inequality, offering a supportive and welcoming environment where people share a common goal of improving their fitness and health – they are not judged or discriminated against based on their immutable characteristics. These characteristics can include race, religion, age, gender, and disability status or body weight.”
With a current heightened awareness of mental health issues amongst the general population comes discussion and a seeking of evidence to support good mental health management, and we know that exercise plays such an integral role in preventing and reducing the symptoms of mental health issues including stress.
“Exercise as a tool for stress management (#7) is a recommendation of Beyond Blue, Australia’s leading non-profit organisation on mental health, in particular exercising every day to help relax your mind2. Due to advocacy and advances in mental health research, medical professionals are now prescribing exercise as part of their stress treatment plans to combat the symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety,” adds Elvish.
The need for physical activity providers to develop fitness programs for older adults (#5) is becoming more prevalent due to our ageing society.
“Fitness Australia’s recently commissioned research reveals that Baby Boomers are the most active generation which tells us that they have an increasing desire to be more physically active.”
“The World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan on Physical Activity, that Australia is a signatory to, recommends that older adults should engage in regular physical activity that focuses on balance and muscular strength to support healthy ageing and independent living3,” says Elvish.
Australia’s Top 12 Fitness Trends for 2020 are:
- Exercise is Medicine
- Group Training with an Instructor
- HIIT
- Employing Registered Exercise Professionals:
- Fitness for older adults
- Functional fitness training
- Exercise for stress management
- Body weight training
- Training with free-weights
- Inclusive fitness
- Small group training
- Wearable Technology
To stay up to date with the latest fitness industry news, standards and initiatives visit fitness.org.au
Justin is the Managing Director of Active Management, which he began January 2004. He offers coaching to businesses worldwide in everything from start up and design to marketing and sales systems. Justin also facilitates four Australian and New Zealand ‘fitness industry roundtables’ events, which allows him to see a huge cross section of business models.