According to a 2018 American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) survey of fitness industry trends, 9 out of 20 of the top fitness trends have foundations in GROUP Training!

Rank ordered from highest (most popular trend) to lowest (least popular trend). Only the top 20 for 2018 are described in this report.

1. HIIT.
2. Group training.
3. Wearable technology.
4. Body weight training.
5. Strength training.
6. Educated, certified, and experienced fitness professionals.
7. Yoga.
8. Personal training.
9. Fitness programmes for older adults.
10. Functional fitness.
11. Exercise and weight loss.
12. Exercise is medicine.
13. Group personal training (aka Small Group Training or SGT).
14. Outdoor activities.
15. Flexibility and mobility rollers.
16. Licensure for fitness professionals.
17. Circuit training.
18. Wellness coaching.
19. Core training.
20. Sport-specific training.

Dropping out of the top 20 from 2017 was worksite health promotion (number 16 last year), smartphone exercise apps (number 17 last year), and outcome measures (number 18 last year).

Children and exercise for the treatment/prevention of obesity is now number 32.

Reference

Thompson, W.R. (2017) Worldwide Survey of Fitness Trends for 2018: The CREP Edition. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal. 21(6), p.10-19. doi: 10.1249/FIT.0000000000000341.