November/December 2019 - Volume 23 - Issue 6

ACSM’s annual survey of worldwide fitness trends is now in its 14th year. New to this year’s survey was the inclusion of potential new trends such as mind-body movement (e.g., tai chi) and lifestyle medicine. Other trends were more specifically defined in the 2020 survey. For example, virtual/online training was redefined as online training, water workouts were redefined as aquatic exercise, circuit weight training was redefined as circuit training, mobile phone exercise apps was redefined as mobile exercise apps, and barbell training was redefined as training with free weights. As in the past, the results of this annual survey will help the health and fitness industry make some very important business decisions for future growth and development. These investments can now be based on emerging trends that have been identified by health fitness professionals and not on the latest exercise innovation marketed during late night infomercials on television or the next hottest celebrity endorsing a product.