For the past 4 years, the editors of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM)’s Health & Fitness Journal have developed and widely disseminated an electronic survey to determine trends in the health and fitness industry. These results do not attempt to evaluate equipment, gear, tools, apparatus, or other paraphernalia that may suddenly appear at clubs or during late-night infomercials.

The survey has been designed to confirm or to introduce trends (not fads) that have been sustained by having a proven impact on the industry.

1. Educated and Experienced Fitness Professionals: a trend that continues with education and certification programs that are fully accredited by national third-party accrediting organizations for health/fitness and clinical professionals.
2. Strength Training: for both men and women whose main focus is on using weight training to simply increase or maintain strength as they age.
3. Children and Obesity: addressing the ever-growing problem of childhood obesity and a potential new market for commercial- and community-based organizations. For the first time since these predictions were made, the next generation of young people may not live as long as their parents or grandparents.
4. Personal Training: personal training continues to be recognized as a profession not just for young people starting out, but as a long-term (if not lifelong) occupation. Survey respondents believe that personal trainers are here to stay and will continue to be an important part of the professional staff of health and fitness centers.
5. Core Training: emphasizes strength and conditioning of the stabilizing muscles of the abdomen and back. Core training continues to use stability balls, BOSU balls, wobble boards, and foam rollers, among many other pieces of equipment.
6. Special Fitness Programs for Older Adults: a trend that emphasizes and caters to the older adult. As the baby boom generation ages into retirement and because they may have more discretionary money than their younger counterparts, fitness clubs will capitalize on this growing market.
7. Functional Fitness: using strength training to improve balance, coordination, strength, and endurance to improve one’s ability to do activities of daily living. Exercise programs reflect actual activities someone might do during the day.
8. Sport-Specific Training: incorporates sport-specific training especially for young athletes. For example, a high school athlete might join a commercial- or community-based fitness organization to help develop skills during the off-season and to increase strength and endurance. This is an interesting trend for the health/fitness industry to watch over the next few years. The combination of possibly attracting a new market to commercial clubs as well as offering a different kind of service could lead to increased revenues.
9. Pilates: a form of exercise that targets the core of the body (i.e., the abdomen, back, and hips) while using the entire body during a training session. Pilates can be done on special Pilates equipment, which may prove to be a secondary source of income for commercial and community-based organizations.
10. Group Personal Training: this trend expands the personal trainer’s role from strictly one on-one training to small-group training. The personal trainer works with two or more people (but in a small group) and offers discounts for the group. In these tough economic times when personal income seems to be decreasing, personal trainers need to be creative in the way they package personal training sessions. Training two or three people simultaneously seems to make great economic sense for both the trainer and the client. As the economy improves, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

This article was compiled from and is an abstract of the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal. The author also thanks the ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal editorial team.