Make your fitness resolution count as Rescu. Fitness expert Sally Symond’s reveals the top fitness trends for 2013. It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon!
Fitness Trend #1: A movement away from “cookie cutter” weight loss approaches
Australia is getting more obese by the year. By 2020, it’s expected that 75% of Australians will be overweight or obese. That’s only seven years away!
As a result, fitness professionals will be looking at different ways to help their overweight/obese clients with their weight loss goals. The same, cookie-cutter approaches are not working! What does are weight loss approaches that enable the clients to create the conditions for their own success. Fitness professionals will transition from a “teacher” role to a “guidance” role, by giving their clients the protocols they need so the clients can create their own weight loss strategies.
Pros: People will feel more empowered and engaged in their weight loss journey. Intuitively, people know how to lose weight. By throwing away the cookie cutter approach and introducing client-designed weight loss approaches, people who aren’t naturally fit and active will be motivated to exercise, diet and lose weight.
Cons: Some fitness professionals aren’t too keen on throwing away long-established weight loss rules. It requires a change in mindset, culture and attitude.
Fitness Trend #2: More creative approaches to exercise to help people lose weight
In 2013, fitness professionals will begin to look at different ways to exercise, especially for clients who are trying to lose weight. At the cornerstone of this new approach will be asking questions about exercising, instead of just telling clients what to do. Furthermore, fitness professionals will introduce variety to the same “old” exercises. For example, a fitness professional may ask “How many different ways can you row using a resistance band?” instead of relying on the same “do three sets of rows with the resistance band.”
Pros: People who are trying to lose weight may be naturally resistant to exercise. By introducing creative approaches to exercise, fitness professionals can engage their clients more, resulting in more successful exercise sessions for the client.
Cons: As mentioned in the first fitness trend, some fitness professionals may be resistant to changing how they get their clients to exercise. Many fitness professionals are in the “tell’ mode instead of the “ask” mode.
Fitness Trend #3: Weight loss strategies will be less about discomfort and deprivation, and more about pleasure and purpose.
80 percent of our decisions are emotional, not rational, and our emotional responses precede our thoughts and feelings. Our brain by nature wants to minimize danger and maximize rewards. What does that mean for weight loss? If fitness professionals can tap into the emotional response, people will be more prone to exercise. For example, if a fitness professional can make exercise fun and exciting, it will tap into the “pleasure” principle, making people happy to exercise without taxing their willpower.
Pros: People who loathe exercise will learn to love exercise! If exercise can be seen as a pleasurable activity, people will be more likely to work out – and reach their weight loss goals.
Cons: With this approach, people need to think about exercise (many exercise programs boast a “you don’t have to think” mantra, which is very attractive but ineffective). Fitness professionals will need to delve deeper into their clients’ thought processes and help their clients find a way to be passionate about exercise. It’s more work, but worth it for the client and fitness professional.
Fitness Trend #4: Adopting a stepped-up approach to help clients lose weight
To help clients lose weight, fitness professionals will need to understand the “Ladder of Commitment.” The average non-exerciser begins at the bottom in a state of near helplessness and needs to climb the rungs of awareness, experimentation, enjoyment, empowerment, improvement and accomplishment, before they can even think about making exercise a regular part of their life.
Most fitness programs are aimed far too high up the ladder of commitment for the average person to follow. They are designed by people who have always been fit and healthy for people who are fairly fit and healthy, which most Australians aren’t. These unfit people are doomed to fail before they begin!
Pros: By implementing a stepped-up approach, fitness professionals will help people make a lifestyle change without them even realizing it. Consider this rough mathematical equation:
· If you begin a weight loss program with 100% effort, you might be able to last maybe three weeks—if you’re lucky! So, your total effort for that time period would equate to 300%.
· But, give just 80% effort over five weeks and you’ll get 400% in results.
· Even more startling: a mere 25% effort over 20 weeks is going to give you 500% in results.
· Do something for 25 weeks (that’s five months of the year) and you’re much more likely to want to keep doing it forever. You’ve made a lifestyle change, and you’ve barely even noticed!
Cons: Fitness professionals will need to throw away their standby “12 week programs” and re-invent how they teach weight loss strategies. The 12-week programs are dooming people to failure because they won’t be able to maintain the eating and exercise habits once they are off the 12-week program.
Fitness Trend #5: Making activity part of everyday life
Studies show that even if people do reach the recommended intake of physical activity every day, their efforts may be “undone” if they sit at a desk for the rest of the day. In general, obese people stand 3.5 hours less a day than lean people (often resulting in serious health issues, such as deep vein thrombosis).
Reduced incidental activity means people need to look at adding activities into their lives, such as using treadmill desks, walking meetings or taking part in workplace wellness programs. Consider this: We would need to run 42km every week just to reach the same level of incidental activity that people had in their lives 50 years ago.
Pros: By adding incremental activity to their lives, people will be more active, as a whole, and more likely to keep the weight off. Additionally, people can learn to multi-task to make their day more productive, such as taking a walk during a conference call.
Cons: Fitness professionals will need to look beyond their scheduled sessions and help clients determine ways to add incremental activities into their lives. They will need to teach people anytime, anywhere exercises that are suitable for the office or waiting in line. Most fitness professionals only teach exercises that will be done during the scheduled session. Now, a new mindset needs to occur, which some fitness professionals may be resistant to.
