The Surprising Top Fitness Trend for 2014

Shutterstock

When you think of what’s trending in the fitness world, crazed SoulCycle junkies and green-juice guzzling yogis probably come to mind. So the findings of the American College of Sports Medicine’s survey predicting the Top 20 Fitness Trends For 2014 might surprise you. Not only does Spinning not make the cut (sorry, FlyWheel fanatics!), yoga comes in pretty far down the list at lowly number ten.

How are these trends determined? The survey, completed by over 3,800 health and fitness professionals, gave 38 potential trends as choices. The top 20 of those trends were then ranked and published by ACSM.

This was actually the first year since 2008 that “educated, certified and experienced fitness professionals” didn’t take the winning spot on the list. And surprisingly (and, some might say, fortunately) Zumba fell out of the top 20 along with Spinning

I know, the suspense must just be eating you alive! So, who was the winner? This year’s winning trend is high-intensity interval training, a newbie to the survey choices. HIIT’s number one spot on the list proves just how quickly this form of exercise—defined as “short bursts of activity followed by a short period of recovery” (think 20 squat jumps followed by 20 seconds of rest, and repeat)—has taken the fitness world by storm. (No doubt, the New York Times’s über-popular seven-minute workout certainly helped.) Other top trends include body weight training, strength training, exercise and weight loss (like, duh!), and, of course, personal training.

Want to see what all the HIIT fuss is about? Check out our BeWOW workout series for some terrific ideas.