“Unprecedented times” was one of the most overused phrases of 2020, but for good reason. As the global pandemic upended every aspect of daily lives, the ways in which we became and stayed fit and healthy was no exception.
Traditional gym sessions, group sports and face-to-face personal training was replaced by all things virtual. The onset of the COVID-19 crisis turbocharged the shift from brick-and-mortar workouts to digital ones. It’s a transformation that experts believe will not entirely be reversed, despite the easing of lockdown and re-opening of gyms.
Let’s look at the latest top fitness trends in the UK that are likely to stick around.
Running
Of course, this is far from a new trend. But figures show it has hugely grown in popularity in the past year. In the four months to June, the NHS Couch to 5km app was downloaded 858,000 times – up 92% compared to 2019. Recent data from EE also found that fitness app MapMyRun usage doubled and Strava downloads tripled. One look at the swathes of runners flooding London’s parks while gyms were closed was further proof that many people had swapped their gym passes for phone armbands and hit the running trails. Any runner will tell you that starting out is the hardest part and that the “Runner’s high” is waiting just around the corner from those agonizing, breathless-filled first few months of regular jogging. So, the trend is likely to continue throughout 2021.
The Great Outdoors
Running wasn’t the only outdoor sport that gained more lovers. One million people in the UK bought a bike during lockdown. The number of outdoor classes offered on ClassPass rose by 400% in 2020. Social media feeds were littered with tips on London’s best walking routes and hiking trails. Most gyms have kept up their outdoor class offerings and there’s no shortage of cyclists on the roads – a sign again that the taste of The Great Outdoors has brewed a big and enduring appetite among Londoners.
Digital classes and flexible fitness
The pandemic saw lockdown fitness favourites like Joe Wicks harnessing technology to keep school kids active, while personal trainers and yoga instructors became Zoom and Skype experts overnight. Well, maybe the expertise did not arrive instantly for everyone and some struggled with mute buttons more than others, but the standard, quality and range of virtual workouts available across the fitness industry massively improved throughout 2020. Remote personal training and subscription-based heartrate monitoring apps like FIIT have continued to attract interest this year. Parents juggling childcare and busy students with no time to commute grew to appreciate the ease of living room workouts, a convenience that has proven too precious for many to abandon as normality returns.
Virtual challenges
This trend is similar, but it’s about using smartphone apps and trackers not only for routine exercise but to train for events and challenges that are completed online. Well, you can’t exactly run a marathon on a device, but you can track it there. That new concept inspired the 2020 Virtual Virgin Money London Marathon, which saw more than 30,000 runners from all over the globe take on a course of their choice on the same day. The virtual event is returning alongside the traditional marathon later this year. Virtual races planned for this year range from 5km runs to ultra-marathons. In fact, organisers of multi-day ultramarathon series Ultra X have made their 2021 qualifier races entirely virtual. Digital cycling challenges have also taken off. The new word ‘everasting’ relates cyclists climbing the 8,848m elevation height of Mount Everest and comparing their times. On Strava, there were 600% more successful ‘everesting’ rides in June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 – and they remain popular.
Digital wellbeing and mindfulness
Being restricted from seeing loved ones, the constant bombardment of negative news as well as the instability and uncertainty that the pandemic brought upon our lives understandably took its toll. One Health Foundation study found more than two-thirds of adults in the UK said they felt somewhat or very worried about the effect COVID-19 is having on their life, including feeling worried about the future, stressed and anxious. We realised more than ever that fitness is related not only to physical aesthetics but also mental wellbeing. More people began using smartphone apps teaching mindfulness and meditation or offering professional counselling. Holistic fitness which targets both the mind and body such as yoga and Pilates has grown so popular that companies such as Fable are offering mindful movement series on YouTube.
Eye yoga
While there are many benefits of having digital alternatives to most aspects of our lives, the added screen time inevitably comes with collateral damage. Research by the College of Optometrists found that 20% of adults thought their vision had deteriorated during lockdown.
That’s where Eye Yoga comes to the rescue. It may sound bizarre, but it makes sense. Our eyes have muscles and muscles must be exercised to stay healthy, despite where they are in the body. FaceGym has started one-to-one workouts which guide users through gentle movements and massages of the eyes and surrounding areas. The sessions not only help the eyes, but also tackle tension in the jaw, neck and head. A quick pre-work face workout is believed to help reduce headaches as well as face and shoulder tension throughout the day.
Micro workouts
Workout completed in seven minutes… where do I sign up? With the increased flexibility of the location of workouts, the demand for a greater variety of exercise lengths has also risen. Most gyms have seen a rise in demand of popular HIIT workouts, which are short explosions of high intensity interval training ranging any length from three minutes to 20-minutes. Smartphone apps including the 7 Minute Workout Challenge and Fiit offer a growing number of shorter workouts – giving you just enough time to break a sweat. The variety of HIIT classes offered include a mix of cardio, strength and rebalancing.