Inexpensive and Fun Weight Loss and Fitness Trends

The American Council on Exercise announced the top fitness trends for 2010 based on an annual survey of personal trainers. Following are those trends and some information you can use to your benefit.

Cost-conscious workouts at fitness clubs and at home

My husband and I are trying to cut costs by utilizing only one family vehicle. This means that I need to work around my husband's schedule if I want to workout at a gym I need to drive to. Considering that, a gym membership is an unnecessary luxury. Instead of working out at a gym, I'm finding some creative and relatively inexpensive ways to workout at home.

Group training

With everyone more money conscious in 2010, it just makes sense to skip the $80 per hour rate for a personal training session and go with the $20 or $30 rate for a small group training session.

Time-efficient workouts

There just never seems to be enough time in the day to do everything we want. Thanks to recent research we've found that a 20-30 minute high intensity aerobic workout is actually more effective than those hour-long treadmill or stairmaster sessions we used to do. Thanks to Bill Phillips, EAS and programs like Body-for-Life, we now know that a hardbody is achievable in less than 45 minutes a day.

Exergaming

This is something I'm particularly fond of. My husband wanted a Wii for the gaming. I wanted it for the exercise. Thanks to fun programs like Dance Dance Revolution, Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus, it is possible to have a great workout at home while still having lots of laughs.

Boomer-specific programs

The Baby Boomers are the largest generation we have. Every Baby Boomer I know has a health condition that involves obesity or some other condition that would be improved by exercise. The Boomers who stay informed know that getting active will not only extend their lives but will improve their quality of life. More and more community recreational centers are creating group exercise programs for older adults to satisfy this demand.

Health and fitness awareness

Less available health care and prescription drug coverage means people need to learn to handle their health issues with old fashioned exercise and healthy eating.

Specialty exercise classes

Let's see...would you rather spend an hour jumping up and down on a step in a traditional aerobis class or spend that hour learning bellydancing, pole dancing or boxing? Why not do something fun that also builds your self-confidence too?

Fitness training tools

Everybody has a cellphone these days. Health and fitness applications for iPhones and Smartphones are evolving and many of them are quite helpful.

These trends aren't surprising when you consider our society today. I'll be expanding upon them in future posts and hopefully offering you helpful information on how to work some healthier habits into your lifestyle with as little trouble as possible.