Top 8 Fitness Trends of 2022

What are the fitness trends of 2022? What are the driving forces and ideals that shape these trends? Here is a list of the top 8 trends in the field of health and fitness.

The second decade of the millennium has been a time of mankind-threatening challenges and of the indefatigable human spirit. Two years on, we have seen the worst of ill health, suffering, and death. Two years on, we still remain the species that dream on and resolve to live a better life.

Our collective health, wellness, and even survival were the most threatened in 2020-21. No wonder, health and fitness trends are the primary focus of 2022.

The pandemic still rears one mutating head after another this year. The fitness trends of 2022 revolve around living a healthy life in spite of the challenges of the pandemic. The desire to break free from fears and restrictions, with an eye on inclusivity, sustainability, and responsibility will be the mantra of 2022.

Let’s take a look at the hottest fitness trends of this year.

Wearable workout technology

Wearable technology is the fitness trend of the future. The many compulsions and scares of the pandemic have given a major fillip to the wearable fitness tech industry. The trend will carry on into 2022. More and more people want to live a healthier life, and monitoring their health statistics and vitals is part of that.

Let’s just say that the millennial health junkies are way past checking the weighing scales and waist sizes after each meal. It is the age of holistic health. The beat of the heart, the oxygen in the lungs, and sleep cycles are as important as the calories consumed. Thankfully, there is a gadget or an app to monitor and regulate every conscious and unconscious physical activity and change in real-time.

The choices will grow, and the prices will drop. With more and more players in this market, there is going to be a lot of innovation. From sleep, steps, and heart rates monitoring, we have now come to the year of tracking metabolism through Co2 levels in the body.

This year might see the re-opening of more and more gyms. Fitness apps, trackers, and calculators will now compete with the physical gym and workout studios industry. We can expect to see the resulting competition make health and fitness technology cheaper than ever.

Hybrid/virtual workouts

There are benefits to be gained from working out in a gym. There is a sense of safety and comfort in working out at home. The fitness industry has now come up with a way to tap both through hybrid memberships.

Online live workouts are now being combined with in-person training sessions at the gym. Gyms are now offering combined fitness facilities like dual memberships and package deals. These packages allow access to gyms and subscriptions to apps and virtual sessions.

Hybrid workouts are convenient and easy to work around. It works for people who are confined at home as well as for people who are out and on the go. Plus, it allows people to stick to home workouts every time a new mutant strain or a new wave of the pandemic rises up.

Mini workouts/LIT

So, the pandemic pushed us all back to the confines of our homes. We live at home and we work from home. No more rush-hour, traffic-choked commutes to waste our time on. One would assume that people would be free to squeeze in a lot more time into their workouts, right?

Wrong. The trend seems to be moving in the other direction. More and more people seem to prefer short bursts of 10-15 minute activities that they can squeeze into their free time. Mini workouts or micro workouts are being formulated to cater to this requirement.

HIIT workouts were the coolest fitness trend of the past year, and it is here to stay in 2022. But have you heard of LIT?

Light Intensity Training is fast gathering its share of fame and celebrity endorsement. Claudia Schiffer, Poppy Delevigne, Jourdan Dunn, and Pippa Middleton have embraced LIT workouts.

LIT involves the practice of yoga, cardio, pilates, barre, rowing, or other workout routines that aren’t harsh on the body. LIT eliminates the risk of injury that comes with exercises like HIIT.

Outdoor activities and workouts

This year fitness will continue to favor the outdoors. Outdoor activities, workouts, and outdoor personal training are the fitness trends to look out for in 2022.

The closure of gyms and air-conditioned spaces during the pandemic forced some people to take their physical activities outdoors. For some others, it was the sheer boredom and suffocation of having to live, work, and exercise from home. Either way more and more people are preferring the healthier air of the outdoors for a good workout session.

Working out outdoors provides an opportunity to enjoy group fitness sessions while maintaining social distance. Outdoor workouts are also a great option for pet parents who wish to run, jump and stretch with their pets. Personal trainers are now giving outdoor training sessions to small groups to cater to this new demand.

Home gym

It isn’t a radically new trend. Home gyms and home gym equipment have been a thing for quite some time now. “Spurred by the confinements of the pandemic, and the growth in fitness technology, this industry began to grow around 2020”, finds a recent study ^[1]The List: Fitness Trends That Will Completely Take Over 2022.

From weights to resistance bands, treadmills to indoor rowing machines, spin bikes to workout mirror machines, there is a lot to choose from. Technology is making home gyms more and more relatable and accurate at the same time. Bluetooth-enabled, Wi-Fi connected, and interactive, the home-gym equipment is getting smarter than ever before.

Fitness trend forecasters don’t see any possibility of this trend abating anytime soon. Not even with the reopening of gyms this year.

Holistic health and fitness

Holistic health and wellness are poised to be the fitness watchwords of the future. More and more people are realizing the importance of leading a wholesome, mindful and healthy lifestyle. Health is no longer a simple equation of calories consumed and calories burned, or carbs in my mouth vs fats on my hips and thighs.

Stress, depression, anxiety, and several other mental health conditions are now out in the open. People are tackling mental health challenges with wholesome foods, holistic practices, and mindful workouts. Mind-body practices like yoga, tai-chi, and Pilates have taken over the health and fitness market.

In 2022 physical activity will shift from being a tool to shape the body to being an experience in itself. You will find yourself measuring more than just your waist size and BMI. It is the age of monitoring calories, physical activities, oxygen levels, sleep patterns, and hormone balance simultaneously.

Diets, supplements, and superfoods

This year will see the continuing popularity of some of last year’s diets like intermittent fasting, ketogenic, and Mediterranean diets. Paleo diet will collaborate with vegan foods in the Pegan diet. It is likely that the world of food, fitness, and diet will continue to obsess with “immunity-boosting” for a few more years.

Dietary supplements and meal replacements will grow in importance. Supplements like multivitamins have long been an unshakable part of fitness lovers’ lives. The emphasis has now shifted from weight loss promotion to nutrition, safety, and convenience.

Customized, bespoke supplements will cater to specific individual requirements. Their impact on hormonal, neurological, and mental health will become as important as the impact of other traditional aspects of health. Constituent ingredients and sources will go natural, ethical, and sustainable this year.

Superfoods are the biggest buzz in the market right now. Natural superfoods will constitute your supplements, power up your food and boost your overall strength and immunity. Matcha and turmeric lattes, ginger teas, and seaweed supplements will reign.

The world of banned addictives and psychedelics is now vying for a place in our mainstream lives, albeit in changed non-addictive formats. Cannabis and marijuana are already soaking their share of limelight this decade, in the form of CBD oil.

Psychedelic, magic mushrooms have found renewed favor among health researchers. They cannot stop waxing over the multifaceted benefits of mushrooms. Watch out for Psilocybin mushrooms, extracts and pills. They are being touted as cures for everything from mental health conditions to cancer!

Sustainability in fitness and food

You have to grant this one to the millennial generation. They are both woke and impatient. Innovation is the natural child of woke impatience or impatient wokeness (whatever you like to call it).

It is no longer enough to be in great shape, we need to be all-around healthy. That all-around health needs to be sourced healthily too. In 2022, a study ^[2]U.S. News: Top Food Trends for 2022 finds that you will see more and more of your trusted brands and favorite ingredients turn eco-friendly, blood-labor-free, and cruelty-free.

For instance, your body’s requirements of omega-3 will come from seaweed instead of fish oil. After all, fish obtain all that omega-3 by feeding on seaweed. Seaweed can be easily farmed, and they are more than just sustainable. They grow fast, absorb nitrogen from the oceans, and carbon dioxide and methane from the atmosphere.

Bring it all together in reusable or biodegradable packaging and you and the world grow healthier together!