Our director Claire has just celebrated 20 years in the fitness industry and below here are some of the changes she’s seen over her career…
- We now have virtual workouts available
Fitness classes used to be ran at your local gym or, personal trainers could come to you (for the privileged few!) But the fitness industry has evolved and so much is available online, both for free and paid for. I love finding new fitness ideas on social media now, there’s some great resources for fitness instructors and Personal Trainers! The way Personal Trainers deliver their programs have vastly changed too, I used to provide my clients with an A4 card outlining their exercise program, but now an electronic version is much more accessible for them!
- The use of Fitness apps
Who knew we’d be at the beck and call of our tablet, phone or watch telling us to move or log our food in a food diary?
- The nation is now obsessed with sleep
Not only do we care about what we’re doing (or not doing) whilst we’re awake or how many calories we’re taking in, we want to know how well we’re recovering at night time too! In my early days of owning a business, the advice was to work longer hours and cut short your sleeping time in order to improve efficiency. This trend soon stopped when health experts started really taking into account how important sleep is for our health! Since then our obsession with sleep has manifested itself in apps that record your sleep quality and a plethora of documentaries and articles online!
- Sugar is the new fat!
When I started training clients and offering advice on nutrition, fat used to be the main culprit of obesity in the UK, now we’re discovering that the problem lies in many food groups. The new enemy for dieters is sugar. Not only is it causing a diabetes epidemic but Scientists are questioning if it can actually be categorised as an addictive substance!
- Increase in wellness holidays
Whilst 18-30 boozy holidays are still going strong, there has been a huge increase in wellness retreats focusing on detoxing and specialist exercise whilst on holiday, instead of hitting the drink.
- Active wear is actually trendy
Not only has activewear become much less embarrassing (think spandex, neon colours and headbands circa the 80’s), but it has become much more readily available and cheaper! Hooray for being able to do the food shop in patterned leggings!
- Increase awareness in mental health with meditation
Mental health used to be seen as an illness, something to treat once it reared its ugly head. Nowadays many more people are taking preventative steps like meditation and mindfulness to ensure that their mind is as healthy as their body, because we all now know, one cannot thrive without the other!
In truth, there have been so many changes over my 20 years in the industry. Too many to list, in fact, but this is what I love about the fitness industry: we’re still learning! This is still a new industry and Scientists are discovering more about the human body and its needs every day. With that comes innovation and evolution in the fitness industry which keeps me, and everyone else in the industry, on our toes!
Yours in fitness,
Claire Baker
