Every year The American Council on Exercise, ACE Fitness, releases trends that they see will shape the future of the fitness industry. The challenges of 2020 have brought about big changes to just about every business including fitness. They say, “it is best to think of this disruption as a catalyst for changing how we engage our customers by creating new ways to deliver fitness solutions.”
I couldn’t agree more. In fact I’ll say that some changes in the fitness business are long overdue and when made will define the extent to which fitness will shape culture and improve the quality of fitness services. Hopefully more people will practice total fitness more often because they enjoy and value it for themselves and others.
Of the 9 trends they outline I invite you to focus with me on 5 that can bring even greater focus and advances to models that some faith and fitness practitioners and professionals are already doing. The 5 ACE Fitness trends discussed here are:
TREND #2: Outdoor Group Fitness
Before you look closer at these consider how each can contribute to engaging more people in valuable ways. Streaming services has the to potential to reach many who have no access to in-person support. Because it is rarely bound by days or time it can fit well into a person’s schedule. Outdoor or “green” group fitness offers solutions to space limitations with the added enjoyment of fresh air, natural surroundings, daylight/nightlight and extra space. Recovery has always been the partner to exercise. Now that people have a greater awareness of it and the important role it plays fitness becomes essential to many more people who identify as lacking or hurting. Perhaps no other aspect of fitness has seemed to be more difficult for people to understand or embrace than meditation – until now. Fitness can be a means to support and strengthen the many countless people that have felt all alone in finding solutions to the stresses of life. Family fitness is the beautiful and undervalued black sheep in the industry. It has the potential to bring exponential growth and speak deeply to people driving sustainable and long term benefits.
TREND #1 STREAMING SERVICES
Streaming services that deliver workouts to any screen connected to the internet have become extremely popular and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
I don’t think there is a fitness professional with whom I’ve spoken recently who hasn’t started doing online services. Some are trying their best with modest results and others have found it to be a huge growth opportunity that is already paying very well. However, few have considered how churches in their community can be important partners.
Gyms, trainers, studios, and fitness entrepreneurs have all found that going online can be quite the process. Learning the tools, adding equipment, marketing, monetizing and even learning how to best do training online take a lot of effort. In fact it can be so demanding that they haven’t considered that many churches near them are equally overwhelmed with the big shift to streaming. The good news is that these churches are often now doing online rather well. The better news is they’ve grown their audience, often beyond what they would have imagined is even possible. The best news is that they are able to easily do more including weekly fitness streaming.
This is where faith-centered fitness professionals should be trending. It’s a win – win – win! The fitness pro reaches new people and gets to create training that can be especially faith-centered. The churches can start to reach populations that either left the church, won’t go to a church service for any number of reasons or may have never before considered God. And the audience – they win on so many levels. They experience amazing fellowship, truly active worship, solid instruction both physically and spiritually and add an incredibly positive routine to their weekly schedule.
Streaming services are becoming more popular and through intentional partnerships fitness professionals and church leaders can help communities grow stronger in body and spirit.
TREND #2 OUTDOOR GROUP FITNESS
Group fitness classes are going green.
Gyms, churches, and just about every other business have found that taking what they do outdoors has been a way to deal with social distancing restrictions. They discovered that what started as a work around has become attractive and popular among their customers. Sure there are times when it isn’t practical, but many times it is.
I first wrote about how professionals and everyday fitness enthusiasts can do fitness in parks AND do it as fitness ministry in my 2010 article A Splendid Playground For Fitness And Fellowship. The wide open spaces of a park do more than make physical walls a non-issue. It opens all kinds of opportunities. Better said, it begs for ventures into a nearly limitless array of recreational activities that become hybrid physical fitness, transformative spiritual engagement and desirable authentic fellowship.
Chris Backert, the National Director of Fresh Expressions US says there is a new reality for churches. They need to reimagine church assets, reestablish a community presence, lead change, offer healing and integrate worship and discipleship into new ways of gathering. All of these advances can happen when a church draws upon the knowledge, skills and passion of fitness leaders and entrepreneurs and take fitness outside, going beyond ‘third place’ mentality and transforming their church campus into a community centerpiece. All across the United States parking lots are already being repurposed to better meet community needs. Churches need to work with fitness pros and others to bring new kinds of healthy life-giving traffic to their often empty lots.
TREND #7 RECOVERY
Partly due to an aging population that is remaining extremely active both in and out of the gym, in 2021 post-workout recovery protocols will remain extremely popular.
Everybody, especially professionals in the exercise industry, know that gains are made in the recovery phase. Exercise tears down the body. Recovery is mandatory for restoration and growth. Recovery in much of the fitness industry focuses on the immediate post-workout time where there are now many compelling recovery options beyond the traditional hot tub, sauna and steam room.
These include massage, cryotherapy, oxygen bars, intravenous (IV) therapy, and many more products and services to reduce pain, speed recovery after exercise and strengthen immunity, energy and beauty.
Faith-Centered fitness and wellness providers can take recovery to powerful new levels in part because they can incorporate spiritual care into all of these post-workout modalities helping clients to connect on a deeper level with God’s compassion, grace and healing.
Recovery from a faith-centered approach however goes far beyond the post-workout period into addiction recovery, counseling, prayer, worship, retreats and spiritually restorative spaces, programs and services. Faith-centered fitness pros work from an understanding that brokenness is inherently a part of the human condition while recovery, rest and goodness are the very nature of God easily accessible to all who seek and ask. While some may perceive this level of recovery as subjective or even mystical, it is in fact data driven and practical.
TREND #8 MEDITATION
Because it can help reduce overall stress levels while supporting a positive mindset, meditation and mindfulness will become more popular in mainstream fitness over the coming year.
BAM! This trend is a super obvious opportunity for any fitness professional that wants to help clients discover and experience God. But I’d suggest that it needs to be somewhat deconstructed and then reconstructed.
Pete McCall, the author of the trends discusses meditation in greater detail in his article, Can Meditation Enhance The Exercise Experience? In it he says, “Meditation has played an important role in many religious rituals, and it remains a component of many spiritual practices…modern science offers insight into the specific physiological benefits of meditation.” He asks fitness professionals, “Why not learn more about meditation and how to practice it so you can help your clients improve the strength of the muscle between their ears?”
The overriding wisdom here is that meditation is simply a tool for the fitness professional to promote as another path toward total fitness. Consider what could happen if that perspective is flipped and the client catches a vision that fitness can be a means to connecting with God.
All of a sudden things like weight loss, looking good, feeling better, living longer, doing more, achieving goals … all of the fitness outcomes are a result not just from hard work but from simply receiving God’s grace and provision. Joy is the driver, which frees people from being pushed relentlessly by the drive. Peace becomes abundantly present leaving behind the never satisfying need to make a presence in the sight of others. What we do physically enhances who we are spiritually.
Faith-centered fitness leaders can redefine how fitness is experienced by shifting from mind/body exercise and energy to spirit/mind/body resurrection.
TREND #9 FAMILY FITNESS
In 2021, there will be growth in fitness programming for the entire family.
Can we all shout, “Amen”! (So be it) The article reports that Shana Verstegen, an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and TRX Master Trainer says, “This creates an opportunity for a health and exercise professional to develop programming that is inclusive for the entire family.”
When the entire family lives fit together it is a huge gain for the family and society. The trend is observed in collaborative exercise and recreation. However, the opportunity is for faith-centered fitness pros and other team players/community leaders to build on this trend to help families fuel robust meals, conversation, work, cooperation and rest – all together.
Further, families should be encouraged to include their intergenerational and extended family members and to pursue a spirit of family in their relationship with others.
When faith-centered fitness entrepreneurs and leaders truly commit to empowering the whole family to actively be together then the lines between gym and church, workout and worship, what we do and who we are will fade.
HOW TO MAKE IT SO
So, how do you build it so they will come? What incentives do you offer? By what means can you lead your market to aggressively buy into this? You can’t! Not really. Resist the ‘knowledge is power’ urge and instead LISTEN to each individual customer. Ask her or him questions. Get to know the deeper needs.
These ACE Fitness trends inform you. The opportunities I’ve outlined here are meant to fuel your vision for going big with your fitness business ministry.
The change and growth people want may very well be their response to the deeper move God is doing in their life – even if they don’t recognize it as such. The faith-centered fitness you do shouldn’t be driven by chasing trends – reacting to customer behavior. It should be your bold response to the clear direction you get from God.
Understanding the trends and the unique and powerful opportunities they afford, positions you to move forward with faith, discover the big ways God will use you, and redefine how fitness is done.
