2021 Fitness Trends
- Mums Tips
- Fitness & Health
- Published on Monday, 11 January 2021 14:50
- Last Updated on 11 January 2021
- Monica Costa
- 0 Comments
As we enter 2021 full of hopes for a Covid-free era, I am looking for new ways to revive my workout routines as social sport might be still off for a while. The start of a new year provides the perfect chance to feeling more motivated, setting achievable goals and identifying what we want to get out of our fitness journey. To lend a helping hand in my research to identify predictions for 2021 fitness trends are Britain’s best coaches including The Body Coach Joe Wicks, Sharon Porter of Active Mums, Strictly Star Oti Mabuse and Rupert Hambly.
Virtual Fitness Coaches with a bubbly personality
In the wake of Covid-19 remote ‘zoom’ based coaching is set to remain a big trend for 2021. This trend will help to keep people motivated and allows them to fit fitness around their lifestyle.
In 2020 we have trained with Joe Wicks every day and we have started appreciating being in the comfort of our homes even for fitness.
Read my interview with Joe Wicks here.
The secret of the success of online fitness classes is the bubbly personality of the coaches. Joe Wicks is definitely one of my favourite ones but I have recently found Sharon Porter who runs Active Mums. She has launched a new online membership community to support women on their health and fitness journey through motherhood.
Sharon is fun and motivating while training mums online. She talks to the attendees, makes us laugh and pushes us to do more without loosing our cool or smiles. She has worked with mums and mums-to-be for over a decade, and her new offer includes a range of fitness and wellbeing programmes within the membership, which mums and mums-to-be can access from the comfort of their own homes. Fit 4 Bump caters for mums-to be in the second and third trimester of pregnancy. New mums of babies aged up to one-year old form the Post Baby Kickstart group and Active Mums is for mums with children aged over one-year-old.
Active Mums can access digital content via the members private group on Facebook, to keep their training on track at home. Sharon makes you accountable for the weekly routines and ensures everybody is motivated before, during and after each session. Using Facebook is great for this purpose and Sharon is very pro-active in creating new content and motivational tips.
I have enjoyed Sharon’s HIIT sessions and her funny commentary while training as well as Active Mums Dru yoga classes online which help with re-aligning the spine and sort out lower back problems.
The membership features a wide range of fitness and wellbeing classes for both mum and baby ranging from fitness, strength and recovery to yoga, nutrition, sleep workshops and baby massage.
Aimed at helping women reconnect with themselves in mind, body and spirit during and after the arrival of children, on-demand classes will instantly available along with live classes delivered by Sharon and guest experts and streamed into the group.
Covid-19 restrictions have encouraged more and more gyms and trainers to expand their online presence to encourage more people to be able to train no matter where they are. In a crowded online fitness market, the personality of each trainer will be crucial to grow the business in 2021.
Self-Management
“In amongst the pelatons, online HIIT classes and ashtanga YouTube videos… People are now beginning to realise a far more important part of fitness: Self-Management.
What do I mean by that?
This tale goes back to the beginning of the fitness industry.
The vast majority of people (around 8% achieve), fail in their attempt to achieve their New Year goals and over 90% of new year goals tend to be fitness related!
This hasn’t significantly changed in decades. And there are powerful reasons for this.
If your goal truly doesn’t matter to you i.e. you haven’t partnered it with what matters most to you, it’s simply not going to happen. I will also couple that with the fact that any behaviours you are doing and you want to change, generally are partnered with what matters to you and what you value. That is why you are doing it.
Further on the self-management part, is that especially with lockdowns, structure is absolutely critical in maintaining physical fitness and well-being.
In 2020 people tended to struggle with having the discipline to manage their activities through that day. The reason for this is that with a typical 9-to-5 office job for instance, most of your day is structured for you.
All of a sudden people were faced with the daunting task of structuring everything themselves and that includes their fitness routines. Now, when you have a family and work from home, that can be incredibly challenging!
The fitness winners of 2021 will be the ones who master structure and scheduling their well-being tasks… and in amongst all the complex areas that I coach, this is right at the top in terms of priority.
Happy New Year!”
If done well, self-management can be a real game changer in getting the right balance of fitness and lifestyle.
“The pursuit of self mastery and all that it entails, is the surest way to happiness”
Online Dance Workout sessions with TV stars
During the first lockdown, two thirds of parents said spending time with their children brought them closer together, and as exercise is “so important for our children’s emotional and mental health”, then why not combine the two.
As school playgrounds remain closed, it’s up to parents to find alternative ways to keep their kids active. So, one of the latest trends seems to be online dance workout sessions for both parents and young children, such as family salsa Dance Workout Party with Strictly Star Oti Mabuse.
During Lockdown, Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse was encouraging kids to salsa and cha-cha from their living rooms, with her live-streamed workouts at 11:30 am daily, with Disney-themed dances on offer from Aladdin, Frozen and High School Musical.
Including dance moves which are suitable for the whole family to enjoy, she has now treated us to her energetic 45-minute dance cardio workout session, streamed from her front room.
Perfect for those with no dance moves whatsoever, this workout teaches moves from Latin dance, the salsa, as Oti talks you through every single move including the side and cross step, the Cuban open step and the Cucaracha. This dance workout is not only fun but also helps with motor skill development
So if you want to get those hips moving, you can access the Youtube video here, free of charge:
Outdoor Fitness
Lockdown has seen a rise in fitness bootcamps in parks and outdoor spaces around the UK and is something which looks to continue even whilst gyms will open again soon. Running and cycling have been keeping the nation fit and are still very trendy as they are free and safe, as well as providing people with the opportunity to mix up fitness routines and get outside in the fresh air when they can’t attend the gym.
Sharon Porter’s Active Mums buggy classes cater for new mums of babies aged up to one-year old – the Post Baby Kickstart group – and for mums with children aged over one-year-old.
Wearable Technology
Although not a new trend, wearable fitness technology has been an extremely popular, staple trend which is set to continue into 2021. Since its insurgence in 2015, this has been one of the most discussed subjects in fitness and is continuing to develop as the years go on.
Fitness tracking devices provide an in-depth look at your physical activity and the smart technology offers recommendations to improve your daily exercise routine. Providers such as Garmin, Polar, Fitbit and Apple watches are all great devices and will help to keep you on track with your fitness goals.
Wearable technology has been proven to help keep the wearer on track with their fitness goals and these pieces of tech can record data specific to the users’ requirement and activity trends, which is what makes it so appealing to the wider demographic – it makes fitness more personalised and transparent. Marry this up with fitness technology being more and more accessible and this a great staple trend for those wanting to stay motivated in the new year.
Fitness training aimed at strengthening the immune system and rehabilitating recovering Covid patients
For those who have contracted Covid-19 and are looking to continue with their normal fitness routine, it’s important that they reintroduce exercise slowly with a gradual build-up. There is increasingly more being understood about the long and short term ramifications of the virus so it’s vital that those who are recovering do so safely. We know the virus is a respiratory disease and so it’s important not to try and do too much too soon following recovery, especially cardio-based exercises which can take a toll on the lungs.
There has been an increase in training providers offering Covid-specific fitness courses in recent months, with the main intent of introducing members back into the training environment whilst closely monitoring cardiac problems and long-standing lung issues.
There is still much to learn about the virus and the various ways it can affect your physical self, but it’s likely that this fitness trend will become more important in 2021, as we learn more about Covid-19.
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
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