Fitness trends: Return to basics plus technology

If you're sporting a heart-rate monitor while banging out your last set of push-ups in a class of three people, you're on the cutting edge of fitness.

Even if you just manage to do one of those you'll be on trend for 2015, a year that trainers say will be defined by a return to basic exercises and the continued integration of technology.

We're not about to say goodbye to CrossFit or high-intensity interval training, the pop stars of 2014. But health experts expect people to gravitate toward workouts they can do anywhere and look for ways to judge their performance this year.

So much of what's anticipated to blow up in 2015 has been around for a while, but some of the following trends may play an even bigger role in your fitness routine this year:

Gym class hero

Remember all of the pullups, situps and push-ups you did in high school gym class?

Those exercises that made up the Presidential Fitness Test (which I failed as a child) remain the foundation of effective workouts, said Walter Thompson, a professor of kinesiology and health at Georgia State University.

“There is nothing really new about body-weight training, but really smart people in clubs have been packaging body-weight programs, and the public is buying them,” said Thompson, author of the American College of Sports Medicine's annual fitness forecast.

The report, which is based on survey responses from more than 3,400 health and fitness professionals, ranked body weight exercises as the top trend for this year.

Kevin Mullins, a strength coach and personal trainer at Equinox, said boot camp classes and short, intense interval workouts helped body-weight exercises regain popularity.

“It's a good way for people to get comfortable with strength training,” he said. “A lot of people are going from those moves to dead lifts and squats.”

Stream and stretch

My Post colleague Vicky Hallett recently chronicled the rise of digital services that stream workout videos on tablets, phones, television and computers. There's a whole new world of subscription-based models, such as Crunch Live and Booya Fitness. And you can always check YouTube for free options, such as BeFit and Popsugar.

I'm a little obsessed with Fitness Blender right now. Trainers Daniel and Kelli Segars have produced an impressive catalog of free videos on the website (www.fitnessblender.com) that users can customize by typing in their preferred level of difficulty or target area.

What's great about these videos is that as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection, you have a fitness class or virtual buddy to work out with. This could be especially appealing to folks who travel a lot or those who are too shy to sweat it out in a room full of strangers.

Tracking every step you take

Runners have long used heart-rate monitors to measure the intensity of their workouts, but these days people are wearing all sorts of devices to track their calorie intake or number of steps taken during the day.

Recording that sort of biometric data is likely to take off this year amid a wider selection of smartwatches and wearable technology that hit the market during the holiday season. The latest generation of smartwatches and fitness bands have sensors that can monitor just about anything.

But before you drop $200 on a device that tracks your steps, sleep, calories and everything else, focus on the functions you really want, said Anthony Wall, director of professional education at the American Council on Exercise.

“GPS is a supercool feature, but ask yourself if you'll ever use it,” he said. “Pay attention to functionality and the battery life so you're not charging the device all time.”

Specialty sweat

You can't turn a corner in some cities without running into a cycling studio or CrossFit gym. People have proved they're willing to shell out $25 per class to focus solely on plies or cycling up a pretend hill. And savvy club owners are paying attention.

“People want the community that develops in a lot of these studio classes,” said Ingrid Nelson, a personal trainer and instructor at PureRyde, a small Michigan-based chain of cycling and Pilates studios. “Studios are using social media to connect with members and have an easier time with that than huge gyms.”

Don't write an obituary for big-box gyms just yet. Competition from specialty studios is fierce, but it hasn't exactly killed health clubs. Gym memberships have grown at an annual rate of 6 percent in the past five years, according to IBISWorld. Analysts at the market research firm forecast industry revenue to grow nearly 3 percent a year through 2019.

Group personal training

This might sound like a fancy way to describe a class, but group personal training is a little different. Sessions typically involve just two or three people who get much of the same one-on-one attention as they would in an individual session, but at a lower price.

Fitness professionals who responded to the American College of Sports Medicine survey identified group personal training as one of the top trends for this year. There are a number of gyms that offer tailored small group sessions to members for an additional fee.