A new year on the horizon also means fresh health and wellness goals. There’s just something about a January 1st that makes the perfect time to reset and restore our motivation and identify what we want to get out of our fitness journey.
And while the COVID-19 pandemic changed how we engage in these activities, it most certainly has not stopped the demand for fitness training and wanting to continue to stay active amidst the crazy times (remember when all of those kettlebells were sold out earlier this year?). As many of us begin to rethink our approach to dropping those pesky quarantine pounds, the team at ClassPass recently conducted a 2021 wellness index study to see what’s on your mind, and here are some of the fitness trends they spotted for the upcoming year.
More Lunch Time Workouts
COVID-19 restrictions have encouraged gyms and trainers to expand their online presence to encourage more people to be able to train no matter where they are or what the time is. Before when many were a slave to their desks at noon, now find the need to step away and get active as a midday break. In fact, for the first time ever, 12pm is the most popular time to work out during the week with lunchtime workouts having seen a 67% increase in popularity. Even as people have returned to studios, the 12pm weekday time slot for in-person classes is more popular now than it was before lockdowns.
Class Locations No Longer Matter
Remember that one time you went to LA and loved that class you dropped in on? Or how you’ve always wanted to join your bestie for a class but they lived halfway across the country? Now, with virtual training, distance and travel has no bounds. With digital options, you are no longer limited to your geographical location, so it’s the perfect chance to take a dance class with a friend across the country or revisit a studio you loved on vacation. More than half of members are chiming in regularly for classes taught from other cities.
Outdoor Workouts Are Growing In Demand
This honestly comes as no surprise seeing as many gyms were shut down across the country for nearly half the year. Ultimately, this caused fitness enthusiasts to get creative in their approaches to workouts — especially those who were sick of Zoom or IG Live workouts. To help support this trend, ClassPass has added a search for “Outdoors” classes to support this trend and the number of outdoor class options has increased by 400% in 2020.
Corporate Wellness Is No Longer An Option But A Necessity
If your job is not thinking about your wellness, it may not be the right fit for you, sis. And in the new year, we’ll see companies transitioning to more wellness focused benefits and engagements. Four in 5 professionals say fitness activities have been crucial to establishing a new work-from-home routine. Ninety-six percent of professionals say they feel more motivated and less stressed after exercising, with 89% of professionals saying they feel more productive during the workday after exercising.
People Want To Return To Group Fitness
Just because virtual fitness is in, doesn’t mean that in person training is out. Ninety-two percent of professionals hope to return to fitness studios and gyms in 2021, with 40% planning to return exclusively to in-studio workouts when they feel safe to do so. In fact, attending their first indoor class since the start of the pandemic, 89% of ClassPass users said they would go back as or more frequently to future classes.