Well, we’re just over half-way through 2009; can you believe it?!  Today, I’m going to give you my mid-year review on the fitness industry and share 3 biggest weight loss & fitness trends that we’re seeing.

Sadly, it appears as though the fitness industry as a whole has again failed to produce any significant results on a broad scale to effectively reverse the scary obesity epidemic that is plaguing our society. More specifically, the sickening fact that American adults keep getting fatter, more lethargic, and less healthy has mirrored the unabated deterioration in the health and fitness of our youth population.

However, on a positive note, we have seen some growing fitness trends that will provide the long-term answers to solve this ever-growing problem:

Weight Loss & Fitness Trend#1- Fitness Boot Camps are Taking Over the Weight Loss Industry

Unless you’ve been living in a bubble with zero access to the outside world, you are aware of the fact that we are in the midst of the biggest economic recession since The Great Depression (although success-minded folks choose to create their own economy, but that’s a different discussion).  Nowadays, the average American simply does not have the disposable income for typical personal training rates that run about $60 – $80 per hour.

However, wherever there’s a problem you’ll find a solution.  Fitness boot camps like Chaska, MN’s Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp are just the solution people who are looking for.  Boot camps are probably the hottest thing in the fitness game right now, although buyers must beware (I’ll cover that in next week’s post).

The group training business model creates the ultimate win-win for trainers and clients making the one-on-one alternative obsolete in most cases.   Fitness trainers get to better leverage their time and maximize profits by working with an unlimited number of clients per hour.   Fitness clients are able to better access personal training services in a unique and dynamic team environment that provides better social support and accountability for a fraction of the cost of typical one-on-one training rates.

Fitness boot camps are popping up all over the country, and for good reason. If you are trying to lose weight, do yourself a favor by saving your hard-earned money to get better results by joining a local fitness boot camp.  If you can’t find a quality fitness boot camp in your area (again, I’ll cover that next week) then stay tuned to this blog for an exciting online program that’s coming soon!

Boot Camps Rock!

Weight Loss & Fitness Trend#2- Interval Training Rocks for Rapid Fat Loss & Fitness

High-Intensity Interval Training is rapidly gaining popularity as the best form of improving both fitness and fat loss. We see more people doing sprints and less people doing marathons to lose weight.  Check out a recent post in my Ask J column about this:  Should I jog or do sprints to raise my metabolism and lose fat?

Aerobic or endurance training is essentially going at a slow, low intensity pace for a long period of time (typically at least 30-60 minutes).  In other words, the focus of endurance training is on the total volume of exercise (not quality).  Now, if long distance running is your passion and you love to run races that’s great – more power to ya.  However, if you’re primary goal is to lose weight and “tone-up” AND do it in the most efficient way possible, then long distance running just isn’t the way to go.  It results in minimal fat loss and lots of overtraining injuries.

With interval training, the focus is on the intensity of exercise (quality).  Intervals consist of alternating between shorts bouts of all out high-intensity effort and active recovery periods for a much quicker and focused amount of time (typically 20 minutes of intervals works best).  This approach is scientifically proven to burn nine times more fat AND lead to faster improvements in fitness than the aerobic alternative.

Two landmark scientific studies show this:

The Tabata study compared the effects of four minutes of high-intensity interval training with 45-60 minutes of low to moderate intensity cardio.  The interval training group burned just as much fat as the endurance group and also had greater improvement in both anaerobic (think sprinters) and aerobic (think distance runners) fitness… in only four minutes!

The Gibala study compared the effects of 20 minutes of interval training (30 second sprint followed by four minutes of rest) with 90-120 minutes of endurance training in the “heartrate zone.”  The conclusions of the study were that both methods of training lead to the same improvements in oxygen utilization (or aerobic fitness).  In other words, intervals accomplished what endurance training did from a fitness standpoint in only a sixth of the time!

Bottom line:  if you want rapid fat loss and fitness gains in the shortest amount of time possible, you need to jump on the interval training bandwagon.  Interval training is not a fitness flavor of the month or year.  It’s actually been around for decades, but is only now becoming more mainstream.

Sprinting = Sexy

Fitness Trend#3- Lean Protein And Fiber Are a Must for a Tight, Toned, Sexy Body

Americans are carb addicts.  We simply can’t get enough starches and sugars in our diet, and we have the bulging midsections to prove it.  One of the biggest misconceptions about diet today is that eliminating starches and sugars from your diet automatically means low carb.  That’s not the goal.  Instead, we want to replace the heavy, calorie-dense starchy carbs with other more nutrient dense carbs like fruits and vegetables. These carbs are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber and create more stable blood sugar levels to keep your body burning fat all day long.  All of my weight loss clients who have lost the most fat have followed this simple guideline – eat lots of veggie carbs, and very little of the other stuff if you want to see your abs!

There is an enormous amount of scientific literature proving the fat burning benefits of a diet high in lean protein and fiber.  Protein is the most important component of each and every meal or snack you consume.  It builds and maintains muscle, allows your body to preferentially burn fat, increases metabolism through the thermic effect of feeding, and fills you up.  Fiber (ideally obtained from fruits and vegetables, specifically green vegetables) helps slow digestion for a more steady supply of nutrients and sustained energy, it prevents overeating at each meal, and it helps keep you more full between meals.  Thus by combining protein and fiber every two to four hours, you provide your body with the optimal one-two belly fat burning punch for a more healthy, fit and damn-sexy body that looks and feels great!

Fiber and protein will make you a lean, fat burning machine!
Well, there you have it – the top fitness trends this year.

As always, please share your comments and questions below.  I’m here to help.

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska boot camp instructor and online personal trainer

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.