Fitness Trends Through The Years

The fitness industry has undergone many different transformations over the years, evolving in response to changing societal norms, technological advancements, and a growing emphasis on a more holistic approach to health & wellness.

Sometimes, these new trends bring real progress to the fields of health, wellness and fitness, but other times they are better in theory than in practice - looking at you “Shake Weight”! As a consumer, it’s hard to differentiate what actually works and what is more marketing than anything.

The health & fitness industry has long been associated with dubious marketing and straight up false advertisement. So today I want to take a little time to explore some of the fitness trends over the years and explain the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Bodybuilding

Bodybuilding is a form of weight training that prioritizes using moderate weight (60-80% of max) and moderate rep ranges (12-20), along with isolation-type exercises to create the sought-after “pump” effect, which stimulates the muscle to grow. The main goal of bodybuilding is, of course, larger muscles. Not necessarily strength or function. It was made popular in the late 1960’s by the governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

From this popularity, the “big box” gym era began. From the 1970s through the 1980s, big box gyms like Gold’s, LA Fitness, and more, popped up all around the U.S. These were unique from the health clubs in that they catered almost entirely to people interested in lifting weights and bodybuilding in particular.

While the bodybuilding movement led to a lot of great progress in the fields of exercise science, and ultimately led to more people exercising, it also had a dark side. It promoted drug/steroid abuse, body dysmorphia, and a general lack of health, which is the opposite of what a fitness movement should promote. It also paved the way for some of the ridiculous marketing we see today. Just check out this magazine ad from the 1970’s.

Although bodybuilding is probably the most effective method for increasing muscle size & strength, a lot of the programs that were promoted for your average gym-goer did not produce the type of results that were marketed. A large part of this was the fact that bodybuilders literally lived in the gym and took performance enhancing drugs - something your average person was not going to do. As a result, it’s popularity faded over the years, as people realized what it really took to look like these figures.

While bodybuilding has gone through multiple highs and lows since the 1960s, one thing it never really did was bring women into the fitness fold. That’s where our next fitness trend comes in - Aerobics!

Aerobics

Aerobics, is a form of cardio exercise that is meant to improve aerobic conditioning and energy metabolism. It effects the heart and the cardiovascular system and causes it to become more efficient at creating energy from oxygen and supplying it to the muscles. As far as building muscle or strength, it has almost the opposite effect of bodybuilding in that it tends to create skinnier, longer, and relatively small muscle fibers, which are good for endurance but not strength or power. If you think of the difference between the body of a sprinter vs the body of a distance runner, you can see how different types of training can contribute to different physiques.

The first major push of Aerobics came from running in the late 1970s, but maybe the bigger phenomenon through the 80s was the group exercise Aerobics classes. Jane Fonda was the face of this movement, which helped get women into exercising for the first time.

While this was a hugely positive trend, Aerobics suffered from some of the same pitfalls that the bodybuilding movement did. It reinforced the idea that women must be small and petite, and that strength and muscle was just something for men. This contributed to the hardcore dieting that arose through the 80s & 90s along with the rise of eating disorders.

Different types of aerobics classes are still popular today, like zumba, soul cycle, etc.

Yoga, Pilates, Barre, etc.

As aerobics began to lose popularity, new group fitness modalities took their place for women. Namely, Yoga & Pilates. Yoga was originally a spiritual movement practice, and spread throughout the U.S. starting with the New Age movement in the 1970s, which brought a lot of eastern spiritual information to the west for the first time. Pilates was developed in the early 1900s, but really became popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an alternative to aerobics classes.

Both Yoga & Pilates focus on isometrics, “lengthening” or stretching the muscles, breathing, and low intensity movements. While they both claim to “strengthen & tone”, neither produces much of an effect in the muscular or cardiovascular system, due to the low intensity nature of the workouts.

Just like aerobics, this type of exercise tends to be marketed almost exclusively to women, and tends to fall short on the promised results. I also find issue with the way women are portrayed in the marketing of these services - very petite, low muscle tone, and usually using a child-sized weight to work out. It just promotes the idea that women should take up as little space as possible and not worry about “manly” things like strength or muscles.

Crossfit, Orange Theory, & F45

The dominant form of training out there on the market right now is what I refer to as the group training gyms. They differ a bit in their distinctive methods, but generally have similar training effects and methods. The first to really breakout was crossfit in the early 2010’s. This form of exercise mixes olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, calisthenics, and conditioning exercises to produce a unique training effect that builds muscle size, strength, and power/conditioning. It also requires the most amount of skills to perform and is hard to scale in a consistent way. Orange theory and F45 are more on the cardio side of things, although they do use some traditional strength training exercises in between conditioning exercises like the rower or treadmill.

Overall, these group training gyms have had a tremendous impact on getting more people to exercise. Crossfit in particular really did a great job introducing women to lifting weights and strength training. The convenience of having your workouts all planned for you and the accountability of training in a group has really taken over the industry.

The main drawback with these group training gyms is you are performing a more generalized workout that may not be the right thing for your goals. These types of gyms tend to claim their workouts can do everything, but the truth is they are best for building conditioning more than strength. Unless you are already fit, you might find it difficult to start safely with this style of training. The other downside is you don’t really get much help on the nutrition side or with habits outside of the gym.

A new trend approaching…

I believe there’s plenty of room in the fitness industry for their to be multiple options for people looking to stay active or change their health & fitness. However, I think the science is finally catching up to practice, and people - especially women - are starting to realize the importance of strength training. That being said, 1-on-1 personal training can be expensive in the long run. So what’s the solution?

Semi-private personal training is a new fitness model that combines a truly personalized approach with the fun, energizing atmosphere of working with a group. At Evolve, we try to pair people together who have similar goals, so that they can save money and still get the amazing results that come with a customized program. This means we can program specifically for what you need, and not based on 20 other people.