ARTICLE:With our lives "smarter" in every way imaginable, there is a trend to go back to the basics when fitness is concerned. There has been indefinite technological innovations to make exercise more precise and targeted, but despite apps that can track your heart rate, steps per day, calories burnt, hours in REM and any other data you can imagine, we seem to have a great proclivity towards the old fashioned means of exercise; crunches, running stairs, chair exercises and the like. Fitness experts suspect in this rushed, time saving world, the short bursts of exercise, with activities that don't require much setting up or equipment changing, are more appealing to our own the go natures; one VP at Crunch Fitness noting workouts are now 30 minutes average, down from the hour average that was standard a few years ago. In addition, with the state of the economy, those looking to get in shape were looking to do it in more cost effective ways, such as free equipment at parks, or even more popular, by non-equipment means. In terms of exercise trends, Zumba and Pilates are expected to drop in 2014, while yoga maintains strong, and even stronger, high intensity work outs with brief rests. A key factor in interest being how varied the exercise is, with 3-6 months being the average before someone loses interest. It remains to be seen if work outs will get "smarter" as the financial situation improves, but with exercise often serving as an escape from our day (sometimes from those same smart devices we are connected to 24/7), it's debatable.
SITE: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/11/us-fitness-trends-idUSBRE9AA0PB20131111
