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Nov 22

These Are the Top 10 Fitness Trends for 2020 – Bicycling

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Its that time of year again, when the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) polls thousands of health and fitness professionals around the globe to peer into the crystal ball and identify the top fitness trends for the following year.

This is the 14th year for the ACSM survey, and many of the hot trends, such as HIIT and group training, for 2020 have been along for the ride since the beginning. Cyclists have been at the pointy end of fitness trends like HIIT training, wearable tech, and employing certified professionals since long before such surveys existed. But its worth noting that there are other consistent (and important) trends more cyclists would be wise to hop on.

So without further ado, here are the top 10 fitness trends for 2020 and what they mean for you.

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Hiring a fitness professional debuted on the trend list at #6 last year, and holds its position in the top 10 for 2020. For cyclists, this means hiring a coachsomething I recommend all serious cyclists try at least once.

Ive been USA Cycling certified coach myself for about two decades and I still hire a coach to help me nail my goals. And I can say unequivocally, all of my best results are a direct result of working with and listening to some really great coaches.

Good coaches do more than just write training plansyou can download those online for a few bucks. Theyre a confidante, someone you can share your goals and insecurities with who will help you cut through the clutter and be the best bike rider you can be. They eliminate the guesswork and make you accountable for getting your training done.

And coming in at #9more coaching! Health and wellness coaching is different from cycling coaching in that its not focused on exercise performance, but rather helping you live a healthier life overall.

Wellness coaches can help you deal with stress, improve your mindset, find balance, and make healthy lifestyle changes (say, like riding more) stick.

Only you can say if you would benefit from a health and wellness coach (and its possible that a multi-faceted cycling coach could pull double duty here). But if you consistently struggle to make behavioral changes that would improve your emotional and physical well-being, it might be worth a try.

No surprise here. People are living longer and remaining active for many more years than past generations. And the more fit you stay into your later years, the more years youre likely to live. One study found that those with the highest levels of fitness at age 75 were more than twice as likely to live another 10 years or more compared to those with poorer fitness.

Because cycling is gentle on the joints, its easy to do for a very long time. But thats not to say that we dont face challenges with age. Science shows that metabolism changes, making it easier to gain weight and lose muscle, as we get older. Recovery takes longer, too. That means you need to keep up the intensity to maintain muscle and top-end fitness, and take proper care to bounce back from those efforts. So if youre in your 50s, 60s, 70s, or beyond, make sure the trainers and/or coaches you work with understand the nuances of working with someone your age.

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Bodyweight training, which, just as it sounds, means using your own body to perform resistance training has been among the top trends since it hit the charts at #3 in 2013. And with good reason: You dont need a gym membership or special equipment to build strength, and you can get a good workout wherever you are.

Body weight training is particularly helpful for cyclists during prime riding season, when you may be reluctant to use precious riding time to go to the gym. Some push-ups, squats, and core moves can help keep you strong in the saddle without worrying about hitting the weights.

Exercise is Medicine (EIM) is a global health initiative that encourages primary care doctors and other health-care providers to include physical activity assessment as part of their care and to include exercise recommendations and referrals to fitness professionals as part of standard care.

A doctors note for a bike ride a day? Sounds like good medicine to us.

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Its easy to be a little skeptical about personal training being the top trend (as it has been since the survey first published in 2006) on a list generated by fitness professionals. But personal training works, and it continues to evolve overtime to meet changing demands.

For cyclists, a few sessions with a personal trainer can help you feel comfortable and confident in your off-season strength training and in-season maintenance work. Today, mobile apps make personal training more effective and efficient than ever. You can meet with your trainer to do your assessments and cover the basics. Then, you can do the rest via fitness apps like True Coach that allow you to track progress, communicate with your trainer, and watch videos of exercises you cant remember when youre at the gym and your trainer isnt around.

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Training with free weights like barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells, and medicine balls is a hot and growing trend right now, largely thanks to the rising popularity of functional and CrossFit style workouts and gyms.

World-class professional cyclists like Kate Courtney and Peter Sagan have put to rest any worries that weight training and cycling dont mix. Free weights recruit all your major and minor muscles, improve your balance and proprioception, and help build boneall things that will make you better on your bike.

Technically defined as more than five participants, group training is just that: a group of people led through a fitness routine by an instructor. The idea is to motivate people to move by making exercise fun and social.

Cyclists are all about that. In fact, we love group training so much we even have a special word for a pack of us: peloton, which not coincidentally is the name of one of the most popular group training workouts on the planet. If you tend to be a lone wolf on the bike, try a group ride for 2020. Youll be glad you did.

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HIIT, which is a workout that involves short bursts of high intensity exercise followed by a short period of rest, has been a chart-topper since 2014, when it was the #1 trend of the year. HIIT doesnt just make you fit, but also boosts brain health, tames stress, improves body composition, and fends off a host of chronic diseases.

As a cyclist, you should absolutely be doing HIIT training. Even if you never sprint for a finish line in your life, HIIT training will help boost your endurance performance so every ride feels easier and you can hum along longer and stronger without hitting the wall.

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If you heard the news that Google is buying Fitbit for a cool $2.1 billion, it will come as no surprise that wearable technology is the #1 fitness trend for 2020. Wearable technology includes fitness trackers, smart watches, heart rate monitors, and GPS tracking devices. Its a $95 billion industry and shows no signs of slowing.

Cyclists, of course, are not new to any of this. Weve been routinely strapping on heart rate monitors since Kurt Cobain was singing about teen spirit and wont roll out of the parking lot without recording the ride. Were also early adopters to new cutting-edge wearable tech like the Whoop Strap, which dig further into our physiology to track heart rate variability, sleep, and recovery.

If youve never tried wearable tech, and well, Im not sure theres one of you out there, its well worth investing in at least a heart rate monitor, which not only can help you track your training progress, but also can alert you to underlying health issues before they cause trouble.

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These Are the Top 10 Fitness Trends for 2020 - Bicycling

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