Bored? Need some fitness motivation? These top fitness trends will inspire you to find a community and get moving!
Often the reason we feel zero motivation to exercise is because we haven’t actually found something we like doing – yet. Sure, all exercise is ‘hard’ in the beginning. It requires exertion and effort to raise your heart rate and break a sweat and, because our bodies are often like rivers – they like to follow the path of least resistance – we have to use our mental strength to push our bodies through.
As someone who has tried numerous styles and types of classes and exercise and have been through four years of Women’s Health staff challenges, I can truly say that committing to fitness is about finding something you enjoy. Okay, maybe “enjoy” is a stretch some days… Let’s call it exercise that: inspires you, makes you feel bad-ass, surrounds you with epic community… It should never be about weight-loss alone. Weight-loss can be a bonus to finding a fitness routine you love.
Speaking of weight-loss journeys, what kind of weight-loss personality are you? There are four. Think of these are your motivators that can also be applied to the fitness arena.
Here are your five top fitness trends for 2019:
1/ LISS WORKOUTS
As a response to the popularity HIIT (high-intensity interval training) has seen as a fitness trend over the past few years – and the numerous box-jump fails – it’s no surprise that LISS (low intensity sustained state) training has seen a resurgence.
But what is LISS exactly? It’s any cardio- or aerobic-based activity that’s performed at a low-intensity but for a prolonged period. Think a slow long run as opposed to a sprint session at track. Other examples include using the elliptical at gym or a cycle. It could also be water-based, like a stand-up paddle board session or going for a long swim (2km) at a steady pace… The idea is that your body almost goes onto “autopilot,” repeating the same thing over and over with extremely low risk of injury. Read here for more benefits of LISS training.
2/ SWIMMING
That’s right, we’re getting back in the pool! Along with swimming’s strengthening and total-body toning benefits, it’s also very low-impact and serves as the perfect training discipline for those with injuries. While swimming is certainly more of a solo, meditative kind of sport, it’s also very inclusive. Let me explain: even though running seems like an accessible sport, it’s extremely hard on the body, especially if you’re overweight and can feel like a real struggle and cause a lot of injuries early on.
If you’re just starting your weight-loss and fitness journey, swimming offers an accessible point of entry for every body shape and size. Most gyms have coaches on hand to help with breathing and stroke techniques.
Want to level up? South Africa is famous for its swimming events like Midmar Mile and if you stay near the sea, join groups for ocean swims, like 3SOMS.
3/ MULTISPORT / TRIATHLON
Hit a plateau in your fitness or weight-loss goals? If you’re like me and get bored easily, then adding a couple new sports into your training rotation will definitely keep you stimulated. Even if you just start by shaking things up in the gym with some watt biking and some lengths in the pool, soon you’ll notice how different muscle groups respond to the different types of exercise. What’s also great about multisport training is that you can do things like swim or a steady bike ride (LIS) on recovery days when you’re sore from a tough running race. An example of a steady bike ride:
Just kidding.
When you’re ready to level up, join a community of triathlon trainers and get in on all the fun action that this crazy community brings! There are great multisport clubs all over SA and doing the training together makes it that much easier! For example, I joined ATC (a multisport club that gets me access to a track and to the canals for swimming in Cape Town) and a coached triathlon programme called Embark. They helped me prep for my first triathlon, the Discovery World Cup Triathlon Cape Town and I enjoyed it so much, I’ve decided to make my fitness goal of 2019 my first 70.3 Half Iron Man on 2 June. Durban here I come!!!
Other great first triathlons to try include: Blue Lagoon Triathlon in Langebaan (which is my next race!), the RedHub Cradle in Muldersdrift and the Freshpak Fitness Festival in Clanwilliam.
4/ DANCE FITNESS
Here are the new dance classes you need to try this year…
First up is Bollywood Fitness. It will test your coordination and your arm strength and you won’t even notice how many times you’re squatting while you’re trying to get your hands to jingle in the right direction. We brought it to Fit Night Out Cape Town and we’ll bring it to Durban in June (get your tickets here)!
Another dance workout making waves in India and in the UK is BOKWA. It’s a type of dance fitness class that uses South African music and letters and numbers to structure steps instead of a traditional 8 count. We can’t wait for it to actually become a thing in SA!!
Is your relationship with your body at an all-time low? Perhaps a little self-love is what you need. Not the cup-of-tea-and-a-book kinda love… We mean heels and booty popping with the awesome WH cover star Takkies and her RockingNheels dance classes. She is based in Joburg, but travels around SA, so follow her on Instagram to find out where she’ll be next!
Also, Takkies has an amazing post-baby body bounce back story.
5/ FUSION CLASSES
BREAKLETICS is a workout that originated in Berlin and we hosted them at our first #WHSecretSweats with Powerade workout of 2019. It’s a fusion of high-intensity functional training to hip-hop beats. And it’s one helluva sweaty workout session!
Other cool fusion classes to try include:
- YOGA SCULPT – a combination of vinyasa yoga postures and movements mixed with some weights and high-intensity moves like mountain climbers. Many different yoga studios around the country offer SCULPT as one of their classes.
- PILOXING – a combo of Pilates and Boxing. Check out master trainer Tanya Ndlovu‘s video below.
