Top Five Fitness Trends From 2008!

Here is my top five list of trends from 2008.  I think some are good, some not so much.  A few of these trends will become fads and fade away, and I think some are finally getting the respect they deserve! POST ANY TRENDS YOU THINK OF IN THE COMMENTS!

5.  “Functional” Training.  I think this term has some carry over from 2007, but the term and what it has come to stand for has started to bother me.  You want functional, go play your sport.  That’s it. 

It only took me one page of searches to find something silly looking.

4.  Kettlebells.  I posted a few days ago about how kettlebells are made (PREVIOUS POST HERE).  Of course they are nothing new, but in 2008 they have become much more trendy.  I read in our local paper that their will be a kettlebell studio opening in my area.  Essentially a training business focused entirely around KB’s. 

3.  Strongman Training.  Over the past few months I’ve posted pictures of tires and other strongman equipment I’ve found at various college and university training programs.  I have only been away from college training for a few years, and we didn’t have anything like this!  In my opinion, about time it caught on! 

Dustin’s Tire Flipping From Our Summer Training

2.  The Rise of Homemade Equipment.  “Build it, and they will come.”  Homemade equipment has always been around, some of the best training devices were first created in someone’s garage.  However, in 2008, it seemed to catch on more and more.  Perhaps its the economy and people are trying to save money, or maybe people were just getting bored and wanted a challenge.  Either way, its here!  I love people’s creativity.  This year I made:  thick grips, two pulling sleds, 2 in and 3 in wrist rollers, plyoboxes (w/ the help of my engineer father in law, I could drop a house on those things!), blast straps, pull up bar, softball grips, pull up sticks, pinch grip apparatus, farmers walk handles, and ab wheels. 

Ross Enamait’s Homemade “T” Handle Video – Now I Know What’s Coming Next!

1. Excergaming – The rise of the machines!  Now new games and addons, such as the Wii Fit.  About time Nintendo answered my daily emails about bringing back the Power Pad!  Does anyone remember the Olympic game?  I gave me the false hope of one day beating a cheetah in a race.  And the oldest trick in the book during the long jump, just stepping off of the pad and waiting, was unbeatable for a gold metal!  I can’t believe I can’t find one good youtube video about the power pad, but here is a hiliarous one about the Nintendo Wii

VERY FUNNY WII VIDEO!

Wow, that’s five posts out of me in two days! Time to get off the computer and back to the gym.

HAPPY NEW YEAR’S EVERYONE!
-J. HASHEY, CSCS-