Top three health and fitness trends to try
Well, what better place to find out than at the annual Australian Health & Fitness Expo which was held in Melbourne this April.
Hundreds of new products and services were on display, all with the promise to make your life healthier, happier and more enjoyable. We did the research for you and here are the top three trends to keep an eye on.
Clean eating
From snacks to cereal to supplements, judging by the impressive range of products on display at the expo, the list of additives and artificial sugars is fast diminishing. There’s a strong trend towards using wholefoods such as nuts, seeds and dried fruit to curb the cravings and help you with mindful snacking and if you’re keen to go gluten free there’s a lot more in store for you as well.
If you’ve been struggling to find a natural protein supplement, you’re in luck too.
Protein powders, which you can shake with water and drink as a mini meal, are being introduced in a more natural form, sweetened with stevia, which is derived from the stevia plant instead of aspartame and other artificial sugars.
HIIT & mixed method training
One of the huge trends in fitness is functional or mixed method training. This simply refers to combining various types of exercises which strengthens different parts of the body all at the same time, creating a strong foundation for the functional movements our body is exposed to in our everyday lives. It’s a very time efficient way to train and using props like resistance bands, free weights and plyometrics (think frog jumps) makes for a very effective total body workout.
Another stable hit in the fitness world is HIIT (high intensity interval training). HIIT is superior when it comes to fat burning and can be modified to suit any fitness level. The basics are go as hard as you can for 30 sec or 1 min then recover and repeat.
You can perform HIIT on a spin bike, while running, skipping etc. An example of this drift is the introduction of 30 min indoor walking classes where participants step on to an indoor walker (looks like a cross trainer but it isn’t) and switches between intensity and pace while being directed by an instructor and some good tunes. Indoor walking is a low impact type of training and could soon be coming to a gym near you. Watch the video!
Gadget heaven
It was gadgets galore at the health & fitness expo this year with trackers and devices monitoring your health and fitness and using apps to make sense of the data collected.
One of the things that caught our attention was a pair of pants. Now, perhaps you can’t describe pants as a gadget but this range of clothing is practically magical and deserves a spot on the list.
The clothing fabric is made with a special fibre technology called Celliant® which is infused with minerals that when activated by your body heat turns into an infrared light. Your body heat is therefore re-used as infrared light which aids in blood circulation and improves oxygenation of tissue.
Republished with permission of Wyza.com.au.