The wellness revolution continues to gather pace and 2023 will be another year where we will see exciting trends in Health and Fitness.
The shift in people’s attitudes towards health and fitness since a post COVID world colliding with the new technologies will be the catalyst that creates exciting change and innovation.
In this article we have outlined 15 hot trends that will help you to shape up in 2023.
1) Levelling up your mental health
The barriers to discussing mental health are becoming less taboo. So, many people are taking care of their mental health much in the same way they look after their fitness, weight and nutrition.
As a result, many more products, apps and services are hitting the market that aim to improve your mental well-being.
Also, there is rising search online for activities that improve mental wellbeing. For example, we have seen a rise in people search for “Yoga for stress relief” which indicates that people are thinking as fitness and exercise as a prerequisite to their mental state.
Brands to watch out for: Flow, Calm, Sesh, Happify, Headspace
2) Personalised health coaching and health tracking apps
As health data becomes more widely available and technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace, health coaches and health tracking apps are becoming more personalised.
This has led to a surge in the popularity of health devices such as smartwatches and fitness trackers that can track your heart rate, calorie intake, sleep patterns, etc. There is also an increasing number of health monitoring apps that use algorithms to analyze the data you provide in order to offer personalised recommendations for improving your health.
Brands to watch out for: Whoop, Fitbit Premium, Google Fit, Garmin, myfitnesspal
3) Gamification of health and fitness
The health and fitness industry has seen many trends come and go, so it will be interesting to see how gamification evolves.
This trend takes advantage of our innate desire to compete and win, by introducing game mechanics into health-related activities like exercise, tracking weight loss, etc. This helps to make health more engaging and motivating, as well as improving overall health outcomes.
Many popular fitness apps are incorporating gamification into their app to increase engagement. However, there are also apps such as Zombies Run! and Playfit that puts gamification as the core motivator to increase fitness and exercise.
Brands to watch out for: Zombies Run!, DietBet, Playfitt, Fulgaz
4) Healthy diets focused on whole foods
As people become increasingly health-conscious, they are turning away from fad diets in favour of healthy eating habits based on whole foods. These include nutrient-dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, as well as lean proteins.
This trend has also spurred the growth of healthy eating startups that focus on providing fresh, wholesome foods to health-conscious consumers through home delivery or meal plans. These companies are changing the landscape of health and fitness by making it easier than ever before to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Brands to watch out for: Your Super, Rheal Foods, Hello Fresh, Gousto, Greenchef
5) Functional fitness training programs
As people become more health-conscious and put greater emphasis on fitness and well-being, they are seeking out fitness programs that go beyond the typical “crunch and squat” approach. Instead, there is growing interest in functional fitness training that focuses on improving overall movement quality and performance rather than just building muscle.
This trend has resulted in the growth of health and fitness studios that offer high-intensity functional training programs, as well as health and performance centers that specialize in functional movement screening. These offer a more holistic approach to health and fitness, helping people to achieve optimal health and wellbeing.
Brands to watch out for: CrossFit, Trx Training, Spartan Gymshark, Rogue
6) You’ll become more in tune with your gut health
Interest in gut health has been on the rise for the last few years. Particularly as people are becoming more aware between the links of their gut health and overall well-being. COVID has also increased people’s desire to find ways to boost immunity. As gut health has also been linked to supporting the immune system, products and nutrition that improve gut health has become increasingly sought after.
Brands to watch out for: Biomel, The Nue Co, Viome, Genius Food, Bio-Kult, Juvia
7) Extra time will be committed to recovery from exercise
Elite athletes have talked about the importance of recovery from exercise to achieve optimal performance. However, it’s given less attention for everyday exercisers. That will change as we see specialist recovery brands such as Therabody and Hyperice dedicate their products to recovery.
But it won’t be just recovery in the physical sense. Exercisers will assess their sleep quality and increasingly use products and services that help to improve their sleep. Holland & Barret predict sleep synching will be a big trends in 2023. People will use tech and apps to sync with their bodies natural circadian rhythms to take rest and recovery at the right times.
Also, Garmin have reported that activities such as yoga, pilates and breathwork are on the rise where exercisers are increasingly engaging in active recovery.
Furthermore, apps that provide data and insights on workout intensity and body stress scores will create behaviours among exercisers to consider recovery as an important part of their day to day routines.
Brands to watch out for: Therabody, Hyperice, Aquilo, Roll Recovery, Firefly, Headspace, Glo
8) Meat free days will form greater part of your diet
Meat free meals won’t be limited to the hardened vegetarian and vegan. Also, the meal choices won’t be limited to beans, soy, tofu and plant manufactured meat. The cuisines, choices and improvements in the taste and nutritional quality of meat free meals will continue sharply rise.
They will also become more accessible with meat free options occupying greater shelf space in supermarkets and eateries providing greater and better variety in their menu’s.
Brands to watch out for: Quorn, Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Allplants, Greenchef, Huel, Proveg
9) You’ll workout in the metaverse
Post COVID we have seen the explosion of home fitness classes and experiences from companies such as Peleton, Zwift and Les Mills. Also, fitness influencers such as Joe Wicks and the variety of home workouts that are accessible online through PT’s, social media and Youtube has made working out from home much more enjoyable.
Other than convenience, many exercisers are loving that these experiences often bring the outdoor, gym or fitness class experience into their homes.
The next step to make this experience even more ‘real’ is to tap into the metaverse and provide a virtual reality experience.
Brands to watch out for: Holodia, OliveX, Gym Aesthetics, Peloton, Les Mills
10) Activewear will get even smarter
We’ve all seen various gadgets combine with active wear to create the wearable tech boom. But the pace of wearable tech for health and fitness has only just started and companies are entering the market showing that there are endless possibilities for Innovation.
From health monitoring to activity tracking we are now starting to see innovations such as from Kymira who have developed an infrared-embedded fabric. The technology will help your body circulation and boost your bloods nitric oxide levels. Omorpho has also created micro-weighted apparel to take the train heavy and race light concept to new heights. It will also help people burn those extra few calories each workout.
Brands to watch out for: Prevayl, Kymira, Omorpho, Sensoria, Under Armour
11) Connectivity will make you think more holistically about your health and fitness
Many exercise enthusiasts will use fitness trackers or smart watches to record their workouts and integrate their data with a favourite app to keep track of their progress.
With the explosion of activity trackers, health monitors, apps and analytics tools, exercisers will further embrace the connectivity of all of these devices.
Instead of using these devices and information in isolation, we will see better integration and collaboration of devices and information to allow exercisers to understand their health and fitness more holistically.
So, people will take a proactive and holistic approach to Wellness rather than reactive.
Brands to watch out for: Insidetracker, Oura, Apple Health, Google Health, Garmin Connect
12) You’ll find your fitness community
Brands are increasingly looking for innovative ways to create communities among health and fitness enthusiasts with common interests and shared goals.
Whether that’s reaching people through online fitness, outdoor classes or creating more social experiences through gyms and clubs people are increasingly finding like-minded communities to exercise with.
Fitness was once associated with a certain stereotype of hardcore gym goers and fitness freaks that made it intimidating for less fitness minded individuals.
But with the increase of social communities and the various channels that are available to exercise, there will be a fitness community to serve all ability levels, interests and goals.
Brands to watch out for: Trib3, Weight Watchers, Meetup, Cross-fit, BMF, Hotpod Yoga, Run-Together
13) People will increasingly travel for wellness in search of new experiences
As health and wellness travel becomes more popular, we will see health and wellness tourism becoming more mainstream as it becomes a bigger part of the global travel industry.
This is likely to lead to an increase in health and fitness services and experiences being offered at major tourist destinations around the world, with health-conscious travellers able to easily find what they are looking for no matter where they are travelling.
Whether that’s a health retreat, fitness holiday, or a new fitness class in an exotic location, people will increasingly be looking for new and unique health experiences to enhance their health and well-being.
Brands to watch out for: Wanderlust, Well-being Escpaes, Tripaneer, Health and Fitness Travel, Nielson
14) Fuel, exercise and recovery will become more personalised
People are becoming more in tune with their health and fitness thanks to the level of data and information they are able to access through their smart devices and apps. So, as people become more informed about their own state of health and fitness they will increasingly expect to be able to personalise their diet, exercise programmes and recovery.
This will lead to the development of more health and fitness technology and services that can help people customise their health, nutrition and overall well-being.
Whether it’s a specific diet plan, new exercise regime or health tracking app, we are likely to see an increase in health products that cater to the individual.
Brands to watch out for: Lumen, Zoe, Bioniq, Noom, Training Peaks, Whoop
15) People want to be able to exercise anytime and anywhere
Whilst gym membership and attendance are returning to pre pandemic levels people are increasingly expecting to be able to exercise on their own terms. With employee wellness services increasing, the digitisation of health and fitness and a desire to exercise in tune with nature, people want to choose how and when they exercise.
Whether that’s at home, in the office, while travelling or outdoors people are expecting brands (and particularly gyms) to be able to reach them anytime and anywhere.
Les Mills has called this Omni-channel Fitness and is already increasing the number of fitness and health classes that can be accessed remotely. So, we are already seeing gyms offer in-gym or online classes but we expect to see the industry extend its offering to how they can cater for the “Omni-channel” fitness consumer.
Brands to watch out for: Les Mills, Peloton, Ifit, Glo, Anytime Fitness
* Our group company, Elevate Ninety, monitor search trends in the health, fitness and wellness markets. So, analysing consumers search behaviour in Google enables us to evaluate what consumers are increasingly searching for. As well as keeping our finger on the pulse for latest innovations, technology and product releases from various wellness companies.
