When gym'boree gets gameful

With New Year come new fitness trends. As we kickstart the year we promise ourselves to get on track with fitness goals. New Year resolutions are fun to make but tough to maintain so why not add a touch of novelty with innovative new ways to workout in 2017.

From group training coming back on the fitness circuit to sports unlimited, wearable tech to yoga retreats in the wilderness and fitness fights, here are some of the fitness crazes that you can look out for. It’s clearly a year when everyone will demand more from their workouts.

Gauravjeet Singh, founder, Playo says, “An increasing number of people are taking sports like badminton, football and tennis as their fitness routines, since it has a great quotient of fun and social engagement. The spurt of private pay and play facilities has also contributed to increased participation as users can now pursue active sports without expensive membership restrictions.  The Playo app helps you to reserve venues, find people who want to catch up on any sport or even sign up coaches for a period. Get back to the basics!”

A lot of options are emerging for fitness enthusiasts which are different from traditional gyms. Austin Prakesh, founder of Fitness Fight Club confirms, “The upcoming year is going to be about functional training and a lot of structured speed and strength training. What we saw last year was only the spark that has lit the flame for 2017. The challenge has been to find the most credible advice for a regime that suits everyday needs. People are being faced with sporting heroes and realising that the fitness regimes that super athletes follow is something that they want for themselves as well. To look and feel like an athlete, you have to train like one. 2016 has been a big year in transition for the fitness industry.

People are moving away from the traditional muscle gym setups to try unconventional things. 2017 will see this trend taken up a few notches. They will look to pick up a skill along with staying fit, whether it is learning to handle themselves in a boxing ring or hold their own on a BJJ mat, it will be a year of trying different things for people to find their own groove.

The idea of leading up to a grand finale where they face off against an opponent in an actual fight for fitness also has great promise.” It’s the perfect time to reboot your stale workouts. Niran Ponnappa, co-founder of The Fit District states, “The new-age fitness trend is mobility training that focuses on getting back to you optimum range of motion. So far the focus has been on lifting weights instead of functionality and movement. This will help regain mobility.” Grand Master Akshar, founder, Akshar Power Yoga Academy adds, “Yogis everywhere are trying to put a new spin on yoga.

The ancient practice of yoga is getting new lease of life with hot new trends. Yoga is a lifestyle not a practice, and karma yoga is given precedence over asana. Yoga retreats are the best escape to beat daily stress of long working hours and chock-a-block commutes. A yoga holiday by trained professionals in exotic locations like tiger reserves, beaches or hills, along with meditation, cleansing kriyas and camping are in vogue for 2017.”