EXERCISE TRENDS IN AMERICA
Kinder, gentler, better?

For the newcomers to the pursuit of exercise in America – older people, females or both – less strenuous exercise forms and user-friendlier equipment are taking over from their more traditional and less vigorous counterparts.

Since 1998, the greatest growth activities in exercise in America have been pilates training, elliptical motion trainers, stationary recumbent cycling and yoga – those pursued by generally older and female people.

This was among the findings of the 16th annual Superstudy® by Sports Participation, conducted among 15,063 people across the States earlier this year by American Sports Data Inc and sponsored by the US Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

Pilates, the hybrid resistance/balance/stretching exercise, has sprung back into favour after the better half of a century to claim 4.7 million participants in the US, an increase of 92% over the 2001 level, and 90% of them are women. About 67% of those using pilates in the US were first-year converts to exercise.

The elliptical motion trainer – described as a cross between a nordic ski machine and stair-climber – had attracted 10.7 million American users by 2002, an increase of 177% over the 1998 benchmark of 3.9 million.

ASD claims that other research it has conducted has found that that 26% of Americans claim to be experiencing “a lot of stress”. It wasn’t surprised therefore when its exercise survey found that the use of yoga/tai chi increased by 95% over the period 1998 to 2002. Yoga in particular claimed more than 11 million adherents in 2002, 83% of them female.

Stationary recumbent cycling, overshadowed for years in America by ordinary stationary cycling or spinning, has gained more than 10 million followers, an increase of more than 50% between 1998 and 2002. Spinning, by contrast, has declined 10%, to slightly more than 6 million participants.

Strength training has increased, most clearly among older people and women. Women now constitute 47% of all Americans who train with free weights and the same percentage of Americans who use weight/resistance machines.

Almost 43.5 million Americans used treadmill exercise in 2002, 17% above the 1998 figure and 888% the level in 1987 when these measurements began. ASD says that treadmill useage is the most popular cardiovascular exercise in the US: 59% of practitioners are female and 35% are over 45.

Losing favour these days are aerobics, kickboxing, stair-climbers, nordic ski machines and aerobic riders.