🧘 What’s in, what’s out: fitness trends you should know

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Gooood morning! Bit of housekeeping (I hate when people say that in corporate settings, by the way. What other term can we use??): After next week, I plan on taking the next two weeks off from MTI! I’ll be on vacation and don’t want to think an ounce about my 9—5 or my newsletter obligations!

I plan to still hit your inbox next Wednesday with a short, semi-philosophical *rolls eyes* edition before a couple weeks off.

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My hot takes on the latest exercise & fitness activity trends report

Pilates is exploding. Spin classes? Crashing. Kettlebells are making a comeback, and CrossFit’s glory days might be behind us. Here’s my take on the weird, wonderful ways people are moving their bodies in 2025.

🔥 What’s Hot

Let’s start from the top. Personally, I wasn’t aware that interest in pilates was soaring like it is. If Pilates was a stock, I’d wish I’d bought in 2019. But as a training staple for longevity? Eh, I’m not so bullish.

• I’ve personally never taken a class, so I don’t know too much about it. I’ve heard it’s challenging and also makes people feel good. Hey, as long as people are exercising over doing nothing, I’m all for it.

• But I don’t exactly think pilates is the greatest—or sole—key to vitality, and I think the research supports that. There are aspects of strengthening, stretching, and core stability in pilates that should certainly be applauded. 

• I may be a traditionalist when it comes to the exercise basics, but I don’t believe pilates increases people’s VO2max (cardiovascular fitness), muscle size, or absolute strength to much of a degree. And based off what’s been studied, we know that increasing those aspects of fitness has the greatest impact on living a robust life now and for decades to come, while decreasing risks of diseases and mortality. 

Moving on to yoga. Yoga’s great! I think most of us need more yoga in our lives, myself included. If it’s a supplement to a holistic exercise regimen, I think that’s where partakers will reap the most benefits. But similar to pilates, a couple yoga classes a week probably isn’t going to measurably improve your fitness in many ways. Granted, there are numerous types of yoga—some much more challenging than others—so there’s obvious variance there. Again, I’m glad people are getting out and moving with other people, and yoga’s mental health benefits should not be ignored either. If stress is crushing you, yoga might be your ticket.

I find it interesting that kettlebells are much more popular now as well. I’m betting a good bit of that came from the COVID years when people were looking for versatile home equipment they could use. Kettlebells are like the Swiss Army knife of fitness—strength, cardio, stability, grip, power, all in one little cannonball with a handle. These are all great, and I think we could all use some more kettlebell flows in our lives!

Dance classes and Tai Chi are rising as well, which is fun! Tai Chi in particular for older adults has been found to confer numerous benefits, especially around balance and stability, which we know are exponentially more important to maintain in the latter decades of our lives. 

I love to see that free weights are on the rise. With the emphasis on resistance training and muscle in recent years, it’s encouraging that more people are picking up on that message and putting it into practice. If you’ve been avoiding free weights, now’s the time; the stigma’s gone.

And basic forms of cardio like walking/running, swimming, and rowing have seen a slight uptick as well, indicating that people are still taking the messaging that repetitive movement even at lower intensities can confer robust health benefits.

❄️ What’s Cooling Off

I’m honestly surprised to see such a drop in group cycling classes. I thought those were still pretty trendy. Cycling classes do seem like sort of an intro activity for many exercisers, perhaps a way to get one’s feet wet with structured exercise. But Peloton went from saving us in lockdown to collecting dust in the garage. RIP to the $2k laundry racks. These group classes probably do produce great cardiovascular benefit, but I’m curious what those who leave these classes for other activities are being pulled toward.

I think we’ve all known for a while that CrossFit and its related branded classes have been on the decline. I’ve even seen this in my life; I was very involved in this type of exercise around the mid-2010s, but haven’t partaken in years at this point. Many people still find enjoyment, unmatched camaraderie, and outstanding health benefits from these workouts, but it seems like the general public is moving on while the gurus and diehards stay committed. I might lump the boot camps into this category as well, though I don’t think those were ever as effective, as they depended more heavily on a charismatic leader and primarily bodyweight-only exercises.

I guess I’m not that surprised to see ellipticals on the decline. I’ve enjoyed them as cardio cross-training from time to time, but they can get boring pretty quickly. The stair climbers at my gym are always full, so I am surprised to see that fewer people are doing that. I’ve never liked them because my feet are too long for the steps, and I can’t comfortably fit my foot on them :( Can we get steps that are longer than like 8 inches PLEASE?

The drop in weight machines and bodyweight exercises is peculiar to me. Both can certainly provide good strength and muscle benefits. I wonder if people are moving from those to more free weights as they get more comfortable and heavy metal in the gym gets democratized beyond the traditional lunk heads and into the hands of the masses.

How have my personal fitness activities changed since 2019?

What’s down:

Cross-training workouts are certainly down for me. I have kind of let that go by the wayside. Though, with Hyrox’s sudden skyrocket in popularity, including my personal interest in it, I’m curious to see if that bumps this type of training back up in the ranks.

Also down for me is high impact/intensity training. I still seek to train at high intensities—particularly for cardio intervals—but not quite as frequently or explosively as I used to. I’d say my time playing sports is probably down. I still recognize the importance of high intensities and train power, but I’m just not power cleaning and sprinting like I used to. To be honest, I frankly don’t love these activities as much, but still try to keep them for their benefits.

What’s up:

Compared to 2019, my running volume is probably about the same or up a bit. I had a slump in the middle, but have been enjoying a couple races per year lately. Walking and rowing for cardio are definitely up for me, though! I make walks a regular part of my routine, and we all know I got pretty into rowing about a year ago and still enjoy that sometimes. 

I’d say my free weight and machine usage is probably up as well. I’ve always used them, but have been really consistent for a while now and probably spend ~75% of my gym time using these, equating to ~4–6 hours on an average week.

What can I learn from this, and what would I like to change?

If I could add more activities into my rotation, my top picks beyond what I’m already doing would probably be more kettlebell work, yoga, and heck, maybe even a dance class or two. I’d also like to get back into some of the cross-training I used to love so much. Whether I find that from Hyrox, CrossFit, or something else adjacent, I think I’d enjoy it if I were to invest the time and money into these again.

What did you learn from these trends? Are you now aware of types of exercise you had never even considered before? Which trend are you hopping on this year, and which one are you leaving behind?

Just because something is up or down in the trends doesn’t mean you should or should not try it. But I do encourage you to be curious and explore something new!

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Try out a new exercise you’ve never done before!

Level 2: You know my philosophy: outrun the lifters and outlift the runners. Diversify your fitness!

Level 3: Double down on what’s working well for you, but I encourage you to incorporate something that makes you uncomfortable—something you’re not good at—at least once a month.

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Zen: A quick, non-overwhelming list of resources to chill out your anxiety any time.

See y’all next week!

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).