5 Surprising Exercise Trends

The Sporting Goods Manufacturer's Association, the fitness industry's primary source for tracking participation and industry earnings, has released a breakthrough study that tracks the top exercise trends across the country right now. "The exercise industry is not immune to the side effects of this tough economy," Tom Cove, the president of SGMA, said in the study. "But more people are aware of the importance of regular physical fitness for de-stressing and overall health."

If you think everyone is ditching fitness during the recession, think again. This study found some potentially surprising trends in the exercise world, including a classic gym class that's making a comeback.

Here are some of SGMA's year-end highlights:

1. Big Bucks. Even in a recession, treadmills and elliptical machines raking in the dough, with $870 million and $687 million in sales, respectively. While most people polled perform a mix of running or walking on trusty treadmills, elliptical machines are less stressful to joints of the lower body and burn the equivalent amount of calories as walking briskly on a treadmill.


2. Walking and Weights. If you think everyone is spinning and hitting the Pilates studio, think again. The five most popular fitness activities in the U.S. are: walking, treadmills, hand weights/dumbbells, running/jogging, and weight lifting/resistance machines. Notice that two of the five most important activities, surprisingly, pertain to resistance training. If you don't do it already, grab some dumbbells and start hoisting for your health -- and your metabolism.


3. Everything Old is New Again! The fitness activity with the biggest percentage one-year increase is old-fashioned step aerobics, which experienced a 21 percent jump to more than 10 million participants in 2009. This tried-and-true activity blasts hundreds of calories and keeps fitness fun. If you haven't done it in awhile, revisit the step.


4. Seniors Dominate. Among regular, core participants (which means those who exercise 50 days or more per year), nearly 30 percent of all fitness participants were 55-years-old -- or older. Go, baby boomers!


5. Welcome Home. According to SGMA, 45.4 million people were members of health clubs in the U.S. in 2008. The home fitness market is roughly three times as big as the institutional health club market, which means lots of people exercise at home (or outside) without ever stepping foot in a gym. Now, you really have no excuse for skipping your workouts!

Fitness expert Nicole Dorsey Straff is a Los Angeles-based exercise physiologist and frequently writes about diet, health and wellness.

Here's another gym classic worth trying: The rowing machine.