The Last 20 Years: Important Fitness Trends Define Exercise Today

BALTIMORE, Oct. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The last 20 years in fitness have come a long way from the days of Jack LaLanne and Richard Simmons. While the goal of better health is the same, exercise regimens and approaches today are influenced heavily by their predecessors.

Fitness continues to evolve, fueled by improvements in our understanding of the human body, coupled with the implementation and advancement of technology and the desire to feel better.

Elevation Corporate Health, a national corporate fitness and wellness provider focused on providing workplace fitness and wellness solutions, has experienced and integrated many major fitness trends and fads into its corporate fitness centers, its wellness program and other corporate initiatives.

To commemorate its 20^th anniversary, Elevation Corporate Health developed an engaging infographic, detailing key developments in fitness between 1994 and 2014. The goal is to help people and companies better understand the past in fitness because, as the infographic shows, the future is always informed by the past.

In our homes, commercial fitness centers, and corporate fitness centers, we have experienced this evolution, often without even realizing it. While some fitness approaches and programs have come and gone over the last two decades, others have prevailed or been retooled, renamed and repositioned.

"Fitness, whether in the corporate setting or in gyms or even homes, is always evolving," said Tom Kapp, a partner in Elevation Corporate Health, based in its Baltimore office, which serves the Eastern half of the U.S. "These ongoing shifts and changes reflect not just new understandings of how the body works and what can make us live longer, but changes in our attitudes, tastes and interests."

LaLanne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jane Fonda and Kenneth Cooper all helped popularize fitness in the 1960s and early 1970s. Not long after, corporate fitness programs were launched, as companies and other organizations recognized the value of helping to create more healthy workers. In addition to seeing their health insurance costs decrease, those employers saw their workers becoming more productive, absent less often, and with better attitudes.

"Over the last 20 years, increasingly creative fitness options have become more available in more settings than we ever imagined," said Angie Nichols, an Elevation Corporate Health senior vice president based in the company's Denver office, which serves clients throughout the western U.S.

Nichols added that many progressive fitness trends originate on the West Coast, where the successful integration of a combined fitness and wellness program not only enabled employers and insurers to witness a noticeable trend toward healthier, more productive employees, but also launched a growing national trend.

"Fitness and wellness can occur in any situation, even for people with little time or on the road," Nichols added. "Technology enhancements like phone apps and online coaching programs allow us to extend these services to anyone, anywhere - providing positive feedback and incentives, when needed."

As Elevation Corporate Health started planning its 20^th anniversary, its staff began to compile a list of the fads, trends and developments that have played a major role in individual, group and corporate fitness over the last 20 years.

"We just started talking about it and next thing you know, we had this long list," said Sandy Meagher, another Elevation Corporate Health partner. "As we started talking to more people, we had some spirited discussions and debate about what should appear on this list."

The infographic and the opportunity to comment on its contents are available at http://elevationcorporatehealth.com/celebrating-20th-anniversary/20years/

Celebrating its 20^th year, Elevation Corporate Health, a national corporate fitness and wellness provider with offices in Baltimore, Denver and Los Angeles, focuses on delivering all aspects of corporate fitness and wellness program design, implementation, management and programming. Using cutting-edge technology and proven strategies, Elevation Corporate Health's successes include healthier employees and an increase in return on investment of the organizations with which it partners.

Media Contact:
Bob Graham
410-497-7030
[email protected]  

Photos:
http://www.prlog.org/12377854

SOURCE Elevation Corporate Health