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New Year fitness trends – work out like a celebrity in 2016

January 02, 2016

Besides lifting weights, taking up a sport is a good way to keep fit for 2016. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, January 2, 2016.As we welcome the New Year and plan our resolutions, getting fit is sure to be one of them. To give you some ideas to get you started, as well as a little extra motivation, here we have rounded up the celebrity-loved workouts that are sure to get you in shape and set to become even bigger in 2016.

Ballet

Thanks to the Victoria's Secret putting their runway-ready bodies down to barre classes, 2015 saw us rolling out our yoga mats for ballet-inspired workouts replacing our usual yoga and Pilates class. But 2016 will see what could have been a passing fad for legwarmers and tutus develop into a serious fitness trend that is here to stay. 

Sport-specific training such as ballet has now moved up to number 15 on the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) 2016 predicted fitness trends, from no. 18 back in 2014, and no. 16 in 2015, and after not even being in the top 20 back in 2013. This growing popularity will see us taking up ballet in 2016 not only to improve our fitness, but also to learn some new skills, and some new dance moves.

Ballet's growing fan base is also helped along by celebrity devotees including Gigi Hadid and Victoria's Secret Angel Lily Aldridge, who practices Ballet Beautiful, the program devised by Mary-Helen Bowers, ex-ballet dancer and trainer to Natalie Portman in "Black Swan."

This is definitely no passing phase for Aldridge, who along with many other of the Victoria's Secret Angels practices all year round for a catwalk-worthy body, and is sure to be continuing in 2016 as the next catwalk show approaches.

Boxing

High-intensity cardio will move on from HIIT to see more women sweating it out in boxing classes thanks to a rise in celebrities taking part in the sport. 

As well as crediting their catwalk-ready bodies to strength and toning workouts such as yoga, Pilates, and ballet (see above), many of the Victoria's Secret Angels also maintain their high fitness levels and sculpted bodies with boxing. Often seen as a guy's sport, if you needed any convincing about its benefits the Angels are the perfect poster girls.

Angels who love sweating it out in the ring include Devon Windsor, Elsa Hosk, and Josephine Skriver, who heads to Gotham Gym in New York for her boxing class, while Joan Smalls favours Muay Thai kickboxing. Longest-running Angel Adriana Lima is also passionate about the sport, and has been a devotee for over 10 of her 16 years as an Angel.

But it's not just models who will help the rise in popularity for boxing. Holly Holm, who recently beat high-profile Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Ronda Rousey, is an ex-professional boxer, with both Holm and Rousey bringing boxing and boxing-style moves into their fighting techniques, and into the mainstream.

Thanks to Holm and Rousey this form of intense workout is now becoming more high-profile, more female-oriented, and set to grow even bigger throughout 2016. 

TRX

When the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) released their top trends of 2016, we predicted big things for TRX training.

Developed by an elite Navy SEAL commando, TRX uses just one piece of equipment, the TRX® Suspension Trainer, which enables you to practice over 300 exercises, and falls in line with eight of the top 20 trends predicted by ACSM, including Body weight training, Strength Training, Functional Fitness, Group Personal Training, and Core Training.

And according to the TRX training website, even trends such as yoga overlap with TRX training, as the workout helps to build balance, strength, and confidence to move onto more advanced poses.

And if you need any extra motivation, just look at Jennifer Lopez, Gisele Bundchen, and Gwen Stefani, who are all rumoured celebrity fans. – AFP/Relaxnews, January 2, 2015.