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Strength training has been surging in popularity, a trend that held throughout 2023 and looks to continue in 2024 and beyond. The 2024 Fitness Trend Report by MindBody found that 60% of those worldwide who regularly workout incorporate weight-training in their routines, a substantial gain. This trend is expected to continue growing, as more and more people of all ages realize how important resistance training is to overall health.
Fitness businesses not previously known for iron-pumping are jumping on the strength craze. Orangetheory Fitness (cardio), Pure Barre (low-impact dance), and CorePower Yoga (yoga, of course) are just three franchises that increasingly include weights in their workouts. Adidas partnered with the strength-based exercise system Les Mills in 2023. And Nike recently launched Nike Strength, a line of branded weightlifting equipment. Strength training is pumping up, and we’re all for it.
WHY STRENGTH TRAINING IS SO POPULAR NOW
Let’s look at three reasons for the surging popularity of strength training.
1. POST-PANDEMIC BOUNCE
In the depths of social distancing in 2020-21, at-home, “connected” fitness had its time. But as soon as people were comfortable training in public with others again, home fitness options like Peloton and Mirror were out. Gyms were in again. Going to the gym has always been a social activity, even if you train alone with your AirPods on full blast, and we crave such socializing all the more after being denied. Furthermore, commercial gyms are the one place you can get a full range of resistance training options. You might think inflation would have impacted this trend the last couple years. But instead, Gen Z, especially, has fueled a rise in low-priced gyms like Planet Fitness.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA
Whether sweating in a commercial fitness center or a home gym, people go public via social media. No workout post is better than a big lift, and those shots fuel more posts, and so on. All those smartphones on tripods are encouraging more and more people to hit the weights. Technogym format manager Farbrizio Cecchinelli put it this way: “I rarely find Instagram posts that say ‘Oh, I did an amazing elliptical training today.’ If you scroll down your feed, every day there is someone lifting weights, thrusting and squatting, because it’s related to physique, to appearance, and this is the era that we are living in today.”
3. EXERCISE SCIENCE
We’re living through a renaissance of strength-training science fueled by advances in medical and computer technology. People have noticed, and they’re noticing more and more. As relevant strength studies have increased, so has the search for this knowledge. Stats at PubMed, the National Institute of Health’s database, reveal that over the past decade the number of searches for scientific information related to strength training increased almost fourfold. As we at The Barbell say: The more you know, the more you grow.
