2015 was arguably the year of the butt in the fitness world - or more accurately, the year of the squat.
According to the Huffington Post, functional fitness exercises made the top 10 in fitness trends of 2015.
“Functional fitness uses multiple muscle groups versus one specific muscle group at a time,” states Huffington Post’s website.
This includes squats, an exercise that focuses on strengthening the gluteus maximus and quadriceps muscles.
“Well it’s (strengthening) your biggest muscles,” said Jessie Jacobs, a trainer at the Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) Family Sports Centre, explaining why the exercise is so popular. “It’s where you get the biggest (muscle) gains, it’s your biggest calorie-burner, and it’s your biggest muscle.”
Tracy Thorogood, another trainer at SLS Family Sports Centre, noted that the trend was especially popular with females.
“Women seem to always have issues with their bottom,” said Thorogood.
The trainers don’t anticipate this trend will fade in 2016 either.
“I think lower body is always going to be a focus for a lot of people,” said Thorogood.
The centre is ready to accommodate this popular trend, and others, as it prepares for an increase in membership in early 2016. This will be mainly due to New Year’s resolutions.
With over 41 drop-in classes available and seven personal trainers on staff, the SLS Family Sports Centre will be ready to assist anyone looking to lead a more active lifestyle.
New to the program list this year is the Shed IT! program, which combines exercise and nutrition to help people jumpstart a healthier lifestyle.
“Exercise classes in Shed IT! start with the fundamentals and focus on engaging specific muscles such as the core and glutes. The fitness component progresses during the 10 week program to further strengthen your body as a whole,” states the centre’s program guide.
“The nutrition portion of this registered program will be guided by the principle that diets do not work and that your body requires proper fuel to be healthy. Meal planning, healthy life-long nutrition habits and portion control techniques will be taught as the underlying keys to success of healthy eating.”
The SLS Family Sports Centre will also be offering three different kinds of boot camps, another popular fitness trend of 2015.
“Boot camp is always a big topic, so we’ve brought in a beginner class, an intermediate/advanced class, and an extreme class,” said Shawna Kerr-Smith, events and marketing coordinator with SLS Family Sports Centre.
“We have one for everybody so anybody who wants to do boot camp can do boot camp.”
“We even have one for people 55 years or older,” said Thorogood.
Another trend the centre has noted over the past few years is the demographic that makes the most use of the facility is young parents and families.
“We offer free child-minding for members so we see lots of parents using the facility,” said Kerr-Smith.
Child-minding is offered at the facility “five days a week and two evenings” according to Kerr-Smith.
The popular service may serve as the draw for parents to visit the facility.
“Our child-minding numbers for the month of November, went from 32 kids in 2014 to approximately 324 kids in 2015.”
While fitness trends such as who attends fitness facilities and what they do there may change from year to year, it’s clear this is one gym that’s ready for anything.
For more information about memberships and programs, call the SLS Family Sports Centre at 403-932-1635 or visit slssportscentre.com
