Sports performance training is set to become a consumer trend in 2016

Just because members of sports clubs or gyms aren’t elite, it doesn’t mean they can’t train like Usain Bolt: sports performance training, backed up with feedback from wearables, is tipped as one of the hot trends for this year.

Elite athletes not only have superior talent to the rest of us, they also have initial access to the latest research and training techniques. While we can’t do much about the talent side of things, we can certainly learn a great deal from athletes when it comes to training techniques.

“Many fitness industry trends are old news on the sports performance side,” says Ryan Collier, director at Genefit. “High intensity training (HIT) became big in gyms a few years ago, but it has been used in swimming for 30 years.”

Jon Johnston, CEO of Matrix, says he is seeing an increasing number of gyms putting a focus on the sports performance side, with whole areas or floors dedicated to the concept. “Many of our university and college clients are focusing on sports performance,” he says. “Also, a number of local authorities and trusts are now providing specific elite and performance training areas. For example, Life Leisure in Houldsworth Sports Village in Stockport is the regional base for British Weightlifting.”

So what does sports performance training actually involve? According to the experts, elements include HIT, big lifting, working with wattage and power in cycling, monitoring heart rate zones and using technology as well as video analysis.

At his sports performance gym in Putney, decathlon legend, Daley Thompson has created a concept which combines traditional sports equipment – ropes, ladders and vaulting horses – with cutting edge cardio and strength equipment and Myzone technology, all pulled together with his experience, knowledge and sense of fun.

Ian Daniell of Core Health & Fitness, who consulted on Daley’s Gym, says technology, like Myzone and Training Peaks, is helping to fuel the trend: “People are developing a greater understanding and they want to know their power on a bike and their heart rate zones,” he says.

Going forward, Collier believes periodisation will soon become adopted: “Athletes take a year long view to their training: beasting themselves during the off season and working more on skills and tactics during the season. I think we will see more of this happening among the general public.”

Unlike some trends, which threaten to cut the gym out, as people download and have a go at their own programme, this trend favours the health and fitness/sports industry, as expert advice is needed for activities like dead lifting and Olympic lifting, which can result in injury if not done properly.

To make the most of the trend, fitness providers need to make sure staff are trained in the latest techniques, and are able to make them accessible to their members, especially as many people will feel what elite athletes do is irrelevant to them and beyond their capabilities.

“Attend courses regularly, find out about the new and crazy science and interpret that for the general public. Tailor it so that it’s accessible and relevant to them as well,” says Collier.

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Sports performance training is set to become a consumer trend in 2016.

Kath Hudson, journalist, Sports Management Fitness First Jon Johnston, CEO of Matrix Life Leisure in Houldsworth Sports Village in Stockport MYZONE,Sport clubs, elite, Sports performance training, consumer trend in 2016, Fitness First Jon Johnston, CEO of Matrix, Life Leisure in Houldsworth Sports Village in Stockport MYZONE