JULY 2019/MUSCLE & FITNESS 43COURTESY OF BOWFLEX; GETTY IMAGES
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VIRTUAL REALITY
FITNESS
The virtual reality
world that was promised to us
decades ago is finally coming
into focus as high-quality
VR headsets and games are
available today from major
companies. That video-gaming
trend is now beginning to bleed
over into other areas, including
fitness. We’ve seen more
integration between working
out and spacing out as brands
like Black Box become better
known.10
NOOTROPICS
Nootropics are
supplements
made to help enhance your
brainpower and attentiveness,
and, with the market being
valued at £1.8 billion in 2016,
have been called the next big
thing. However, as people
start opening up more to the
importance of addressing allparts of thebody, including
the mind, the market for these
smart drugs is expected to
reach more than £7.8 billion
by 2024, signalling that they’re
still very much on the rise.11
MEDICINAL
FOOD
This won’t be a big
surprise to guys who are
already into working out and
eating right, but the movement
to make people more aware
that food can also be used
as preventive and healing
medicine is strong in 2019.
Doctors are beginning to
emphasise how dropping
sugar, salt, and processed
foods can be just as helpful
when recovering from illness
or injury as the drugs they
prescribe you. Numerous new
studies have found that when
food is used as a medicine,
up to 20% of costs associated
with illness were reducedand readmissions to hospitals
dropped about 10%.12
CBD
PRODUCTS
CBD, or cannabidiol,
is one of more than 100
compounds found in
marijuana, and taking it as a
supplement has been linked
to helping elevate pain, boost
performance, and enhance
recovery related to exercise.
There’s no psychoactive
component to CBD, so you
won’t get high, but anecdotal
evidence from everyone from
endurance athletes to power
lifters says the compound—
which can come in a myriad
forms, like softgels, oils,
creams, and lotions—is the
next big thing in exercise
supplements. CBD products
derived from hemp (not
marijuana) are currently
legal in the UK.NO. 13
SWIM FITNESS
Just jumping in a pool and busting out a few laps won’t cut it for exercise anymore—
you’ve got to actually workout in the water. Swim fitness, or aqua or water fitness, is
when you use special weights, resistance fins, and other underwater gear to make
sure your time in the water is intense, boosting your cardiovascular fitness, strength,
endurance, and flexibility. Pro sports franchises, many sports teams and athletes
all incorporate pool training into their exercise programmes, and other athletes like
distance-running champion Lornah Kiplagat
and UFC legend Georges St-Pierre also
swear by swim fitness.