Every year the American College of Sports Medicine publishes a list of top trends in the fitness industry. This list is one of the more comprehensive lists out there. This year ACSM had the best response ever from its global membership. These are trends identified by fitness professionals and not actual consumers. However, it isn’t clear if there would be much of a difference.

Here’s the top 10 from their list of 20 trends:

1. Educated, certified and experienced fitness professionals

2. Strength training

3. Fitness programs for older adults

4. Exercise and weight loss

5. Children and obesity

6. Personal training

7. Core training

8. Group personal training

9. Zumba and other dance based workouts

10. Functional fitness

There are really no surprises here and I think the list is fairly representative of our marketplace, with a few minor changes.

Bootcamps are still hot and probably will be for a while. If bootcamp instructors get better at providing moderate exercise routines, appropriate modifications for non-exercisers and a more rounded approach to fitness, they’ll have a chance to last longer. If not, they may not hang on.

Pilates dropped off this list a couple years ago. While pilates is a great form of exercise, it’s extremely difficult to find professionally trained instructors. The best pilates certification courses are expensive and take quite awhile to complete. This makes it difficult for new instructors to get into the field.

Zumba cracks the list for the first time and will probably stick around for a bit.

This is the fifth straight year experienced fitness professionals has been No. 1. It’s extremely difficult to find fitness professionals that are educated, certified and experienced.

I have certified more than 1,000 trainers over the years and have taught twice as many. Personal training has consistently ranked in the top 10 fastest growing fields for the past decade. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

What do you think about this list? If you feel anything is missing I would love to hear what’s hot in your area.