2025 Fitness Trend Spotlight: Functional Fitness
WASHINGTON — As the new year begins, many people resolve to improve their health and fitness. Gym resolutions may be for people new to exercise, those returning to their routine after the holidays or anyone who wants to try something different. Fitness trends cycle rapidly, so, which should you choose?
Each year since 2006, the American College of Sports Medicine has researched and released the top 20 fitness trends. While it is intended to advise fitness professionals, any health enthusiast may like to know what’s in. Here, we’ll list the top 20 and then focus on one topic: functional fitness — what it is, how to do it and the research-backed benefits.
The ACSM 2025 Fitness Trends
The ACSM is the largest fitness association with over 45,000 professionals. It was founded in 1954 for sports medicine and exercise science. As their mission statement says, they are dedicated to promoting and integrating scientific research, education, and practical application of sports medicine and exercise science to help improve health, fitness, performance and quality of life.
They put together their trend report each year based on a survey sent to ACSM members. The survey includes the definitions of “trend” and “fad” to note the difference. A trend is “a general development or change in a situation or in the way that people are behaving,” while a fad is “a fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period; a craze.”
The difference matters. The list is not about which new workout or diet is “trending” on TikTok — those are fads. The prediction list is based on observations gathered from data intended to help promote physical activity.
The following 2025 trends were published in the ACSM Health and Fitness Journal in October 2024:
- Wearable technology.
- Mobile exercise apps.
- Fitness for older adults.
- Exercise for weight loss.
- Traditional strength training.
- High-intensity interval training.
- Data-driven training technology.
- Exercise for mental health.
- Functional fitness training.
- Health/wellness coaching.
- Youth athletic development.
- Influencer-led fitness programs.
- Outdoor fitness activities.
- On-demand exercise classes.
- Employing certified exercise professionals.
- Personal training.
- Exercise as medicine.
- Body weight training.
- Lifestyle medicine.
- Hot and cold therapies.
To keep things simple, we’ll take a closer look at number nine: functional fitness training.
What Is Functional Fitness Training?
The ACSM defines functional fitness training as “strength training to improve balance, coordination, functional movement and endurance that reflect activities of daily living.”
The exercises are simple movements that mimic actions you take throughout your day. There is nothing different about these exercises except for why you do them. Take the squat, for example. Athletes may do heavy squats to increase lower body strength and power to improve their sports performance. Bodybuilders may perform squats to build their leg muscles.
In functional fitness training, performing squats helps improve the squat’s movement pattern, making sitting down and standing up from a chair or couch easier. It sounds simple, but it is increasingly important for older adults to maintain independence.
Functional fitness training also incorporates functional movement patterns, which are the different ways we naturally move our bodies. Here is a quick explanation of each pattern, a sample exercise, and what daily activity it mimics.
- Squat: Bending the lower body at the knees and hips, and standing back up.
- Exercises: Squats and lunges.
- Daily Movements: Sitting down and standing up, half kneeling or kneeling on the ground and standing back up, stepping off a curb.
- Hinge: Bending the lower body at the hips, and standing back up.
- Exercises: Deadlifts and step-ups.
- Daily Movements: Bending over, picking up something heavy off the ground, walking up and down stairs.
- Horizontal Push: Using your upper body to push away from your body in a line parallel to the ground.
- Exercises: Push-up and chest press.
- Daily Movements: Pushing a heavy door open and pushing a stroller or lawnmower.
- Horizontal Pull: Using your upper body to pull toward your body, in a line parallel to the ground.
- Exercises: Rowing.
- Daily Movements: Pulling a door closed.
- Vertical Push: Using your upper body to push weight above your head.
- Exercises: Overhead press.
- Daily Movements: Placing luggage in an overhead compartment, putting away dishes or groceries on a high shelf, lifting a child up.
- Vertical Pull: Using your upper body to pull weight down from overhead.
- Exercises: Pull-ups and lat pulldowns.
- Daily Movements: Taking down dishes or groceries from a high shelf, taking luggage down from an overhead compartment.
- Rotation: Twisting your torso through your thoracic spine.
- Exercises: Pallof press and Russian twist.
- Daily Movements: Twisting to shut the car door.
- Locomotion and Carry: Carrying objects while maintaining core stability and walking.
- Exercises: Farmer’s carry (both arms, single-arm, holding the weight in different positions) or walking without weights.
- Daily Movements: Carrying suitcases or groceries while walking.
Benefits of Functional Fitness:
- Activities of Daily Living: Training with these exercises improves your ability to perform the above examples in everyday life.
- Older Adults: The ACSM notes that functional fitness training is critical for improving the quality of life of older adults.
- Athletic Performance: Each functional movement is present in all types of sports. The ACSM recommends athletes do functional fitness training and sports-specific training to improve their performance.
- Improves Several Measures of Physical Fitness: Research indicates functional fitness training can be used to:
- Build muscle.
- Increase strength.
- Increase aerobic capacity.
- Improve endurance.
- Improve power.
- Improve balance.
- Increase bodyweight skills.
Keep It Functional
You don’t need to overcomplicate your new year’s gym routine. Functional exercises performed with proper form and muscular engagement can help you reach any fitness goal while improving the activities you do in your daily life. Keeping up with it over time will set you up for mobility and independence throughout your lifespan.
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