ClassPass’ Fitness Trends of the Year Show It's Not Impossible to Work Out While You Travel

As the wellness and fitness industries continue to get bigger and buzzier heading into the new year, the 2019 trends for exercise enthusiasts range far and wide paving a path for a super sweaty 2020.

According to data compiled by workout studio app ClassPass, fitness fanatics are not only finding new ways to work out, but they're committing to keeping their healthy habits consistent.

Based on the patterns of ClassPass users around the world — the app is active in more than 20 countries — the company found that kicking off the new year is not always the glorious, fresh start we all hope it will be: New Year’s Day was the least popular day to work out in 2019. We bounced back quickly, however, with a spike in app downloads on Jan. 2, when those resolutions really kick in.

The information gathered from more than 100 million workouts showed that North American users' favorite way to sweat was strength training, but when it comes to bringing a friend or coworkers along, boxing and rowing were the go-tos.

Speaking of coworkers, the app found that two in three professionals feel that working out with colleagues can help to build workplace friendships — leading to the prediction that corporate wellness will continue to rise in 2020.

And when they're traveling for work, ClassPass users took their exercise on the go. Eighteen percent of professionals booked workouts in a city other than their hometown, up from 14 percent in 2018.

"We have seen that no matter the reason for travel, people are building fitness into their routine on the go," the data read.

The app, which is a subscription membership service that offers a wide range of studio classes including yoga, cycling, boxing, a variety of cardio (dance class, anyone?) as well as various wellness services, saw that in 2019, over 1 million users headed to megareformer pilates.

The workout — that utilizes muscle-toning resistance machines equipped with bands varying in difficulty, like at SLT and BodyRok — saw a 38.6 percent increase in reservations in 2019 when compared to 2018. And in Classpass' breakdown by city, they found that Houston, Texas was the ringleader in the trend.

As for how other cities pan out, New York City comes out on top with the most class reservations made, and it was also where the most meditation sessions were booked this year. (Who couldn't use some zen in the midst of all that hustle?)

Kansas City was deemed the most likely to book a workout in another city, while Los Angeles users were most likely to book a class at the last minute.

Classpass found the majority of exercise rookies start out with yoga — which ranked No. 2 in popularity in North America — so if you're a workout newbie, consider working on your warrior poses in 2020.

But whether its saying "Namaste" or gloving up for a round of boxing, 42 percent of users found that a group fitness setting kept them motivated to keep their workouts consistent, wherever in the world they find themselves. First-time users can get 14 days free when they sign up now.