Data from 47 million fitness app users reveals 2014’s hottest trends

(Reuters)

SoulCycle is going strong. Running is resurgent. And we may have reached peak Zumba.

Those are a few findings culled from the 47 million U.S. users of MyFitnessPal, a website and smartphone app that lets users track activities, calories and food intake. Users either enter information into MyFitnessPal or sync it through wearable activity trackers or other fitness apps.

The results show slowing but still strong growth in several newer activities as options proliferate, and the enduring appeal of running and biking.

More people are trying activities, like CrossFit and ballet-style barre classes, usually centered in special facilities rather than in multipurpose health clubs, the data show. They’re also increasingly doing shorter, high-intensity workouts that promise fitness in minutes rather than hours.

To get data on trends in 2014, MyFitnessPal researchers tallied the total number of minutes logged per activity and divided by the number of daily active users. At the request of The Wall Street Journal, MyFitnessPal then listed the top 10 most-logged activities for January through November 2014 and compared the list with the same period from 2013. Researchers also looked at a selection of branded or up-and-coming workouts. It was the first time MyFitnessPal publicly released year-over-year trend data.

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