5 Fitness & Wellness Tech Trends for 2022

There’s no doubt the pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the fitness and wellness industry over the past few years as many people have been reluctant to hit the gym (or even leave their houses). As a result, 2020 and 2021 saw a massive surge in at-home exercise solutions. However, as things gradually return to some semblance of normal, we’re seeing more and more trends aimed at folks who are excited about getting out in the open air again.

Noted futurist and best-selling author Bernard Marr has put together a list of fitness and wellness technology trends he expects to be at the forefront in 2022.

Meditation and Mindfulness Apps

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, 40 percent of US adults have been concerned about their mental health. This has led to increased interest in meditation, mindfulness, and relaxation—and an abundance of technology-based solutions. It’s estimated that the US mediation and self-care app market, currently valued at $1.21 billion, will be worth $2.08 billion by the end of the year. In addition, many popular health platforms (like Fitbit) are now designed to help monitor and improve stress and other mental health factors. And in September 2021, Apple announced it was retooling its Apple Health platform to help detect and diagnose depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline.

“The wearable revolution has helped countless people take control of their physical fitness,” Marr states, “and 2022 could be the year where we see its impact in mental healthcare too.”

Wellness in the Workplace

As employers become more aware of the importance of fitness and wellness among their workers, technology for monitoring wellness in the workplace will become more prominent in 2022. Platforms like Gympass already combine fitness apps with gym memberships and classes, while apps like Zevo Health are designed from the ground-up to work with teams that are office-based or working from home.

According to Marr, “[w]e can expect to see tech being deployed by more employers—particularly larger ones—in order to gamify health activities such as gym attendance or taking daily breaks for gentle physical activity.”

Artificial Intelligence Personal Trainers

While we can all benefit from a personalized fitness regime, qualified professional trainers tend to be a bit on the pricey side. Fortunately, personalization is a task where artificial intelligence (AI) excels. As a result, there are now a number of AI-powered personal trainer apps on the market that are capable of tracking your body movements with cameras and offering advice on how to optimize your workout or using augmented reality (AR) to place visual overlays over video recordings of your workouts.

“AI has huge potential when it comes to developing personalized workout routines,” says Marr, “as it is able to accurately predict safe and optimal workout schedules taking into account age, fitness levels, and body mass.”

Better and Smarter Wearables

Wearables have become ubiquitous amongst fitness enthusiasts over the past decade as they allow folks to easily collect and monitor their own health and performance data. We’ve seen these wearables evolve considerably to track a wider variety of fitness criteria. Of particular note for 2022 are blood oxygen monitors, which are being incorporated into several lines of wearable fitness devices and can be used to determine if a body is fighting a viral infection. The wearables are also moving beyond the traditional wrist-mounted devices to be incorporated into rings and earbuds.

“This year we will see the first physical fruits of Google’s acquisition of wearable pioneer Fitbit—a deal which Google has been keen to point out is about ‘devices, not data,’” Marr predicts. “This means we could see the first Fitbit devices running on Android software instead of Fitbit’s dedicated (and somewhat flaky!) OS.”

Better and Smarter Home Fitness Tech

For those who are still reluctant to do their exercising in public gyms, the craze for home fitness technology will continue to drive some aggressive trends amongst manufacturers. We’ve already seen gamified exercise bikes, with upcoming products capable of synchronizing workouts to music or incorporating on-demand or live-streamed fitness classes. This trend shows no sign of slowing down for 2022.

Marr explains, “The addition of touchscreens, network connectivity and interactive streaming functions has transformed the home exercise equipment of 2022 from simple mechanical devices constructed from steel frames, weights, and pulleys into sophisticated, smart, and connected technology pieces.”