Wearables top 2026 fitness trends

Life Time and the American College of Sports Medicine are pointing to the same 2026 fitness theme: consumers want more data, but they are using it in service of broader training goals. ACSM’s annual worldwide survey ranked wearable technology as the No. 1 fitness trend for 2026, covering devices such as fitness trackers, smartwatches, heart-rate monitors and GPS-based tools. Life Time said in a Dec. 30, 2025 release that its annual wellness survey found 82% of respondents planned to focus more on overall health and wellbeing in 2026, up 7% from the prior year. The company said strength training was the top health goal, with respondents also showing interest in longevity habits, recovery and measured use of newer technologies. (acsm.org) ### Why are wearables showing up at the top of the 2026 list? ACSM said wearable technology took the top spot in its 2026 trends ranking, continuing a category that includes step tracking, heart-rate monitoring, speed and distance data, and newer biosensors. The group said advanced devices now also track indicators such as heart rhythm, blood pressure, blood glucose and skin temperature. (ir.lifetime.life) The ACSM survey is aimed at fitness industry decision-makers and draws on responses from researchers and practitioners, according to the organization’s trends page. The group said the annual survey is now in its 20th year and is designed to provide a long-term view of how the field is changing. ### What did Life Time’s survey actually find? (acsm.org) Life Time said its 2026 survey was conducted among general consumers and Life Time members and found a continued move toward strength training and longevity-focused habits. The company said 42.3% of respondents named getting physically stronger as a primary health goal, while 46.5% said they planned to lift more weights. (acsm.org) Danny King, Life Time’s director of recovery and performance, said in the company’s release that “strength training is the new weight loss.” He said people were training “to feel and perform better for longer” and pairing that with recovery and objective health metrics. (briefglance.com) ### How do wearables and strength goals fit together? Life Time’s release tied interest in strength training to what it called smarter recovery and objective health data. That framing matches the role wearables now play in gyms and training programs, where users track load, heart rate, sleep, readiness and recovery rather than just daily step counts. (news.lifetime.life) ACSM’s description of the category also reflects that broader use case. The organization said wearable technology now goes beyond basic activity logging and captures a wider set of real-time and trend-based health measures. ### Are carbs and HIIT part of the same shift? Social posts from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1 highlighted carbs for performance, HIIT for energy and flexible scheduling to avoid overtraining, but those claims were anecdotal rather than part of the ACSM or Life Time datasets. (news.lifetime.life) The verified findings in the public reports center on wearable technology, strength training, overall wellbeing and recovery. (acsm.org) Life Time said respondents showed a cautious interest in AI-guided fitness as well, suggesting consumers are adding technology without abandoning conventional training priorities. The company’s survey described that interest as measured rather than wholesale. (ir.lifetime.life) ### Where can readers check the source material? ACSM has posted its 2026 trends material on its fitness trends pages, including the ranking that lists wearable technology at No. 1. Life Time’s Dec. 30, 2025 survey release remains available through the company’s newsroom and investor relations pages. (acsm.org) (ir.lifetime.life)