From hula hoops and thigh masters to the current day tech gadgets and beauty products, Swedish brand FOREO, the world’s fastest-growing beauty tech brand, just revealed how technology impacted fitness and taken over the traditional gym staples.
“Over the years, skincare has changed dramatically and this year the key focus is to educate consumers on the importance of ‘post-exercise’ skincare. As part of this education, FOREO took a look into gym behaviours and how every new innovation is changing the way people ‘gym’ in the 21st Century. Whether this be the app they download to monitor their progress, to the devices they are placing in their gym bags - FOREO took a look through the ages to discover just how the gym game has changed since the 1950’s,” says FOREO’s CMO Steve Thomson.
1950s - Hula Hoops
Everyone loves working with Hula Hoops. Nothing gets you fitter and taut than trying to keep the band around your waist. This was a very popular choice for people back in the 50s and is still something people do for fun.
1960s - Massage belts
By the swinging 60s, massage belts were a thing just as a belief that a person could jiggle and vibrate away areas of unwanted fat and cure fatigue, increasing muscle tone and improve circulation. While today’s gym goer is still keen to increase tone and improve circulation, as the years go by, we see the trends extend to the face and skin as well as the body. The FOREO LUNA 2 is great at using T-Sonic techniques to massage the contours of the face as well as is perfect for deep cleaning.
1970s - Jazzercise
The ‘70s welcomed high-intensity Jazzercise - a mix of jazz dance, ballet, pilates, yoga and kickboxing. You did not need much for this form of exercise other than a fun leotard.
1980s - Aerobics by Jane Fonda and Sweatbands
Jane Fonda still, arguably, has one of the best bodies in the world. She popularised aerobics and during this period leg warmers and the Walkman became a girl’s best friend to the gym.
1990s - ThighMaster
When the 90s hit, the world seemed to be over the group exercise phase and instead were getting obsessed with at-home workout contraptions and frankly scary looking metal that promised to redefine those hard to change areas. Step forward the ThighMaster. It sold more than a million pieces when it launched. However, nobody is seen using this anymore!
2000s - App-based fitness programs and Zumba
As the turn of the Century got into full swing, so did our gym habits and every sports bag around the country had some kind of smart phone in there with the latest fitness or lifestyle app downloaded. FitBit for example launched in 2007 and fast became the wearable accessory of the moment for all gym and sports fans around the world and as well as the smart phone apps, these technological-based wearables started becoming the norm for this decade’s gym lovers.
Additionally, Zumba, created by Beto, became one of the modern-day aerobics classes which fused Latin dances like Salsa, Samba, Merengue, Cumbia, and Reggaeton to bring about a heart pumping, leg warming session full of fun and music. Another notable addition was Les Mills – having gained popularity for classes like BodyAttack, BodyPump, and BodyCombat this fitness company has taken the 21st century by storm with a range of classes for the absolute beginner to the challenge seeker in the gym.
2010 - present day: TECHNOLOGY and Beauty Gadgets
New technologies have revolutionized many industries and the gym and sports realms are no exception. In today’s age, gym goers are now demanding products and accessories that effortlessly belong to every part of their lifestyles, including their active and wellbeing choices.
Nowadays it is very common to see smart beauty gadgets such as the personalized FOREO LUNA fofo cleansing device in the bags alongside the protein drinks and energy bars as people make the connection between self-care and skincare.
“Through the decades, we seen gym habits have changed dramatically with the gym bag getting smaller and the technological advances increasing. There’s also a large shift of active people realising that while they are looking after their bodies, they were not paying enough attention to their skin, and more specifically, their face. With the FOREO LUNA range, FOREO is bridging the gap between self-care and skincare with a device to suit everyone. We are seeing our devices pop up in gym bags all around the world,” adds Steve Thomson, CMO of FOREO.
FOREO is available in-store at Sephora, Harvey Nichols, Bloomingdale’s, Virgin Megastore, Dubai Duty Free, and online at foreo.com and namshi.com as well as many other premium retail and online channels across the Middle East.
Comments