Wearable technology tops the American College of Sports Medicine’s fitness trends ranking for 2027, the tenth time it has taken the No. 1 spot, according to the college’s annual survey announced on 20 October 2026. Exercise for weight management sits at No. 6, with ACSM noting growing attention to muscle and physical function as obesity medications become more widely used. For anyone weighing claims made by apps, trackers and trainers, the key caveat is ACSM’s own: the ranking measures what is popular in the industry, not what works.
What the survey measured
The 2027 ACSM Worldwide Fitness Trends report, now in its 21st year, is published in ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal by a workgroup led by Cayla R. McAvoy, PhD. The featured rankings come from more than 1,400 fitness professionals, who rated 50 candidate trends by how widely they saw them in the industry rather than by personal preference or perceived health benefit. It is a survey of practitioners’ observations, not a study of outcomes: it contains no measurement of weight, fitness or health in anyone.
The top ten, in order, are wearable technology; mobile exercise apps; balance, flow and core strength (a category covering Pilates, yoga, barre and mobility work); fitness programmes for older adults; traditional strength training; exercise for weight management; group fitness classes; data-driven training technology; exercise for mental health and well-being; and influencer- or ambassador-led fitness programmes.
The movement is in the detail. Mobile apps climbed from fourth to second. Group classes jumped six places, from 13th to seventh. Balance and core work rose from fifth to third, and strength training rose two places to fifth. Influencer-led programmes returned to the top ten after falling out of the top 20 in the 2026 survey. ACSM says wearables were the only trend to place in the top three across every professional role, work setting and experience level presented in the report.
Where obesity medications come in
ACSM’s description of the weight-management entry ties it directly to drug treatment: exercise remains central to weight-management programmes, it says, with growing attention to preserving muscle and physical function as obesity management medications spread. That is the fitness profession’s version of a question this site covers often, which is what happens to lean tissue during weight loss on GLP-1 medicines.
A day later, on 21 October, ACSM published a “Hot Topic” commentary led by Renee J. Rogers, PhD, revisiting the college’s 2023 perspective on anti-obesity medications. Its argument cuts against some of the marketing the trends list reflects. The authors write that claims that exercise fully preserves muscle during substantial weight loss go beyond the available evidence; that lean mass, as most body-composition scans report it, includes water, organs and connective tissue as well as muscle; and that there is no evidence exercise or building muscle lets patients come off obesity medication. They also point to emerging data showing that people can lose some lean tissue and still become stronger and fitter with exercise, and argue that function, such as climbing stairs or getting up off the floor, says more about health than a single number on a body-composition report.
What is not yet known
A trends survey cannot say whether any trend helps people, and ACSM states this plainly: a high ranking reflects industry visibility and adoption, and does not establish that a product or programme is effective. Respondents are fitness professionals, whose view of the industry may differ from what the wider public actually does, and the announcement does not give a response rate. The commentary is expert opinion rather than new data; it mentions ongoing research by its authors but reports no results. Whether structured exercise changes muscle, strength or weight regain in people taking newer obesity medicines is still being studied. We read ACSM’s announcement and the commentary in full; the journal report itself was not accessible to us, so the full top-20 list and the international rankings are not covered here.
Sources: American College of Sports Medicine, “Wearables Hold Top Spot in ACSM’s 2027 Fitness Trends,” news release, 20 October 2026; McAvoy CR, Turpin Stanfield J, Camhi SM, et al. “2027 ACSM Worldwide Fitness Trends.” ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 2026; Rogers RJ, et al. “Hot Topic | Three Years Later: Obesity Medications Have Changed – Has the Exercise Profession?” ACSM, 21 October 2026.
