The Most Popular Virtual Workouts Of 2020, According To ClassPass

Though 2020 may not have changed fitness forever, people sure worked out differently than usual this year. With more people able to be flexible about their fitness routines, lunchtime workouts saw a surge in 2020, a new report by ClassPass shows. The report also showed which virtual workouts people actually did this year.

According to the report, which looked at data and insights from 30,000 fitness and wellness boutiques across 30 countries, noon became the most popular time to work out during the week. Lunchtime workouts in general saw a 67% boost in popularity.

The report also showed that 25% of corporate ClassPass users are now exercising more than they were pre-pandemic, with 1 in 5 using their former commute time to work out. Also, 4 in 5 shared that exercise helped them adjust to a new work-from-home routine.

The report also showed that Wednesday became the most popular day of the week to work out during the pandemic. As for weekends, 10 a.m. was the most popular time to break a sweat.

As far as how people were working out, there was a 25% increase in reservations for yoga classes, which was also the most popular digital workout choice. Strength training was the on-demand workout most likely to be replayed, according to the report.

After yoga, the most popular digital activities were high-intensity interval training (HIIT), Pilates, barre, dance, stretching, and boxing. HIIT participation increased by 26%, while Pilates saw an increase of 16%.

Meditation and stretching also fell into the top 10 on-demand activities on the platform, with meditation seeing a 19% increase in usage.

Once studios began to offer IRL classes again, the most popular in-person workout was HIIT, followed by indoor cycling, reformer Pilates, vinyasa yoga, bootcamp, boxing, and hot yoga.

So will all these digital workouts stick around in 2021? The report said that 92% of people were planning to return to their in-person studios when they feel it’s safe to do so — but many of them might have some new routines to follow.