Despite being a fitness guru herself, Suzanne Hosley has a personal trainer to supervise a twice-a-week workout. Running several times per week and walking as much as possible also keeps her in good shape.
Suzanne Hosley training fitness instructors.
"I believe that fitness is essential in life: it keeps you young and energetic and sleeping well as well as helps fight disease. Staying fit is a lifetime commitment and becomes an enjoyable habit... everyone should try it," said Hosley, who holds a doctorate in business administration.
In the mid 1980s, she moved from Montreal to Asia, firstly to work in business and management education prior to fitness and sports training certification.
"I have lived more than half my life in Asia, someone once said that I am now a 'Canasian'," she said.
Suzanne Hosley.
As more health-conscious people headed to the gym, a demand for fitness professionals had Hosley opening FIT (Fitness Innovations Thailand) in 2004 to provide proper education and training as well as international certification.
As an extension to FIT, the sports enthusiast also launched Asia Fitness Conference (AFC) in 2009, as an annual event to bring updates on the latest knowledge and trends.
From Oct 9-11, the 7th Asia Fitness Conference & Expo will be coming to Bangkok, at Bitec. The line-up of internationally-renowned experts includes Peter Twist (sport conditioning), JC Santana (personal training), John Perry (functional movement), Marla Ericksen (yin yoga) and Zoey Trapp (Pilates).
"In the past, fitness generally meant machines and free weights or yoga. Today, there are multiple types of fitness centres, from CrossFit boxes to functional training gyms to muay Thai gyms, Pilates studios and more," she said.
Trending in Thailand are CrossFit, Functional Training and Pilates, she added, while body weight training and transformed callisthenics are making a comeback. A huge trend in the West, barre and ballet-inspired fitness have yet to make a big impact in Bangkok, but Physique 57 studio has opened up the market for this type of workout. In addition, there are more group exercise classes such as Zumba and Piloxing starting up.
"The breadth, depth, and quality of the fitness industry has increased tremendously. Ten years ago, there were no internationally-qualified Thai trainers but now there are thousands of them, but still not enough," she said.
The upcoming fitness conference will be accompanied by an expo featuring the latest equipment, products, accessories, clothing and nutrition products.
Innovation is a key to the fitness industry, with manufacturers continuously improving their equipment to optimise biomechanics and usability.
Technogym, for example, has created a system whereby club members using their machines can track their progress from one workout to the next. These innovations allow people to take control of their own health and fitness levels.
Other innovations include "portable" fitness equipment such as TRX, ViPR and Hyperwear Sandbells, to name a few, allowing trainers and clients to take fitness outside or into their own home. This also means that smaller studios can open without a huge upfront investment.
"The focus is now on wellness, not just fitness. Recently, there has been a surge in the creation of apps and accessories to help people track their physical activity levels and/or nutrition all day long," Hosley noted.
"Apps such as MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper are great for keeping track of fitness activities and/or nutrition and wearable accessories such as FitBit and Jawbone help people track their physical activity, calories burnt and sleep patterns."
Open to the public, fitness enthusiasts can enter the Model Physique, Kettlebell and Olympic lifting competitions taking place during the conference.
Visit www.AsiaFitnessBKK.com for more information.
