SQUAT’S ALL
THAT ABOUT?
UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR
THE FITNESS SHOW
The end of July saw the announcement by Reed Exhibitions that, following a thorough
and extensive review of their events portfolio globally, they would no longer be presenting
The Fitness Show, which has traditionally been held alongside FILEX, the fitness industry
convention.
The Fitness Show has been running annually under various names, most notably
perhaps The Fitness Expo, and has had various owners since the 1990’s.
In a statement, Brian Thomas, Managing Director of Reed Exhibitions Australia,
wrote “There is no doubt that The Fitness Shows in Sydney and Melbourne were valued
events for the fitness community. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of
our customers, partners, suppliers and friends within the innovative, vibrant and dynamic
fitness industry in Australia. We hope that The Fitness Shows played some small role in
bringing the community together and providing a space where long lasting relationships
could be formed.”
Following the announcement from Reed, the board of the FILEX convention released
a statement in which they expressed their wishes for The Fitness Show to continue
operating, describing it as ‘a vital and much-loved event’.
While it initially sounded as though a number of industry stakeholders were considering
options for keeping The Fitness Show running, no further announcements have been
made, and the future of the event remains in doubt at this stage.
We know that active wear has gone
gangbusters in recent years (and that
wearing it doesn’t necessarily indicate any
intention to be active). For those who do
workout in their athleisure gear, however,
the sub-genre of ‘squat proof leggings’ is
the latest must-have item for their workout
wardrobes, with internet searches for the
term having increased by 4,000% over the
last five years, according to search trend
analysers Exploding Topics.
The propensity for traditional leggings to
become transparent when stretched (when
squatting for example) created a market for
a product that didn’t exhibit this unfortunate
feature. In fact, Shape magazine apparently
found that many personal trainers consider
‘unwittingly transparent leggings’ a serious
problem for their clients.
Naturally, a number of active wear brands
are now getting on board and adding squat
proof lines to their ranges.
Source: Exploding Topics
Source: FILEX Holdings & Reed Exhibitions
The way we were…
As we commemorate 20 years since Sydney
hosted the Olympic Games, we thought we’d
take a look back at the Network magazine
covers from that exciting and optimistic time.
January 2000 looked at ‘Fitness in 2000’
and ‘Aqua and safety’ (at a time when
‘safety’ wasn’t referring to social distancing,
as in this issue’s aqua feature on page 41).
Elsewhere, Sunrise to Sunset Step got a
look-in, as did savvy supplementation.
The rise of mind/body and
BODYBALANCE from Les Mill’s captured
our attention later that year, as did the
emergence of life coaching as an area in
which fitness professionals might consider
working.
The year of what IOC President Juan
Antonio Samaranch described as ‘the best
Olympic Games ever’ was also the year
we launched fitnessnetwork.com.au, and
although in many ways 2020 may not be
holding a candle to the year 2000, we’re
pretty confident that our online presence
has evolved for the better!
NETWORK SPRING 2020 | 9