You may already exercise or at least understand all the health benefits it offers. People who workout are always looking for ways to make their time working out more productive and provide more benefits to meet their passion for good health and fitness. While having private training has many benefits that any type of one to one program will provide, there’s a lot of benefits from working out in a group that you might not realize.
A study showed interesting results.
One study covered three groups of medical students, 69 students in total. The first did a 30-minute group training program with the second group working out on their own or with one to two partners twice a week. The last group didn’t have a formal program, other than normal walking or biking to destinations. All students started at the same level for both mental, emotional and physical quality of life. Researchers not only measured at the beginning, but also every four weeks. At the end of 12 weeks, the group exercising alone improved only mental quality of life, while those training in groups improved in all areas and also reduced stress levels.
Working out in groups may have an impact on pain tolerance.
There are studies for everything and one of those measured pain tolerance while working out alone compared to working out in a group. One study showed that when people worked out on a rowing machine in a group for 45 minutes, compared to those who worked out alone for the same amount of time, those who worked out in a group, synchronizing their movements, had higher pain tolerance. Researchers believe it may be due to an increase in endorphin release.
Meta studies show there’s a difference in the type of group or alone workout.
After reviewing 44 studies conducted before 2006, this Nebraska Medical Center Meta study found that the context of the exercise made a difference. Was the exercise done with a health care professional at home? Were the exercise groups traditional group classes or ones meant to increase bonding? Those that were meant to increase bonding, which were called true “group” classes, got the most benefits. Working out alone at home got the least amount of benefits.
- You get more benefits from group training when you have a chance to share your experience with feedback from others. It helps to workout where you feel part of something bigger than just your own fitness goal.
- It’s interesting to find that extroverts tended to like group sessions, while introverts prefer private exercise. Extroverts also tended to like high intensity training workouts more than introverts.
- Some benefits of group classes go back to the social bonding that occurs in the classes. It also includes the competitive nature of people to push beyond the point they would if they worked out alone.
- No matter whether you work out alone or in a group, it’s all about consistency. When you start a program, sticking with it and doing it regularly provides the most benefits.
For more information, contact us today at Reggie C Fitness