Benefits of Group Fitness By Dynamic Souls

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Benefits of Group Fitness By Dynamic Souls

Variety. Inclusion. Achievement. And the list goes on…

Whether you’re looking to try something new, considering giving it another shot, or just want more reasons to love it, here are the top 3 benefits of working out in a group:

 

Motivation

We all know the feeling: You’re working out on your own, your muscles start to scream and…you stop.

Without anyone around, it can be easy to stay in your comfort zone—a little sweat, a little spike in the heartbeat, nothing more. But when working out with others, many find they push themselves harder. This is the motivation factor, and there’s some science to back it up: One study in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology found a significant boost in motivation that resulted from “social comparedness” while working out among others.

There’s a number of different explanations—or types of motivations—as to why people push themselves more in groups. For some, it might be a little friendly competition; others might find their motivation by comparison. You and your Squadmate are neck and neck in sprints, so you dig a little deeper. You feel you’ve hit your max on burpees but your Squadmates are still going, so you dig deeper.

In other words, working out with others offers a unique motivation that in turn inspires people to reach new physical limits. Lift heavier, run faster and go longer.

 

Community

In addition to the physical benefits, group exercise also offers psychological ones too.

Throughout an entire class, you may not ever partner or even talk to another Squadmate but at the end, you’ve accomplished a workout together as a group. Attending a workout class isn’t merely working out with a group, it’s also working out as a group. Where group fitness pushes you out of your comfort zone, it also pulls you into a community.

A study in the Preventative Medicine journal surveyed a collection of prior research on group fitness and found that one of the main benefits participants found was “social connectedness,” from meeting new people in their city to simply finding a home-away-from-home gym family. And the study further suggests that this community was a primary contributor to the fact that those who do group fitness have a high likelihood of sticking to it, with a long-term adherence rate of 70%.

 

Convenience

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial, it’s also worth noting the stress-free nature of group workout classes when compared to working out on your own. In an age where we can order groceries with a few taps on our phone and packages show up a mere two days after ordering, we as a society prefer—and have grown accustomed to—convenience.

Well, group fitness is just that: convenient.

When opting to take a workout class, the only task is showing up. No workout planning, no equipment buying, no scrolling through playlists to pick a song. It’s all done for you, at a fraction of the cost of personal training and—as this article hopefully points out—with some added benefits.

 

But don’t take our word for it; try it yourself! At Dynamic Souls, our group fitness classes give you equal parts muscle-quivering workout and fun-loving community. Oh, and did we mention your first class is free?
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