OK, obviously things have changed a bit due to the public health epidemic that has encapsulated the growth. But here’s the good news. Since July 2nd, the state of New Jersey has given clearance for indoor athletic studios (aka. Saltwater Athletics) to host indoor group training sessions, contingent on certain measures being taken. With all of that being said, there is a reason that CrossFit has taken off as a mainstream fitness option. Why? Group fitness classes work.
Let’s start with this scenario. Remember the day you decided you were going to get back in shape? Maybe it was after a long holiday, or perhaps a New Year’s Resolution. You spend hundreds of dollars on new workout gear, supplements, and healthy food that ultimately rots away in your refrigerator. You step into the gym for the first time with your Beats headphones and pre-workout shake. You head over to the dumbbell rack and knock out three sets of ten bicep curls; then scamper over to the bench press and hit four sets of eight bench press. Then you fill in the rest of the hour and a half with some exercises you found on Instagram coupled with mindlessly walking around. And all this time, you watch as the “super in-shape people” hitting heavy lifts and you feel a little discouraged. I can never look like that.
Not exactly the most fulfilling experience, eh? Let us ask you a question… did you really feel like getting up the next day and doing that all again?
If you are new to working out, coming up with an entire workout regimen brings its fair share of challenges. There is such an abundance of information out there, courtesy of Instagram fitness models, that it can be difficult to navigate what actually works for you based on your current goals. Staying disciplined and accountable to yourself is challenging as well… not impossible, but incredibly difficult. Have you ever walked into the gym on your own and half-assed a workout? It can easily happen when there is not someone there to bring you up.
Now let’s look at a group fitness class environment to see how we might be able to more effectively bridge the gap between where you currently are and your goals you have set for yourself.
You walk into your first group fitness class and you are incredibly nervous, but you are immediately met by a coach who welcomes you in and introduces you to the rest of the class. The fellow athletes encourage you that you have made the right choice to come and make themselves available to help you in any way you need. The coach goes through the warmup and the workout that will be completed for that day, so you know exactly what you need to do and when to do it.
As the workout progresses, you find yourself feeling a bit intimidated and insecure. You look around to make sure that no one is judging you as a beginner. And guess what? No one is paying a shred of attention to you.
Without a doubt the best part group fitness classes is that you receive accountability from your classmates, without any sort of judgement. Any feelings of insecurity can be set aside knowing that your fellow athletes will be so consumed trying to finish their workout; they will not be able to expend any sort of energy checking out what you are doing.
But at the same time, working out and sweating with your fellows adds the level of accountability that can be hard to come by when you workout on your own. If the entire group has to finish five more minutes on the bike, you will be far less likely to quit early. On the other hand, if you have five minutes left, and you are tired and by yourself, hopping off a few minutes early doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
There is a lot of power from a group. Why not give it a shot?