Group fitness classes have always been a staple in commercial fitness centres, and in recent years they have only gained popularity. The rise of boutique group exercise studios has been meteoric, and many of my clients came to me having tried group fitness classes in the past.
Group workouts may be popular, however they are far from perfect in what they offer. I would go so far as to say that most people who enjoy group exercise classes will eventually need to move on to other types of exercise.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to spend this whole post bashing group workout classes. They can be fun, encouraging, and can provide some direction when you’re unsure what to do at the gym. I’ve taught a variety of group workouts over 14 years in the fitness industry, and I can see the value they offer.
That being said, it can be discouraging, boring, or even risky to find yourself in a class that isn’t suited to you. Your workout class may not deliver enough of the stimulus you need, or it could not be paying off in terms of it’s risk:reward ratio.
Gyms usually want to promote their classes, instead of prescribing them. They want to promote the idea that the class is good for everyone, instead of educating people on what else they could be doing. This can make it hard to know when it’s time to ditch the classes and move on to something that’s tailor-made for you.
What Are Group Fitness Classes?
Group Exercise Classes are usually performed in a studio with a ratio of 1-2 instructors for 10-30 participants. The instructor delivers a pre-planned, sometimes choreographed workout, usually with upbeat music and funky dance-room lighting. These workouts can involve bikes, weights, bodyweight, boxing, or a combination of all the above.
I’ve taught many of these classes in the past – they’re fun, fast-paced, and provide a useful framework if you’re not sure what to do in the gym. They’re also great if you like a group atmosphere. A lot of people find the group fitness environment to be incredibly motivating.
Nevertheless, there’s a good reason that so many of the people I meet graduated from these workout classes because they stopped getting results, got bored, or got injured. Many found themselves wanting more than group exercise could deliver. That’s because group exercise typically lacks several of the key components required to get long-term results.
1. Lack of Progressive Overload
Overload is the term we use to describe the incremental increases in stress that we apply to our body over time. The human body is incredibly adaptable, and each time we do something we get slightly stronger and fitter. This diminishes the returns we get from doing the same workout over and over, which subsequently increases our need for progressive overload.
Group workouts may feel like they’re applying progressive overload. You’ll notice the following changes:
- You’ll get better at the exercises that feature regularly;
- You might find that you can push yourself harder;
- Sessions will still end with you feeling exhausted, like you worked to your limit.
These elements may provide a form of overload, but it’s short-lived. Real progressive overload requires you to perform very similar workouts consistently, with very minor increases each week. Most class instructors don’t have the time to structure that level of progressive overload into the sessions – this would require the instructor to track the progress of each member of the class, and plan a way for them to do more than last week.
Instead, it’s usually left to you to decide what weight/difficulty to choose on a given day. Even if you’re tracking your performance rigorously, there are usually too many variables that change from week to week for you to be able to progress regularly.
The fatigue and soreness may make you feel feel like you’re busting through a plateau, but it could be the thing that’s holding you back.
2. The Formula
Most classes need to stick to a specific brief – I.e. a bike class has to mostly involve cycling, a boxing class has to include mostly boxing, etc. This creates a fairly narrow format the workout has to follow. Some classes, like circuits and HIIT, may have a bit more freedom, but they still have to deliver a format based around work:rest ratios.
At the same time, classes usually strive for variety within that format. Instructors may try to reinvent the wheel, because the fitness industry has advertised variety as a key factor in training (even when it isn’t). The promise of variety makes workouts sound more “exciting”, even if this flies in the face of actual results.
HIIT and circuit classes may strive to be completely different from week to week. Boxing fitness classes can be overly reliant on skipping, footwork drills, and pushups to break the pattern of repetitive punching drills. Even bike classes have “evolved” to include light resistance exercise – usually performed whilst still peddling on the bike. This has the effect of feeling like you’re trying to rub your tummy, pat your head, burn 800 calories, and remember the words to the instructor’s Abba playlist all at the same time.
So what happens when you combine a strict formula with a constant need for innovation? You’re left with a class that is too repetitive to provide a fresh stimulus for long, but too varied to actually move the needle forward (see progressive overload, above). If this sounds frustrating and contradictory, that’s because it is.
3. Group Fitness Classes Lack Individualisation
I’ve spoken a little about how classes cannot be tailored to account for individual progression from week to week in the way that personal training can. But tailoring a workout goes much further than simply programming overload. Other important factors are experience, injury history, age, goals and fitness level. These factors are often ignored in group fitness classes, despite instructors’ best intentions.
Try as they might, classes cannot meet these needs for all people. In a workout class of 20 people, there will be a significant percentage of people who are not a good fit. They might find the class is too easy, too hard, or just not aligned with their goals.
This can cause classes to be a breeding ground for misinformation. A truly tailored workout is impossible, so instructors often play things safe by implementing rules that lack nuance. Here are some examples of the advice my clients have received in group workouts:
- Got a sore knee? Don’t let your knees go over your toes because that’s bad for the knee.
- Bad shoulder? Don’t do any pushing work because that’s bad for your posture, which in turn will wreck your shoulders.
- Can’t squat well? You must have a hip imbalance.
- Did you get injured in a class? That’s because you didn’t stretch enough.
Whether these statements are correct, or appropriate in the moment, is not the point. Instructors often share these statements with the class at the drop of a hat. They feed into restrictive and often faulty beliefs about exercise risk. This makes people even more afraid of leaving the class and heading into gym on their own.
Neither injury nor progress occurs within a bubble. Expecting an instructor to be able to make individual training recommendations en masse during a class, with very little context, is a recipe for disappointment.
Conclusion
In spite of the above, group fitness classes do have plenty to offer. However, it’s best to perform exercise classes in small doses, alongside the advice of an experienced coach. This is especially true if you want to get the best results possible.
Do you want to learn how to implement group workouts into your training journey? Get in touch below and I’ll be happy help.