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Individuals who exercise in groups reap more health benefits.

Benefits of Group exercise

By Asif AliPublished 2 years ago 4 min read
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Any type of exercise is beneficial, but working out in a group may provide an added boost.

Do you like to work out alone at the gym, on the road, or the trail?

Do you prefer a busy group exercise session where everyone is breathing, moving, and toning at the same time?

There's no disadvantage to remaining physically active, no matter what form of exercise you prefer - especially with so many Americans falling short of national fitness standards.

However, evidence reveals that if you prefer to exercise alone, you may be losing out on some of the health benefits of group exercises.

Workouts in groups vs. solo

Exercise has long been known to provide numerous mental health advantages, including improved sleep and mood, increased sex desire, and increased energy and mental alertness.

Researchers in a recent study investigated whether group exercise could benefit medical students, a high-stress group that could benefit from frequent exercises. 69 medical students participated in one of three workout groups for the study.

At least once a week, one group participated in a 30-minute group core strengthening and functional fitness training program, with additional activity if desired.

Another group was solo exercisers, who worked out at least twice a week on their own or with up to two partners.

Students in the last group did not engage in any physical activity other than walking or biking to go where they wanted to go.

At the start of the trial and every four weeks, the researchers assessed students' reported stress levels and quality of life (mental, physical, and emotional). For these mental health measures, all of the students began their studies around the same level.

Group exercisers saw gains in all three forms of quality of life after 12 weeks, as well as a reduction in stress levels. Even though they exercised an hour more each week than the group exercisers, solo exercisers merely enhanced their mental quality of life. Neither the stress level nor the quality of life of the control group improved.

synchronized workouts

Other studies have looked at how group exercise, specifically working out in time, affects social bonding, pain tolerance, and athletic performance.

Researchers recruited people to row for 45 minutes in a study published in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2013. People who had rowed in groups — and synced their actions — had a higher pain tolerance than solo rowers after the session. Whether people were rowing with teammates or strangers, their pain tolerance increased.

Researchers believe that the enhanced pain tolerance is due to a higher release of endorphins, or "feel-good" hormones, as a result of people exercising in sync with one another. Behavioral movement is the term for this type of coordinated movement.

All group courses are not made equal.

Paul Estabrooks, Ph.D., a behavioral health professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, discovered at the "exercise environment" influences how much exercise affects the quality of life, social relationships, physical advantages, and people's motivation to exercise.

Estabrooks and his colleagues looked examined 44 prior research that compared the advantages of different exercise environments in a 2006 review published in Sport and Exercise Psychology Review.

Home exercises, either alone or with the assistance of a health professional; standard exercise courses; and "real group" classes, in which unique tactics weutilizedsed to create social bonding among participants.

The most advantages came from true group classes.

The greater the advantages, in general, the more interaction or social support people received during exercise — from researchers, health professionals, or other exercise participants.

"Group-based exercise sessions are often only more effective when they incorporate group dynamics tactics," Estabrooks told Healthline.

Setting group goals, exchanging comments, conversing with other students in the class, integrating friendly competition, and incorporating "activities to help people feel like they are part of something — a sense of individuality" are all examples of this.

This isn't something you'll find in every exercise class.

"This isn't normally the case in most group fitness sessions," Estabrooks explained, "where people show up, follow a teacher, don't say much to one another, and then leave." Although group exercise courses may provide additional benefits, they are not for everyone.

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