6 Reasons To Join Group Fitness Classes In Lakeland, Florida

There are so many options to get in shape. Some people can buy a gym membership and be self motivated enough to get after it every day. Others require one on one personal training to stay persistent and get results. This article is about another option; group training. Group training is that nice middle ground niche that most people enjoy the most. Not as expensive as personal training and much more motivating than trying to show up to the gym and put your own routine together on the fly. This article is going to spell out the 6 primary reasons to join a group fitness class. Some of the points will be specific to our gym, but most of the insight should be universal.

#1 Price

You’re getting one on one training at a more cost-effective method. Being a personal trainer for over 10 years has shown me that personal training is typically catered to the top 10%. It’s not achievable for everyone due to financial constraints.

Group training has allowed individuals to achieve the same results and attention, but at a cheaper price. Sacrificing a cup of coffee a day or a night out could pay for a personalized fitness routine in a group training setting. The average cable bill is over $100 according to slashdot.org. How much satisfaction do you get after spending an hour watching TV?

# 2 Competition

Some people can compete with themselves. That's the guy or gal that pays $35 a month for a gym membership each month and can get the fitness results they want. However, like most people, that might not be ideal for you.

Whether you’re competitive or not, it’s always good to have a push. I see it first hand EVERY DAY. Friendly competition is the wood that keeps the fire burning at my group classes!

I'll give you a great example. I have a wonderful client named Tina. She does the group classes in the morning and then one on one training with me afterwards. After a few months, I told Tina that she works harder in the group classes than her one on ones. She laughed and agreed. Don't get me wrong, Tina was KILLING it in our one on ones, but there was a noticeable difference. She said that being in the group keeps her motivated to progress! At the end of the day it’s human psychology. According to Standford research, working in a group increases motivation to complete challenging tasks.

#3 Accountability

Yes, you will be accountable to the other people in your class, but your trainer is not here to take your money, they're here to get you results. To prove that to my clients, one month I made every single client make a goal for the month. If they didn’t achieve that goal, I would fire them. I didn’t do this to be a jerk. I did because I KNEW that every goal they set they could achieve. I believed in them and they believed in me...

I lost no clients that month.

Here are a few specific goals that were achieved because of the accountability of group training.

Client 1: 13-minute mile dropped down to under 10 minutes in a month. They were at the lake every day. They were consistent. They came in before class and ran before training. At the end of the month, neither of us were shocked by the results because of how dedicated she was to the goal.

Client 2: 95 pound woman. Her bench went from 95 pounds to 125 pounds. In fact, she did two reps!

#4 Customized Plans

As I mentioned earlier in this article, personal training is important, but oftentimes out of reach of many people. Each individual in our group fitness class has a unique workout. Why don’t most gyms do this? Because it takes more time, structure, and responsibility. It’s easy for everyone to do the same workout. Once you get past 10 people, you stretch yourself too thin and you no longer get the same unique treatment. That’s exactly why we capped the maximum per class to 10 members. We’re not willing to sacrifice your results for profit.

#5 No Judgement

We might have a professional athlete, a 70+ year old woman working on stability, someone that just had a baby working to get back into shape, and someone who is just getting started in fitness. You would think with this diverse of a group, you would not be able to keep the intensity in each class. The people that have a more athletic ability not only accomplished their goals, but build up the other people in the room.

Everyone started somewhere. It’s not about your athletic ability at group classes, it’s about your effort. So, I kind of take it back. There’s no judgement for how you look, or how much weight you can bench, but you better show up every day fully committed or there might be judgement on your effort.

#6 Community

No matter what gym you go to, hopefully you’ll build a sense of community and strong relationships. You sweat with your peers, you push your limits with your group, you struggle with your friends, but at the end of the day your'e getting better together. That lasts long after the workout.

What makes this sense of community even stronger here, is that the classes are capped at 10 people. So you know each individual by name. You know if they’re getting married, having a grandchild, or whether they have achieved their goals for that month.

What reason matters to you?

These are my favorite reasons for considering group fitness classes. You might not care about all of these points. You might only care about one or two, but do you care enough to take action? That's on you. If you have any questions about group fitness classes or want to try out a class, stop by the gym. I'm there Monday-Friday proving that the reasons above are getting dozens of my clients in better shape every day.