Take one look at the ACSM trends for the past decade and you’ll see one mega trend that stands out from all others – group fitness is all the rage. Whether it’s CrossFit, boot camps, or high-intensity interval training classes, group training is here to stay.

The advantages to group training are plentiful. High-level coaching at a fraction of the cost of a one-on-one trainer. Lots of high energy, accountability, and support. Plus, nothing quite pushes you like the competitive nature of a group of your peers.

Contrasted with the prospect of spending an hour on the treadmill by yourself or paying a monthly mortgage payment for a trainer, group fitness seems like a no brainer.

“Group fitness is not like going to Burger King where you get it your way. If there are twenty other people in class, odds are some of them like what you don’t.”

But what about the disadvantages? What about that annoying guy in your class who’s there to pick up on the ladies? What about those two irritating women who use their time in class to chat away and catch up on the latest gossip? What about overpriced, overcrowded, and unsafe fitness programs? What is the proper group class etiquette and just what exactly are your rights and responsibilities as a participant of group fitness?

Here is a breakdown of what you should expect and what you should be expected of you when it comes to group fitness.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article I

You have a right to expect top-level coaching, classes that start and end on time, and professionalism on behalf of those who administer your fitness.

You pay good money for fitness, yoga, Zumba, and what have you. That money should earn you a top-notch product. There are simply too many fitness entities out there for you to not expect the most for your dollar. If you’re not getting great coaching from a fitness professional, go find one.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article II

You have a right to a well-regulated and safe fitness environment. Your fitness studio should have nationally certified trainers and coaches. All of them should provide safe and effective routines.

Everyone who administers and supports your fitness should be CPR and first aid certified and their priority should your safety, health, and wellness. Some states also require by law that fitness facilities have an AED on site. Inquire at your gym or studio as to their safety standards and practices and accept nothing less than safety first at all times.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article III

You should not do any fitness routine without your own consent and that of your doctor. Your consent means knowing what you can and can’t or should and shouldn’t do in terms of exercise.

If you go to a restaurant and overeat, that is on you, not the restaurant. CrossFit gets a bad reputation for being unsafe, and certainly some CrossFit proprietors could do a better job of prequalifying their participants, but honestly, if you jack yourself up at CrossFit, that’s your fault, not theirs. Unless you were given unsafe and/or improper instruction, it’s up to you to know your limits. CrossFit and high-intensity training are advanced modalities of exercise – enter at your own risk.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article IV

You have the right to not have your space, time, and attention violated. In a group setting, everyone should be afforded equal respect and attention. The Chatty Cathys and Douchey Dudes need to be put in their place, told to shut up, and told to do work. Group fitness serves one primary purpose – to get you more fit.

Disruptions and disrespectful participants should not be tolerated or allowed. Social time is for after class. End of story. In my HIIT training, boxing, or fitness classes, I tell my students politely, yet firmly that there is no talking unless you have a question. You are there to work. Period.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article V

You have the right not to be pressured, bullied, or pushed to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing. Even in advanced and specialized training, you should have the right to participate and go at your own speed and level.

You should never feel pressured to spar if you do martial arts. You should never feel pressured to jump if you have bad knee and you do HIIT training. All participants should work hard, bring their “A” game, and show up to do work, but they should do that work at their own level. Respect should be afforded to all.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article VI

You do not have the right to a customized workout in a group setting. You don’t like the music an instructor plays or the exercises programmed for the class? Well, then you have the choice to leave and/or not go back. Group fitness is not like going to Burger King where you get it your way.

If there are twenty other people in class, odds are some of them like what you don’t. If you want it your way all the time, suck it up and pay for a personal trainer or specialized coach.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article VII

You have the responsibility to prepare yourself for training. That means fueling and hydrating properly. That means not wearing shoes that are two years old. That means having the proper attire. That means taking a shower and having proper hygiene when you are exercising in public.

When you fail to prepare and/or present yourself properly for an exercise class you are potential liability and the fitness instructor and the gym proprietor have the right to ask you to leave.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article VIII

You have a right to not tolerate excessive fees, studios that nickel and dime you, or businesses that use pressure sales tactics. There is no place for pressure sales in the fitness world. True fitness professionals should act like doctors. That is, they should take an oath to do no harm and practice wellness, no matter what.

Fitness is a business, but the integrity of sound practices in wellness comes first. If some slick salesperson pressures you, turn and walk away and find a fitness professional that will take care of you and respect your time and money.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article IX

You have the right to never be discriminated against and the responsibility to act the same way toward others. The most important word in fitness is respect. Respect toward self, respect toward your environment, respect toward others.

When we help and work alongside those who are less fortunate, less fit, or less coordinated, everyone wins. Discrimination of any sort should never, under any circumstance, be tolerated.

The Group Fitness Bill of Rights and Responsibilities: Article X

The powers to change your life, get fit, and be well ultimately reside within you as the individual.

If you aren’t getting the results you seek, first look in the mirror and give yourself an honest assessment. Are you doing everything you can do?

Health is your most valuable possession, and while your employer, government, and fitness facility should be resources in helping you achieve better fitness, your long-term results will come down to how bad you want it and how hard you’re willing to work.

More Like This:

• Just Don’t Annoy Me: How to Coach a Good Group Exercise Class
• What Is “Group Personal Training” and Does It Work?
• Group Flow: The Pathway to Peak Human Performance

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The researchers indicated that group-based weight-loss plans have been more effective than personal training in previous studies. They suggested that with more people comes more role-models, support, and competition.

However, much like how a larger class size in college can diminish your experience, the researchers suggested that health and fitness outcomes may benefit more from smaller group sizes. This was the first study of its kind to test how the size of a group affects individual results.

Study Design

66 overweight adults took part in this year-long study. They were divided into either a single large group of thirty participants, or three other small groups with twelve participants each. They were mostly women, although there were some men as well. While the average age was fifty years old, the only age requirement was that they were at or over 21. All the subjects belonged to an HMO, which is how they were recruited for the study, meaning that most of them were probably professionals as well.

For the first six months the participants met as a group roughly once per week to weigh in and learn about weight loss, discuss their progress, and practice skills needed to affect change. They performed something similar during the second half of the year to boost motivation, but only once per month.

Results

The small groups won the day. After six months, the small-group members had doubled their results, with 14.3lb lost. The subjects in the large group had only lost seven pounds.

After a year, the results were even more divided. While the small group subjects had lost 15.4lb of bodyweight by then, which was not much more than their six-month measurement, the large-group subjects had gained some of the weight back, with a total of 3.7lb lost.

This means the small group size was more than four times as effective for weight loss over the course of a year. Not only did the small group participants achieve greater weight loss on average, but the they were also more likely to achieve a significant level of weight loss on their own.

Why Smaller Groups Were Better

One of the reasons for greater success was that the participants of the smaller group felt as though they were a part of something. They reported feeling more engaged. As noted by the researchers, this suggests that “smaller group settings provide more positive, cohesive, and collaborative atmospheres.”

The researchers said adherence made the biggest difference between success in the small group and lack of it in the large group. Specifically, the subjects had adherence to the behavioral modification strategies, like self-monitoring. The more intimate group dynamic in the smaller group resulted in better follow-through.

If you’re looking to lose weight, or achieve other health and fitness related goals, this study has your answer.Adding a social component reinforces your ability to stick to your plan, resulting in greater success.

References:

1. Gareth Dutton, et. al., “A randomized trial comparing weight loss treatment delivered in large versus small groups,” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 2014, 11:123

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1. People who love to work out first thing in the morning (I am not a morning guy).
2. The fact that many women seem to love to work out together in big groups and classes, with or without the presence of men.

I frankly have no idea what makes morning people or women tick. Still, I like to hypothesize and I have developed some theories as it relates to women and group exercise. (Morning people are simply a different breed, so I’ll save the topic for a later date.)

Though I have been coaching teaching, training, and writing for years, I have never quite been able to put my finger on the dynamic of the majority of fitness classes being female-based. When I walk past a group exercise studio my mind is filled with a mixture of curiosity as to why it’s filled with so many women, as well as dash of regret for having chosen boxing instead of Zumba. I can tell you that from my estimation the average Zumba participant certainly is softer and gentler than the guys (and gals) hanging around the boxing gym. I’ve decided that surely, in my next life, I’ll be a Zumba instructor and participant. But, I digress.

So what is the deal with women and exercise? While many of us guys do some hanging out in a group, perhaps the golf course or maybe a martial arts studio, it seems that more of us are more loners when it comes to our daily exercise. Even when we do hang out together for such activities, we make them seem like a competition, be it pick-up basketball, sparring at the boxing gym, or city-wide sports leagues. Guys, on the golf course, how often do you play when there isn’t some wager per hole? I rest my case.

Us guys play together, but we aren’t necessarily making friends, we’re competing. I coached boxing at the same studio for years and I developed almost no male friendships out of that studio, despite an overwhelming male membership. Whereas I was able to connect with the small group of female members and still keep in touch with them after I left that gym. Hmm. Guys were there to throw punches, pure and simple. Ladies, too, but there seems to be more to the equation for females than just exercising and learning. What gives?

Theory Number One:

Women are plotting to take over the world.

When I asked my best friend’s wife, Angie, her take on women and group exercise, she stopped for a moment and simply said, “We’re there to talk.” It’s about what’s said in between the exercises, or before and after class, during the stretch and cool down, in the locker room, and at Starbucks after spin class.

Now I’m not really sure what is said, but I am pretty sure it isn’t anything I can chime in about. In all of my years in weight rooms, martial arts studios, and boxing gyms, I can probably count on one hand the amount of in-depth conversations I have had with my fellow men. Women conversely seem to be able to chat and exercise simultaneously, or perhaps its exercise, then chat. I dunno. What I do know is that every time I ask a group class I am instructing to quiet down, women just so happen to be the culprits. Angie’s theory may have some merit.

Theory Number Two:

Women love to dance.

Zumba. African jazz dance. Ballet barre. Even the martial arts have a dance-like element. Every guy that’s ever been dragged out on to the dance floor at a wedding or talked into ballroom dancing with his gal, knows that generally, women seem to like to dance more than we do. They love to get up and groove. Put some music on and women will turn it in to a dance party.

There does seem to be some truth to this theory as it relates to group exercise and women, but the problem is it doesn’t stop at exercise dance classes. I both train and manage at a studio where we do traditional exercise (no dancing or grooving!) that is comprised of heart rate based interval training and still 70% of our clients are women. In yoga and Pilates the women vastly outnumber the men and there’s no dancing there. Even in spin class, having taught that for years as well, it seems to be majority women. Clearly there is more than rhythm and dance behind the reason women love to exercise in class together.

Theory Number Three:

Women have an easier time taking instruction.

When I asked this question about women and group exercise to a close friend and long-time client she responded that women have an easier time taking instruction. Having been in and around the martial arts for years this one surprised me. Personally I am very much used to saying and hearing “No, sir” and “Yes, ma’am,” so it never occurred to me that women might be more okay with doing exactly what the spin instructor says, whereas men might be prone to doing their own thing.

Let me get this straight – us guys have a hard time following direction? That’s like saying if a guy gets lost while driving he won’t stop and ask for directions. Who has ever heard of such a thing?! This theory interests me, although I can neither prove nor deny its accuracy.

Theory Number Four:

It’s about support and community.

Women exercise for each other. I don’t really think those exercise classes are packed because women are trying to impress men and catch men’s eyes. It’s about connecting with each other. As noted, men are more often lone wolves when it comes to exercise.

There are of course exceptions to this mostly-women trend. CrossFit has done a tremendous job in building a blended community in and around their workouts. In fact, some refer to CrossFit in a half–joking manner as a cult. But the fact remains that women seem to exercise for something larger than simply the task at hand. Fun, community, love, maybe even the gossip at Starbucks afterward.

I say, good for them, because the larger things are what keep us motivated to keep exercising. We focus mostly on results in the fitness and sports world. Did I lose weight, or get faster and stronger? Valid and vastly important for sure, but it seems that at least half of the population wants more than that. They want friends, coaching, support, a fun environment, and maybe even a good tune to dance to.

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It’s often enticing when getting back into regular exercise to try the newest fad in fitness. One of the more popular movements of late is Les Mills Body Pump. A recent study conducted by researchers at Sao Paolo University in Brazil and published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research tested the actual effectiveness of the BodyPump program on the group most likely to try it, sedentary women.

If you are not familiar with the format, a BodyPump class is 60 minutes in length and involves moderate to high intensity resistance training with a barbell. In a class a participant will execute approximately 800 repetitions of various exercises, but with relatively low weights. The BodyPump website claims an individual can burn 560 to 1,000 calories in each class.

The exercises included in a BodyPump class are

• Squats
• Chest Press
• Deadrow
• Clean and Press
• Press Pullover Combo
• Lunges
• Reverse Curl

For the study, subjects participated in two BodyPump training sessions per week for a 12 week period. Nineteen untrained, but healthy women were selected. As described in the study, “Subjects reported no or little experience with weight training and no exercise training engagement in the six months preceding the study.”¹

Researchers wanted to be able to quantify the neuromuscular, metabolic, and aerobic running fitness effects of BodyPump on the subjects. So, the following measurements were taken at the beginning and end of the study:

• Maximal isotonic strength (4-repetition maximal squat)
• Incremental test to exhaustion on a treadmill, to determine onset of blood lactate accumulation and maximal aerobic speed
• 5-second maximal isometric voluntary contractions for knee extension and trunk extension (using a strain gauge to measure electromyographic data)
• Blood sample
• Heart rate measurement
• Electromyographic (EMG) recording
• Anthropometric assessment (height, body mass, skinfold thickness)

During the 12 week training period all subjects took the same BodyPump class taught by the same instructor. The weight initially used was 10% of their 1RM squat weight. This weight was increased by 5% every two weeks. The weights for upper body exercises were adjusted according to the instructor’s discretion.

Results

• No changes in body mass and body fat
• No changes in onset of blood lactate accumulation and maximal aerobic speed
• 33% improvement in 1RM squat strength
• Increased isotonic strength
• Lowered heart rate
• Lowered blood lactate concentration
• Improved neuromuscular efficiency

Putting these results together, researchers concluded BodyPump classes were effective at increasing muscular strength and endurance and developing efficiency in movements and muscle activation.

Although subjects did indicate metabolic and cardiovascular improvements, these improvements did not translate to actual aerobic fitness. Exercises involving the lower limbs were most responsible for increases in heart rate and researchers believe a program with more lower body involvement may increase the likelihood of it being beneficial for aerobic running fitness.

What does that all mean? For a deconditioned woman looking to get back into fitness, BodyPump could be a good choice. The program is available worldwide, involves group motivation, and simple exercises. The science shows that while she may want to include some additional aerobic activity, BodyPump will increase a participant’s strength and muscular endurance.

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