Group Exercise and Motivation

Group exercise classes are fast becoming very popular, with almost 40% of regular exercisers participating in group fitness classes. In general, exercise has clear benefits for your health and well-being, including lowered blood pressure, improved mobility and strength and better sleep.

Excitingly, exercising in groups has been shown to provide additional benefits, when compared to solo workouts. We discuss these benefits further below, so sit back and enjoy!

Peer Influence

Those around you can influence your thoughts and feelings towards exercise, which is critical for determining whether you partake in it or not. If you get to know others who exercise regularly, you start to perceive exercise as more positive, common, desirable and doable.

Being around people who exercise regularly helps to mould your perceptions about whether other people exercise and if you think you should.

Exercising With Others Is Motivating

The strongest and most impactful type of motivation is called intrinsic motivation - doing something because the behaviour itself is enjoyable and/or satisfying. If you enjoy exercise and not just the post-class endorphin rush, you are more likely to stick with your routine in the long term. Exercising with other people can provide that enjoyment needed to pique your intrinsic motivation, even if the activity itself is difficult. Group exercise can turn working out into a fun social activity, which could lead to you continuing to participate.

Exercising with others can also satisfy some basic psychological needs. Any kind of exercise can help someone feel in control of their choices, but the social support from a group can reinforce a sense of autonomy. Similarly, it will certainly increase your connectedness with others.

In contrast, exercise is less enticing if your motivation is extrinsic, such as when someone else is telling you to exercise, or you’re only doing it to lose weight. In this case, adhering to a fitness regime becomes less likely and less rewarding.

If the extrinsic factors are removed, for example when you hit your weight goal or decide to not worry about the numbers on the scale, then your motivation to exercise likely disappears, along with all of the additional health and wellbeing benefits.

Friends Can Make Exercise A Habit

“How?”, you may ask!

Firstly, it’s a human tendency to mimic your behaviour after those you see around you. When you observe others breaking a sweat, you begin to build confidence in your ability to exercise.

This is very important for starting a new exercise routine, because how much belief you have in your own ability to take on that Pilates class will predict whether you stick with it in the long-term.

Secondly, your friends help to remove some of the barriers to exercising. Your friends can provide reminders about class and encouragement, hold you accountable and even help with logistical issues, including giving you a ride to class.

Thirdly, habits need a cue to trigger the behaviour. A cue to adhere to your routine could be something as simple as your friend sending you a text saying that she will see you in class later that day!

Our habits require a reward to maintain them, and intrinsic motivation that comes from our enjoyment of exercising with friends can be the exact reward we need to maintain the healthy habit of regular exercise.

Don’t Waste Another Second

Once you’re finished here, open up your favourite group chat and gather your friends for a group Pilates class at 4ME Pilates+

For those in Melbourne, kickstart your fitness journey with our Pilates classes located near Bundoora, Watsonia, Gisborne, or Greensborough. Feel free to contact us.

The vibrant, welcoming and social environment of your new Pilates studio may be just the change you need to make exercise a regular part of your weekly routine!