Do you enjoy going alone to the gym, the road, or the trail?
Or do you enjoy the syncopated breathing, moving, and toning in a packed group exercise class?
No matter what form of exercise you choose, there are no drawbacks to maintaining a healthy weight, especially when so many Americans fall short of the recommended daily amounts of activity, according to a trusted source.
But according to study, if you exercise alone, you could be losing out on some of the health advantages of group exercise.
Read More: How this breathing technique might help you get quick and better sleep.
Workouts in groups versus alone
Exercise is already known to have a variety of positive effects on mental health, including enhancing sex desire, enhancing sleep and mood, and boosting energy and mental sharpness.
Researchers have investigated whether group exercise may benefit medical students, a population that experiences high levels of stress and potentially benefit from regular exercise.
69 medical students participated in one of three workout groups for the study.
At least once a week, one group engaged in a 30-minute functional fitness and core strengthening training programme in addition to additional exercise as desired.
Another group included solitary exercisers who went to the gym at least twice a week on their own or with up to two people.
The last set of students only exercised by walking or riding bikes to go where they wanted to go.
At the beginning of the trial and every four weeks after that, the researchers took mental, physical, and emotional well-being and perceived stress levels from the students.
For these mental health metrics, all of the students entered the research at roughly the same level.
Participants in group exercise observed gains in all three facets of quality of life after 12 weeks, as well as a reduction in their stress levels.
Contrarily, despite exercising around an hour longer each week than group exercisers, solitary exercisers only saw improvements in their mental quality of life.
By the end of the trial, neither the stress level nor the quality of life had significantly altered for the control group.
The study’s drawbacks include its limited sample size and exclusivity to medical students.
The results might be impacted by physical or psychological differences between group exercisers and solo exercisers as students were free to pick their own exercise group.
Therefore, the results should be interpreted with care. But the evidence makes a strong case for group exercise.
working out together
The effects of group exercise, especially exercising in unison, on social bonding, pain tolerance, and athletic performance have been the subject of several studies.
In a 2013 study published in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, participants were enlisted to use rowing machines for 45 minutes of exercise.
After the workout, group rowers who had coordinated their motions showed a higher pain threshold than solo rowers. Rowers’ ability to tolerate pain increased whether they were rowing with friends or total strangers.
The larger production of endorphins, or “feel good” chemicals, thought to result from individuals being more synchronised with one another while exercising may be the cause of the improved tolerance to pain, according to researchers.
Behavioural synchronisation is the term used to describe this sort of synchronised motion. Other group activities like games, religious ceremonies, and dancing may also involve it.
It could also improve your performance, particularly if you already get along well with the other members of the group.
Rugby players who synchronised their motions while warming up fared better on a subsequent endurance test, according to a 2015 studyTrusted Source in PLoS ONE.
They already belonged to a tight-knit rugby squad. According to researchers, their coordinated movements throughout the warm-up strengthened their already-existing social ties.
This “may have changed athletes’ perceptions of the pain and discomfort associated with fatigue,” the researchers write. Participants were able to exert more effort and perform better as a result.
So you might be able to harness the power of synchronicity when you’re surrounded by other cyclists spinning in time to steady rhythms or CXWORXing like it’s a choreographed dance.
Group courses are not all made equally.
Professor of behavioural health at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre Paul Estabrooks, PhD, discovered that “exercise context” influences how much of an impact exercise has on people’s quality of life, social connections, physical advantages, and commitment to exercise.
44 earlier research comparing the advantages of various exercise environments were examined by Estabrooks and his colleagues for a review article published in Sport and Exercise Psychology Review in 2006.
The scenarios included “true group” courses, where specific approaches were utilised to strengthen social ties among participants, home workouts, either alone or with contact from a health professional, and ordinary exercise classes.
The largest advantages came from actual group courses.
Regular exercise courses were comparable to at-home exercise with assistance without the increased bonding.
Home exercise alone came in last.
The advantages of exercise were often stronger when patients had more interaction or social support during exercise, whether it came from researchers, medical professionals, or other exercise participants.
Healthline quoted Estabrooks as saying that “group-based fitness classes are typically only more effective when they use group dynamics strategies.”
This entails establishing group objectives, exchanging comments, interacting with classmates, engaging in friendly rivalry, and implementing “activities to help people feel like they are part of something — a sense of distinctiveness.”
This might not be offered in every workout class.
This isn’t often the case in group exercise sessions, according to Estabrooks, when people arrive, follow an instructor, barely interact with one another, and then leave.
Not everyone enjoys spinning, body sculpting, or power yoga courses, despite the potential added advantages.
According to one study, extraverts are more likely than introverts to like group-based and physically demanding activities.
No great surprise there.
Being an introvert, I lead group yoga sessions. However, I seldom ever enrol in group classes myself.
I like to practise alone in my house. Yoga is about seclusion and introspection for me, to use real introvert language.
But for some people, yoga could be more about forming social bonds and a sense of community.
Being active is ultimately healthier for you than being sedentary.
Therefore, select a physical activity you enjoy and stay with it, whether it’s cramming yourself into a hot exercise class or going on a solo backpacking trip.
Also, Read- Transform Your Mental Health with These 6 CBT Techniques.
