Why You Should Exercise With Others…

A good group of enthusiastic bootcampers training with a focused fitness pro coaching you and holding you accountable will always trump any program in the world done alone. No doubt…

First, please note that many people train alone and that is ok. There are many fitness enthusiasts that have trained by themselves and have done extremely well at achieving fitness success. However, the majority of people will benefit immensely from training in a group.

The #1 way to become better (fitter) above anything else, is to align yourself with and to start training with other people, training within a group structure. This is something that I have seen over the past 20 years personally and professionally. 

SYNERGY…energy begets energy 

In groups the intensity goes up tremendously… 

Look up The Kohler Effect…a study of group performance… 

One reason the intensity increases significantly in groups is because a fitness pro is cueing you on what to do and by that they can control the level of intensity (high intensity is not the same as high impact by the way) of the workout; the main driver for growth. Over a period of time, all of that cueing transfers from being audible to becoming automatic. This is the learning process at work.

If you train alone you are skipping the first part of the process, When skipping the first part of the process you are likely going to be less effective; you may lack the recall skills. You may to resort to old habits. Cueing leads to plenty of synergy and reinforcement.

Look back on any group setting…

Have you ever gone to a sold out hockey game?

If you were the only person there would you cheer?

Would you really be rooting for a team?

Most likely no, but if other people were, you probably would! This is synergy in the dynamic of a group. When you apply that synergy into your training it can propel you to a whole new level. 

Coaching/Education… 

I hope everybody wants to learn more about training, I know I do, but there are things that you can only learn in the box (gym). The work will teach you how to do it I often say. Chase the work. Avoid the path of least resistance if you want to maximize your growth. Go against the grain. Only dying fish swim with the current.

Wisdom of the crowd… 

You never have to gain experience the hard way. Many other people have made mistakes before for you. You can learn from the mistakes of others. You are going to be able to train with many highly skilled people, the savvy veterans that were most likely once where you may be now, whether it be just starting or restarting. This will help you get to where you to want to go quicker! Remember the synergy. It happens in learning too!

Minimize any confusion… 

It is real easy to get caught up in paralysis by analysis. What you read online or in a fitness magazine may cause some confusion for you. With a fitness pro you will be able to toss ideas around and come up with viable solutions that are specific for you (this is why I call my group training personal group training). 

Side note… 

The problem with online information…Be careful getting advice and insight from someone who doesn’t know what you need and has not done the proper analysis on you. If they have never seen you train, don’t know your effort thresholds, can’t see your technique, are unclear on your preparation process (sleep, nutrition, hydration, proper goal setting), or are unaware of your mannerisms then be cautious about getting information strictly online. Tidbits are fine. Program strategies are much different (your neighbor Sally may have great intentions but…). 

As fitness pros we can try to do our best, but it is based on the data we have to work with.

If you train in a group (like RHF Burn30 Bootcamp) that I run I would probably know the answers to most of your questions before you even get the questions out of your mouth because I have seen it over and over and over. I have taught over 15,000 bootcamp classes in the last decade plus.

If you have been training with me I have likely been telling you what the heck to do for the past 4 weeks (in some cases 4 years…10 years) but you doing it is another story. 

The educational aspects get minimized without a personal development/personal group training environment in place; the kind of environment where you have someone (or a team) watching your every move, not just the exercise portion (Big Uncle is watching). 

I am watching what you look like when you come into the box (look up enclothed cognition), what your mood is, the non-verbal cues you constantly give out. All of that stuff adds up when it comes to education, learning, and coaching which equates to what I call training with a purpose. 

If you want to become great, at a certain point, you are going to have to learn how to figure this out yourself. You need to get engaged and get off auto-pilot.

Auto pilot is fine to start, but there is way more to getting better than just running through some workouts if you want to take things to the next level. You are going to have to rely on a fitness pro. Many of the people you are training with can also keep you on track through the inherent dynamic nature of training in a group and the magic it brings. 

The lone ranger… 

It is going to take so much longer being the lone ranger and more than likely you will be out of the loop before you ever get to see what your true potential actually is. Most people quit things in life right before a breakthrough. Look around you can see it. I have seen it plenty in the box. There is a much longer learning curve using the lone ranger approach which might be one reason people quit before they see success. Many people are wired (conditioned) for the quick fix and instant gratification. You should avoid this thinking when it comes to developing a fitness strategy. A good fitness strategy is grounded in a long term approach that puts much emphasis on creating a lifestyle of fitness, a life time of healthy habits. 

It does take time. Learning is a process, a marathon… 

It takes a lot of time to engrave healthy behaviors into your life. For me it has been a lifetime of all my time (well a large chunk) figuring out my body and creating (not finding) my willingness to get better and to push the limits. Never settle.

Having already seen many of the issues that you may be confronted with, a fitness pro can help you figure out what those small little issues are and create solutions that nobody else is going to be able to see unless they are seeing you in action, in training, in the box grinding it out.

When you have fitness pros that constantly educate themselves and promote learning alongside you (synergy again) the time to noticeable growth is reduced dramatically. Be sure and team up with a fitness pro that loves to learn!

A little bit on technique…The technique will make you sweat, but don’t sweat the technique… 

Training you is teaching you how to do something. Teaching proper technique has to occur before you can ever be cued to do it on your own. For you to learn a skill it has to be taught to you somehow. You either have to see it, hear it or feel it. Learning styles vary but someone has to be able to show you and then it has to be reinforced. Repetition is the mother of all skill!

Fitness pros teach (train) you and cue (coach) you until you can cue yourself. Once the cues are automatic they will still be there from the fitness pros, but they are going to be less frequent and they are going to happen when they are needed and only when they are supposed to happen. 

This whole mental process has to be developed so you can make these decisions automatically and make these adjustments while you are under heavy exercise stress…I call this rage to master (every master once a disaster). 

Accountability…

When you are training with other people you are more accountable…simple 

Here are some benefits of having built in accountability (inside accountability…in the training room):

• You are less likely to skip training if a fitness pro is there waiting for you.
• Your effort increases with accountability, especially in a group setting.
• It is harder to fall through the cracks in your fitness program when you have built in accountability.

A little bit on outside accountability…how you stay accountable outside the training facility…

It is easier to hold someone accountable when you can see them face to face. There is plenty of technology out there to hold one accountable in their daily fitness tasks when they are away from the box. Having a great support system to hold your accountable involves both inside and outside accountability.

When accountability comes into play, the way you train and how you approach moving forward with your fitness goals increases dramatically.

Of course you can hold yourself accountable. It is just better in a group setting. Synergy!

The majority of people fail in the accountability section. This is where RHF comes in.

In summary, 

If you want to live a fit lifestyle it is super effective to train in groups. Training in groups has a few advantages versus training alone: synergy in training, proper coaching/cueing, and built in accountability. 

We hit you from 3 angles: training (teaching you how), coaching (cueing you through), and accountability (forcing follow through-repetition). 

Massive synergy occurs when exercising in groups especially when you have training, coaching, and accountability in play.

Check out RHF Burn30 Bootcamp if you want life changing results that are simplified.  

Burn. Ouch. Done.

trainrhf.com

907.222.5251