Group fitness bootcamps have risen in popularity over the past two decades; and for good reason. The benefits of group fitness bootcamps are numerous. The nature of the workouts can help eliminate several barriers you might face in starting and sticking to a regular routine of physical activity.

When starting any new workout program, there are multiple factors that can contribute to your success or failure. Lack of time, nervousness about physical abilities, a lack of motivation, or the costs associated with certain activities are just some of the major factors that can diminish your internal drive to exercise and prevent you from hitting the gym.

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of group fitness bootcamps in this article.

Group Fitness Bootcamps Effective and Efficient

Time is the thing that is in shortest supply. Twenty-four hours is not a lot of time when you think of all of the activities we try to cram into them, including work, school, commutes, meals and sleep, and much needed rest and relaxation.

If you can actually find a couple of hours a week to set aside for a workout, you want to ensure that it is used optimally.  Any amount of time spent away from your other commitments should be worth your efforts. It can be disheartening to put in a solid effort and not see any results. However, a lot of exercise routines may not be effective if they aren’t pieced together correctly.

Joining a group fitness bootcamps can help you make that commitment to your health by providing a consistent workout schedule. Group fitness trainers also know exactly what to do in your limited time to ensure that all muscle groups are targeted safely and correctly, while helping you achieve your specific goals. In addition, when working out with a group, participants feed off of each-others good vibes and hard effort, which can motivate you to keep coming back and allow you to push further, harder and faster.

If time is money, group classes will offer you the best value for your dollar.

You may also enjoy reading: The Benefits of Regular Exercise

Group Fitness Bootcamps Suitable for All Fitness Levels

In a group fitness class, odds are you’re not the only person who is new or nervous. Often group classes host varying skill and experience levels. However, nerves can get the best of you; and that can actually be detrimental to your goals and progress. Not only does feeling self-conscious at the gym lower your likelihood in participating, it can also stunt your ability to try new exercises or movements.

You can get stuck in a loop of doing the same exercises every session, seeing gains for the first while and then nothing more after a bit. Without trying new exercises, movements, techniques, or resistance levels; your body will not be challenged when performing the same routine over and over again.

Group classes are a great way to learn something new, get more comfortable with yourself, get more comfortable with exercises, and give you a huge boost of confidence that can spill over into many aspects of your life.

Benefits of group fitness bootcamps Propel Physiotherapy Etobiocoke Pickering Peterborough

Propel Tip: If you are nervous about joining a new class, spend a couple minutes chatting with the instructor before class starts to tell them how you feel. This gives them the chance to break down the class to you to possibly help you and your nerves, as well as it lets them know they have a beginner in their class and to give extra help to everyone when necessary.

Group Fitness Bootcamps Are Motivating

One of the biggest challenges to starting a new exercise routine is finding the motivation. First, you need the motivation to want to make a change, and then you need the motivation to then push forward and actually go through with your new change.

Motivation can be internal or external, and everyone finds their motivation in different ways. Group classes can improve motivation for anyone, at any level of fitness from beginners to advanced in many ways.

Firstly, group fitness bootcamps use music to get everyone in the group hyped up and ready to move and groove along. Instructors are well-versed in music that works well for the class they are running, and using the most basic of music understanding, uses beats-per-minute (BPM) to get optimal responses from their attendees.

Studies have shown that listening to music during a workout can enhance performance, increase enjoyment and decrease ones’ rating of perceived exertion (RPE), on a scale from 6-20 rating how intense one is working out on a scale of 6-20. ¹

Secondly, group classes also improve motivation by doing what they do best, making you work out in a group. When working in a group class, you receive feedback from the instructor, from fellow group members and from yourself when you realize how well you’ve done! This feedback can also help you push harder than you would on your own.

In a group class, you focus on proving to yourself and to others all that you can do, and that can mean pushing yourself to do one more rep because your group members are doing them too, leading to some healthy competition.

In addition, group classes can help increase your own compliance to a program from both intrinsic (e.g., I feel great exercising) and extrinsic factors (e.g., I’ve already paid for these classes- better make it count!).

Group-based exercises classes also offer variability in the types of movements and exercises performed per session. This helps participants change their body compositions, achieve their goals, and feel accomplished after each class, all things that increase motivation!

You may also enjoy reading: The Benefits of Group Exercise

Group Fitness Bootcamps Are Cost-Effective

If your biggest barrier to joining a gym is the monthly cost, you’re not alone. Granted there are some more affordable gym chains in Ontario, however memberships typically exclude such benefits as group classes or access to pools or saunas. For access to everything you may want in a membership, you may be spending upwards of $1000 per year, and that usually doesn’t include personal training.

Group fitness bootcamp classes can range in price. You’ll want to compare how many sessions you’re getting, and how long each session is for the price, as well as learn about the instructor’s training and experience.

I teach the fitness bootcamps at Propel Physiotherapy. I am both a registered kinesiologist and a certified personal trainer. Check out my bio for more information about me.

My bootcamp classes are $30 per session when you drop-in, but with a commitment of five-sessions, it is $125 for the package (a $25 savings). Plus buy five, get 1 class free bonus – that’s six classes for $125, or less than $21 per session! The bonus session also applies to drop-ins as well, if you hang on to your card and attend five sessions as a drop-in, your sixth class will be free.

If you want more information about group training or fitness bootcamps at Propel, please click the contact button under my bio and profile picture to send me an email or call the clinic and ask to speak to me.

References

[1] Maddigan, M., Sullivan, K. M., Basset, F. A., Halperin, I., & Behm, D. G. (2018). High tempo music prolongs high intensity exercise. Peer Journal, 8(6). doi: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.27048

Written by

Sabrina La Rosa
Sabrina La RosaRegistered Kinesiologist
Sabrina La Rosa’s approach to her practice comes from her understanding of neuroplasticity and the brain’s ability to adapt and grow beyond expectations. After completing a literature review on Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy in Chronic Stroke Patients, she developed an interest in constraint training and using it to treat multiple injuries and not just strokes. She is excited about using this knowledge and her training to help her clients achieve their goals.

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