Gyms like Crunch Fitness these days offer plenty of small group training classes for their members. More gyms are adopting this teaching method, and it makes sense with the new social distancing reality we have today.
But actually, joining a small group for your workout or your gym classes make very good sense. Here are some reasons why it’s a terrific option compared to larger classes.
Small Group Training vs. Large Classes
With a smaller number of members training with the gym instructor, you enjoy the following benefits:
You Get More Personal Attention from the Trainer
This is perhaps the most obvious advantage. With fewer people to look over, the trainer is more likely to notice you. That means they can offer corrections when you make a mistake, and even offer tips to tailor the workout to your particular situation.
This is also the main reason why so many schools and universities brag about smaller classes and a smaller ratio of students to teachers. With too many students, it’s even possible for a teach to not have a talk with a particular student for the duration of the class.
Tips from a trainer can be quite valuable. They can help you perform the exercises more effectively, so you’re more likely to achieve your fitness goals. What’s more, you can also get tips on doing the workout safely, and that reduces the likelihood of injuries.
Better Accountability
With a large class, your trainer may not even notice if you’re absent. But with a small group, your trainer is more likely to notice if you fail to show up for a workout. And that means you will have to account for your absence later on.
The lack of accountability is one of the most popular reasons why people fail to work out according to their schedule. This in turn makes people more likely to keep working out altogether. But when you know you have to be accountable, then you’re more motivated to show up.
The same goes when you’re tempted to goof off. In a large class, the trainer may not notice that you’re not doing your pushups properly. But in a smaller group, the trainer will likely notice if you’re not doing your best.
It’s Great with Limited Equipment
It can be a bit annoying when you have lots of people waiting to use a particular piece of equipment. That’s especially true for the more advanced machines with interactive screens, when the gym only has a handful of these things. But in some gyms, people even have to wait to use benches and free weights.
With a smaller class, you’re more likely to get to use any equipment right away. In general, good gyms try to limit the number of members in a class to the number of equipment pieces they have. If it’s a cycling class, then they only have enough class members so each one has a stationary bike to use.
And even if the equipment is fewer than the number of members in the class, at least the wait won’t be too long.
Small Group Training vs. 1-on-1 Personal Training
It’s true that 1-on-1 personal training is perhaps your best option. But small group training does have many things to offer that personal training doesn’t.
Group Support
You don’t have this with 1-on-1 personal training. But you may have the rest of the small group helping you out in many ways. The other members can offer some motivational support and tips on how to do exercises. Even their very presence around you can make the workouts a lot more fun. It’s like hanging out with friends, and they can be the main reason why you look forward to your workouts.
More Affordable
This is an obvious advantage. Personal training generally costs more than small group training. For many people, the additional cost may just be beyond what they can afford.
But you can go with small group training, and in some ways, you still get some of the advantages of more attention from the personal trainer. That means you can get trainer motivation, support, and customized tips.
Final Words
Training with a small group can be the perfect compromise between a large group and 1-on-1 training. You don’t have to pay the higher cost of personal training, but you still enjoy many of the benefits of having a personal trainer pay attention to your efforts.
At the same time, you enjoy may of the advantages that come with training with a group. It’s a lot more fun, and you get support from people that may become your friends.
In the end, small group training is like the best of both worlds. Try it out, and you might just discover that small group training may be the best choice for you.