Micah Morgan, the owner of MMFitness Gym, which is located in Tampa Bay, Florida has said that fitness group training offers a lot of psychological benefits. The owner expressed that it can be difficult for people to change their behavior on their own. And while working out alone, one of the biggest challenges for them is to make a lasting commitment to ensure long-term changes. Group training can be a good way to help a person stick with an exercise routine and it may provide quite a few benefits.
“The committed self select, they show up, they put in work, then they do it again. The committed get it done. Right here- Right now ‘Works”, Not tomorrow, not next week. MMFitness is not for everyone. It is hard, thats why our members get results. You provide the commitment, We show you how. SIMPLE. ”
– Micah Morgan, ACE Certified Personal Trainer
Here are the psychological benefits which a fitness group training program offers to participants. It helps to inculcate the following qualities in people:
Accountability
Training with other people can help us learn accountability. We cannot just give up because we have others around us to motivate us, push us, and challenge us. It can help us to be more responsible. A coach provides us with guidance and strategies to keep going, which is helpful. We may also feel more responsible for completing our training when we are working with someone who is “in charge” of our work. We are very social by nature, so having other people to answer to, who will be investing in our progress is quite helpful.
Grit
Grit is a trait that is linked to success in different situations. Grit is the combination of perseverance and passion that allows us to push through obstacles. Fitness group training provides a unique situation to cultivate these elements. It offers a social setting that engages us to collaborate and compete, igniting our passion, and through a sense of accountability, helps us develop perseverance. With the help of a coach who keeps pushing us forward, we are able to develop grit that we can apply in different aspects of our lives.
Support
We often may find that we don’t receive enough support from our friends, family, and partners, especially when we are engaged in an activity they don’t do themselves. They might not get the unique challenges we face or feel that it’s not useful, so the support they offer may be limited. However, support is a valuable tool that helps us change our behavior. By participating in a group, we become surrounded by people who have similar goals and similar experiences. Everyone in a fitness group will be facing comparable challenges, which enables them to support each other. Plus, there is the figure of the coach who may offer their specific form of motivation to keep the participants going.
Mastery
One of the three main elements of intrinsic motivation, that is, the motivation that comes from within the individual is mastery. Mastery refers to the motivation of overcoming challenges and pushing ourselves further to achieve new goals. A fitness group creates the perfect environment for this type of motivation to blossom and be fulfilled, helping people get closer to the behavioral changes they want. The coach may set goals that help the person grow and develop, showing the participants a direction in which they can push themselves. The coach can also recognize a person’s potential and encourage them to develop themselves despite their excuses or self-doubt.
Overall, a fitness group can provide many useful elements for long-lasting behavioral change, specifically raising accountability, mastery, grit, and providing social support that may be lacking from other people in the participants’ lives.
