"Why Would I Do A Group Fitness Workout?"
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Jeffrey Pinkerton
That is precisely what I said when my wife asked if I wanted to do a class with her. "Why would I do a group fitness workout?" To get the full effect, imagine me fifteen years younger, a year or two fanatically into the super-hobby of triathlons, heart-rate monitor worn for most workouts, and when I replied to my wife's request, I put an unnecessary emphasis on the word "I" while shaking my head and raising my eyebrows. "Why would I do a group fitness workout?" I can't remember every detail of our interaction, but I do remember that it was chest and tris day.
My wife and I had a good morning routine. I worked from home, so after dropping the kids off at school, we would go to the gym together. As I am sure you've guessed, we didn't actually work out together, but the act of going together was a nice way to keep each other accountable to exercising. She would go do one of the group fitness workouts, and I would do a workout that vaguely resembled the workout schedule I learned from my football player roommate in college: chest and tris, back and bis, legs and shoulders, three sets of eight, four sets of ten. I grew up a soccer player (no weight room really) and had a short stint on the wrestling team in the 103-pound and 112-pound weight-classes (also, no weight room really). So, it wasn't as if I actually knew what I was doing aside from maybe a few workouts from Men's Health or Triathlete Magazine.
Thankfully, my wife was persistent, and even after a few times of being turned down, she asked again. "I really think you would like this class. It's not what you think. It kind of hurts my feelings that you won't even come try it." Message received. "I will go into the aerobics room, with a 20:3 women-to-men ratio, and I will do this 'toning' workout with you." Now, that's not exactly what I said, but that's what I was thinking. Because our discussion about the day's workout had gone on for a few minutes of back and forth, once we got into the group fitness room, the only available spots were in the front row. Not a problem.
The instructor happily greeted me, welcomed me to class and gave me a few tips on navigating the workout. I smiled and nodded, secretly thinking to myself, "I'm used to swimming and biking and running for hours. I'm sure I'll be fine in an hour-long toning class." As we put our weights on our bar, my wife smiled and reminded me, "This isn't like lifting on the weight-room floor. It's probably more reps than you are used to. You probably need to lift less than you think. It's endurance strength training." All I heard was the "endurance strength training" part, and I replied, "Okay. Endurance. Cool. Maybe this will be a good way for me to train for triathlons." I am sure that I said it as a bit of a joke. As it turns out, the workout was absolutely no joke.
The warmup, which was full of full-body movements, pushed my heart rate up a lot higher than I was anticipating. When that song ended, I tried to hide my huffing and puffing from my wife. "You good?" she asked as we changed our bars for the second song. "Yeah, of course." Legs were next. Good. Perfect for cycling. I took a quick look at the instructor and the weight she was putting on the bar and did some quick math. I'm about twice her size, so I'll use twice as much weight. Boom. As the music started up for the second song, my wife looked at me nervously and said, "I think that's going to be too much weight." I smiled and nodded to her confidently. I'm good. As it turns out, I wasn't, and as it turns out, the instructor, who was happily coaching and crushing rep after rep, was not only half my size but was literally twice as strong. I would love to tell you that, after the warmup and the legs training, I had learned my lesson. Actually, not at all. Chest, in honor of chest and tris day, went about the same, with me holding the bar in the air or rested on my chest after burning out after the first two minutes. And, by the time we got to the biceps track, I really did think I made a fair adjustment (just a little more than the instructor was using on her bar) but relented and put the bar down to take plates off halfway through the song. Each time I skipped a rep, paused in place or pulled off a plate, my wife graciously smiled, tried not to laugh, and shook her head.
After the workout, the instructor checked back in. "How did you do?" she asked. A generous question considering I was on the front row, and she had been a witness to all the rep-skipping and plate unloading. "Jenny told me that you do triathlons. You should keep coming back. I think Group Power would be a great way to train for triathlons." I smiled and shook my head. "No. I disagree. I think that triathlons would be a way to train for Group Power."
MOSSA creates group fitness workouts for health clubs to maximize participation and get more people moving. With powerful marketing campaigns and purposeful member onboarding tools, MOSSA helps facilities leverage the power of group fitness to drive member engagement, build connection and community, impact retention, and drive membership. To learn more, visit www.mossa.net.
