Goosebumps, jumping, tears, raised fists, hugs everywhere… This was the majority feeling of more than 1,200 people training together in the same enclosure. Barcelona has become the world fitness capital with a massive event that brought together 80 national and international professionals on a platform instructing an excited crowd. And the question that has invaded us since then, comparing that magical moment with the typical absorption doing sets in the gym with helmets on, when not doing scroll on the mobile phone, is whether there is truly evidence that Exercising in a group improves adherencemotivation and even mental health.
Let’s go to the studios. In a systematic review with older people of a minimum duration of six monthscommunity group exercise programs helped around 70% of participants will continue long term. The key to success was in the participatory design, social support and quality of the instructor. Other publication demonstrated how group membership facilitates social support and consolidates an identity, which helps maintain the practice.
And in a third study about the effects of Les Mills group fitness classes, precisely responsible for the aforementioned Les Mills Live Barcelona 2025 event, and which will be more familiar to you due to their names (BodyCombat, BodyPump…), it was analyzed whether these sessions followed the recommendations of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) for a healthy lifestyle, in a context of global prevalence of overweight and sedentary lifestyle. And very significant changes were observed among the participants, after a 30-week group follow-up, which included a gradual introduction to classes. Including improving fitness levels, reducing body fat and increasing muscle mass. Furthermore, it produced notable psychological changes on the health of the participants.
Group classes help mental health
Once scientifically supported, the testimonies of those who experience these sensations every day leave no room for doubt. “Sport not only transforms bodies, but also bonds and emotions“explains David Ruiz, trainer national Les Mills Spain. Feeling part of a community is one of the most satisfying things about it, he says. “When you train with other people, you not only improve your physical condition: you feel accompanied, understood and motivated. It generates a state of collective empathy. “This social connection generates enormous emotional support that helps reduce loneliness, stress and anxiety,” says the coach.
In fact, in moments when it is difficult to maintain consistency, knowing that there is a group waiting for you or that shares your energy, completely changes your mood, he describes. “Moving with others brings physical vitality and refreshes the mental state. It creates very authentic tiesalmost like those that form in a family,” he adds.
Furthermore, there is something very special about share effort, objectives and improvement. Seeing others “give their all” inspires you, and when you falter, someone encourages you, admits David Ruiz. “This generates trust, respect and a complicity that is difficult to find in other environments. In the end, beyond repetitions or choreographies, we share a common energy that strengthens human ties.”
Why hormones are released
Training in a group has a emotional component very strong, according to the Les Mills coach. You not only focus on your own effort, but you let yourself be carried away by the collective energy. “That gets you out of your thoughts and helps you disconnect from everyday life.” In addition, the laughter, the music and the atmosphere make the body releases endorphins and serotonin in a more intense way. “It’s not just physical training, it’s movement therapy.”
When you share your goals with others, they become real, he points out. Contrary to popular belief, competition is healthier. “You no longer train just for yourself, but also for that group that accompanies you, encourages you and celebrates with you every small advance. That makes the process much more meaningful.” Each achievement is multiplied when it is shared, and that reinforces the motivation to continue. “Deep down, we all need to feel part of something, and sport is one of the most beautiful ways to build that connection.”
More discipline and motivation
Andrea de Ayalacoach in clubs running such as Oysho and classes run for years, confirms that Les Mills has been triumphing for more than half a century, despite new trends and fitness trends, due to the discipline it generates. “I think this is something key and that it makes a difference for many people who still do not have sports as a habit. When you meet someone to train, you feel the responsibility not to leave that person stranded. “Sometimes you go, not for yourself, because you don’t feel like it, but for the other person.”
The coach also highlights the music effectin choreographies completely studied by experts and perfectly coordinated. “It is scientifically proven that it generates dopamine in the brain. In addition, the fact of doing it in a group is super motivating. You feel a personal satisfaction when you are someone’s support and also when you see that you are not alone doing something. Maybe you are tired, fatigued, you find it difficult to finish, but you see that everyone is the same and that everyone is pulling. That creates a union and turns training into something that is neither individual suffering nor enjoyment, but collective. That feeling of everyone feeling the same generates enormous motivation.”
The feeling of community
Do you want to enjoy exercise more? Try training in a group.Aefa
In sport you learn that competition is different from other work or professional fields, where sometimes there are unhealthy fights for wanting to achieve or be more than the next person. As long as you respect and understand that everyone is an individual person with their goals and objectives, and you use comparison or rivalry for your personal improvement, it cannot be negative, De Ayala points out. “In a well-done exercise, this does not exist. Competition is never a bad rivalry: it is always within the values of sportwhich are based on overcoming oneself with another as a reference, but without really caring what the other does, because each one has their level and their circumstances. You don’t want to be better than the person in front; You want to use his ability and his example to one day be like him, or even surpass yourself,” says the coach.
The perception of effort It also changes in a collective session. When you train alone, you may be having a terrible time, you have a hard time finishing an exercise and you think: “What am I doing here? I want to go home.” However, when you have another person who is doing the same thing and you know they are going through the same sensations—even the instructors—that changes everything, De Ayala says. “I often tell my students that it is also difficult for me to finish. I put on my hard faces and show them that I am human just like them. But if I can, they can. That way of motivating. Why don’t you go to finish? Come on, let’s go together.”
You don’t give up because you see that another person is going through the same thing and is telling you that you can. When you train alone, that doesn’t happen at all and it’s easier to give up or get carried away with negative self-talk. “It doesn’t matter if you know each other before or not, if you only see each other in the gym, even if you don’t even know each other’s names. You know the faces of the people you go to train day after day, and that creates a team.”
Disconnect to reconnect
And it doesn’t matter if the sport is individual or group. “In gyms, the problem is that you don’t practice a team sport, like football or basketball; you train in the room, which has traditionally been something more individual and boring. With the appearance of group classes, many people have wanted to go to train because it is a time in which disconnect to reconnect: You disconnect from your day to connect with the music, with the instructor, with the people around you. A kind of atmosphere is formed, a bubble, in which at that moment only those people and you exist. Outside that bubble is the world, but you do not belong to it at that moment. And that’s where magic happens.”
That energy is real and connects you on another level, in which only if you have experienced it can you understand that union with people, according to De Ayala, who lives it daily. “That magic makes you want to repeat it again. And the next day is even more magical, because you already have that connection with the people with whom you have shared it.” So, the next time you lack the desire to train, look for a collective class, a community or simply someone to share that effort with. You will discover that moving with someone not only strengthens the body: it also It unites, motivates and reminds you that shared energy always multiplies.