My name is Cori Ritchey, and I am an exercise physiology nerd turned fitness journalist, and the fitness editor at Women’s Health. When I’m not writing, editing, and researching fitness, I’m teaching it to my personal training and group fitness clients. In my column, Between Sets, I’m pulling back the curtain on the same advice, tips, and ‘aha!’ moments I share with my clients while they’re catching their breath. Stick around for the strategic, science-backed nuggets that’ll help you move better, train smarter, and actually enjoy the process.
For over seven years, I’ve been teaching group fitness classes. As a loud, extroverted exercise physiology nerd, it’s safe to say the job was a pretty natural fit.
For the first several years of teaching, I was blissfully happy with the job. There’s truly nothing like music pumping through the stereo and a room radiating the kind of energy that motivates you to do better. Group fitness is a successful business model for a reason: It creates a community that encourages you to become a healthier version of yourself in a way that is, hopefully, inviting and supportive of everyone. It also provides fitness guidance at a much lower cost than personal training, a luxury many can’t afford.
But, the longer I’ve taught—and taken—group classes, the more I’ve noticed where they can fall short. There’s a lot that can’t be accomplished in a group setting, especially in cases where there’s 40 participants and only one coach.
Still, I continue to teach and love hitting a class now and again (especially for HIIT-style training or cardio, because I know damn well I wouldn’t work that hard without a coach pushing me). And there are ways to approach a group class that can make it more effective for you and your fitness goal. Here are four of group fitness’s biggest red flags—and how you can adjust to make the most out of your class.
Red flag: One-Size-Fits-All Programming
Your move: Create rapport with your coach.
This might be the most obvious red flag in group fitness. Programs are designed for the average person attending the class, and rarely get individualized unless you’re training in a small group. Makes sense: With group fitness’s lower price point, you won’t receive the same level of personalization you would in personal training.
There’s no perfect workaround for this reality, but my best advice is to get comfortable with the coach. Most instructors genuinely want to help every member achieve their goals, and they simply don’t have the resources to do so. But, the more they know about you and your goals, the more equipped they are to do what they can to help during classes.
As a coach, getting to know my clients makes me better at my job—I feel more comfortable giving them intricate form corrections, challenging them with harder variations, and giving them shoutouts during class. Of course, I try to do this with everyone. But it’s more natural to do it with someone you’ve talked to. When a client doesn’t speak to me, I typically assume they’re the type of class taker that prefers to slide under the radar—which is totally fine, if that’s more your vibe!
But if you want more individualized treatment, introduce yourself to your coach at your first class, and chat with them about your goals, workout history, injuries, etc. This is especially important if you have an injury you’re rehabbing. Trainers can often modify exercises to accommodate your needs—you just need to communicate with them.
That said, don’t expect your trainer to fully revamp a program solely based on you and your preferences. When you sign up for group fitness, you should expect group programming. If you have a good coach and communicate respectfully, they can likely help you adjust a few things to make the class more tailored to you.
But, if they’re the only coach servicing 40 others, they might not always be able to give you individualized guidance—and you have to be okay with that. Respect their time, and remember they’re likely doing their best.
Red flag: Lack of Progressive Overload
Your move: Track your stats.
In a group fitness class, the coach typically works with limited equipment while managing a large—and often changing—group of people. Some attendees are regulars, but many are not. It can be difficult for coaches to progressively make the program more challenging when new people are constantly joining.
Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for this one: Track your stats, including weight, reps, and time. Many of the moves you encounter will be repeated over time, so the best way to ensure you’re progressing is to keep track of the weights you’ve been using. I encourage my clients to keep a note in their phone, write down their numbers after each session, and review them before the next one.
If you can consistently perform two more reps than prescribed—or work beyond the prescribed interval—for two weeks in a row, it’s time to up the weight. Or, simply pick up a heavier weight every two or three weeks, provided you can maintain proper form.
Progressive overload is possible in group fitness—it just takes a bit of initiative.
Red flag: Too Many People, Too Little Instruction
Your move: Watch the ratio—and the coach.
Have you ever walked into a group fitness class where the room is absolutely packed and the coach never seems to leave their perch at the front? I certainly have, and have felt some residual anxiety watching one person try to keep almost 40 participants in check—and no, that’s not an exaggeration. It’s not uncommon for a boutique fitness studio to squeeze 40 people in under one coach.
While a full room certainly boosts the energy of a class, it can also prevent the coach from doing one of the most important parts of their job: monitoring form. In something like a spin class, that matters slightly less. But when heavy weights are involved, the lack of supervision can be dangerous.
It also might mean you’re not getting the individual attention you deserve. Of course, when you sign up for group fitness, you expect less attention than you would receive in a personal training session. But a good quality group fitness class should still allow the coach to keep an eye on everyone.
I’ve worked in several gyms, and all the high-quality ones teach their coaches to “touch” every person in class at least once, if not multiple times. By that I mean the coach should come up to every person at least once to offer a form correction, weight selection advice, a progression or regression, or simply a few words of encouragement. If that doesn’t happen, it might be time to find a new class or sign up for a different instructor. If your coach never leaves their pedestal to survey the room, go somewhere with a coach that does.
Again, this depends on the type of class you’re looking for. If you’re there to box, cycle, or run on the treadmill, you might get less instruction because there’s less to monitor in terms of form. But if you’re lifting weights or performing complex movements, you deserve proper instruction.
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Red flag: Too Much Emphasis on Sweat
Your move: Make complicated moves simple.
One of the main issues with group fitness: people tend to think the sweatier, the better. But, that’s not entirely true. Plenty of exercises and training programs may not leave you drenched in sweat but still help you gain serious strength and muscle.
Group fitness often overlooks this, and complicates things for the sake of making class feel harder. Sometimes, that happens by combining movements that don’t need to be combined. For example, group fitness loves to lay together a few different moves, such as a squat into a biceps curl or a curl into an overhead press.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with these combinations—they may work well in HIIT-style training where the goal is to get your heart rate up—they might just not be the most effective way to strength train. Why? Because you likely can’t curl what you can squat. If you find that your group fitness class is overcomplicating things for the sake of upping the intensity, you might want to either find a new class. Or simply choose one half of the complicated move, and focus on that.
If you want to burn out your legs, challenge yourself with the squat. If you want to focus on your arms, stick with the biceps curls. It’s your workout, so do what’s best for you. Just let your trainer know, and tell them why you’re doing it. A good coach will completely understand.
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