Fitness studios, large and small alike, can benefit from diversifying their regular class offerings. Starting up a gym can be expensive, so you want to make sure your business has assorted offerings to keep your clients happy and returning day after day.
Group workout ideas can be as simple as taking the class outside or as involved as creating a fundraiser to workout for social good. Depending on the types of fitness classes you’re running, certain group training ideas may work better than others. Take some inspiration from this list and tailor the ideas to fit your personal style and different fitness levels.
Table of Contents:
- What is a Good Group Exercise
- Group Fitness Ideas to Make Your Class One-of-a-Kind
- Types of Fitness That Are Good for Group Workouts
- Things to Consider Before Starting a Group Workout
What Is A Good Group Exercise?
While a regular fitness class focuses on individuals working out in their own bubble, group exercises involve at least some level of interaction among participants. For this reason, group workouts are often higher energy and cooperative. Your clients will feed off one another’s energy and have a sense of accountability they might not otherwise have. Group fitness programs are valuable for both clients and trainers alike.
- Adds Variety: Most people can relate to a fitness routine that becomes dull and feels like a chore; group exercises add variety to your workout regimen and make workouts fun again.
- Camaraderie: When people work out in a group, they are part of a community facing challenges together, building camaraderie and trust with one another.
- Healthy Competition: Clients tend to push themselves harder during group training workouts, leading to a fun and healthy dose of competition during class.
- Increased Member Retention: When clients find group training exercises and workouts they love, they will keep coming back (and tell their friends).
Always Include A Warmup & Cooldown in Group Workouts
Every instructor knows that no workout is complete without the warmup and cooldown. The warmup in your group fitness workout will help your clients prepare for the workout ahead by increasing blood flow, warming the body, and stretching out muscles. At the end of class, a cooldown not only helps clients mentally center but also allows the body to gradually bring the body’s temperature and heart rate back down and stretch out the muscles.
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Group Fitness Class Ideas to Make Your Class One-Of-A-Kind
There are a lot of fun workout themes to make your group class stand out. Changing up the routine with themes, decor, and incorporating fun props is a great way to add variety to your classes, keeping the workouts both challenging and entertaining.
Fitness instructors can mix these new fun group workouts together to keep their clients on their toes and introduce them to the other types of exercise classes they offer. Yoga instructors can use a wide variety of themes that bring in the other eight limbs of yoga to add depth and meaning to the practice, while honoring yoga’s roots.
Whether your group exercise ideas have you watching the rising sun or raising some funds, you’ll be surprised at the attendance boost a special event can bring. Take the ideas below and run with them, or make them your own and incorporate them into your online classes for everyone to enjoy.
Themed Classes
Group exercise ideas often include themes to go along with the holidays, current events, or seasonal changes. A simple theme can be worked into all types of group fitness classes to switch up the routine and keep your clients engaged and active.
Set up a Halloween monster mash HIIT class, swinging 60’s dance workout, New Year’s detox yoga, paradise pilates, and so much more. Continually remixing these fun group workout ideas is a great way to set your business apart from the rest and ensure long-term success.
Creative Props, Setting, or Decorations
Take your themed group fitness ideas to the next level by decorating the studio, creating a unique playlist, and tying in some creative props. Trade in the medicine balls for pumpkins in the fall, cover your free weights in Christmas wrapping paper during the holidays, and swap the kettlebells for jingle bells.
Lightweight props can easily be worked into pilates and dance classes without altering the core of the class too much. In yoga, an entire class can be based around the use of one of the standard studio props – including the strap or the blocks in many of the poses. Even a full sequence of poses on the wall can be a creative and fun way to explore asana. The possibilities for creating your own fun group class ideas with props, sets, and decor are endless.
Combine Different Workouts
Time to show off all the types of group fitness classes to teach with a mashup course. Split an hour-long class into four separate classes to challenge your regulars and give prospective clients a preview of all that you offer.
The classes can be as different as you’d like or something similar like Zumba and Pound that you may offer as class packs for your members. If you only specialize in one type of class, consider bringing on a guest instructor to create a special combo class. You’ll both benefit from a hands-on look at different teaching styles and help to bring each other new members.
Workout for a Cause
Coming up with fun group fitness class ideas can be a blast, but they’re even more fun when the end result is a benefit to your community. While leading these group workouts is a joy, determining the best price to set for a class can be tough.
Establishing a class once a month where the proceeds go towards a good cause can help you and your members justify the cost. It also has the power to bring in new members who are passionate about the cause or just enjoy giving back to the community.
Outdoor Workout
One of the most popular group exercise class ideas is to take the group outside. Weather depending, there is nothing better than breaking a sweat in the fresh air. You can get out of the studio and take advantage of the space with a few different fun workout ideas for groups like relays, boot camps, and circuits.
Yoga and dance classes are also popular activities to bring into an outdoor space. It’s a great way to advertise your fitness classes to people passing by the park, so be sure to post online so more people can sign up for the event next time.
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Types of Fitness That Are Good for Group Workouts
There are a ton of group fitness class formats, but they don’t all lend themselves to a great deal of customization. For instance, you probably wouldn’t take a spin class outside. There are a few, however, that adapt really well to changing spaces and themes. From high-intensity boot camps to mindful yoga sessions, here are our favorite group fitness routines for instructors who like to shake things up a bit.
HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training)
Members of HIIT classes love to mix things up with their workouts to raise their heart rates and try different full-body workouts. Combining different workouts can help make the perfect HIIT class ideas for instructors who are also proficient in kickboxing, karate, or any other high-intensity workout. If you’re not a multi-purpose trainer, consider teaming up with one to promote HIIT workouts. It’s a great way to boost both businesses and give your members something of value that they were not expecting.
Group Dance Class
If you’ve been searching for fun workout ideas for groups, you’ve probably come across some version of a group dance class. Some examples include Zumba, dance cardio, and Jazzercise. Group dance classes are a cardio blast that will get your heart rate up in no time. The instructor will lead the class through a choreography routine or a series of movements and jumping sets to upbeat music.
Due to the high level of movement throughout the class, a large and open space is best for group dance classes. Dim the room or play around with other lighting options to make the class more fun and interesting. If you’re considering group dance classes for your fitness studio, you probably either have a background in dance or an instructor who does, but dance instructor certifications are available as well.
Dance is the perfect medium to incorporate a fun-themed class once in a while. It doesn’t have to be around a holiday or special event. Any given Wednesday is a great opportunity for a 90’s themed hip hop dance workout to give you the energy to power through the week.
It also helps you to stand out to those who are searching for online fitness classes. Give your regular members a heads up so they can dig out the stylish headbands, curate the perfect playlist to jam along to, and you’ll be “Da bomb dot com!”
Yoga
An outdoor yoga class is one of the best fitness class ideas, as the fresh air only makes the quiet meditation that much easier. Take the week before to promote the class with an awesome flyer so that curious passersby have a bit of info on how and where they can join your next class.
You can also add a charitable cause to this workout to get the community out and engaged with a project they can all benefit from. Depending on the outdoor space you’d like to use, you may have to contact your city to ask about hosting a class in the park and take the proper steps to ensure a safe workout for everyone.
Pilates
Pilates can be a challenge even for the most well-trained athletes, as it can work muscle groups in different ways. A great way to keep the energy up and take their minds off the struggle is to incorporate a couple of fun props. Replace the standard hand weights with something they wouldn’t expect like a coconut or a pineapple. Use the fruits to make smoothies after the session for bonus points.
Good pilates props help to engage the core, all while making this exercise more of a treat than a chore. Combine this with a few other fitness class ideas like a tropical-themed setting and playlist, and then take the class outdoors to create a summer smash of a pilates workout.
Group Strength Training
If none of the group fitness exercise ideas have resonated so far, you can’t go wrong with a group strength training workout program. When planning this type of group workout program, stretching your muscles to prepare and cool down is especially important, so be sure to leave room at the start and end of class. Strength training utilizes movements such as deadlifts, squats, and push presses to build muscle and increase bone density.
When it comes to strength training, it’s best done as a small group training workout so you can give the required attention to every client. You may have some participants that are not as experienced and will want to watch their form to ensure no one gets injured. Try breaking up the class participants into pairs to move through the exercises together. While maybe not as high energy and team-focused as a boot camp class, expect smiles and high fives at the end of a challenging class.
Boot Camp
Don’t be intimidated by the title; boot camp classes are popular for a reason. This group fitness class format usually involves cardio and strength exercises for a total body workout. Boot camp fitness is a training program that got its name due to the military-style drills that are often incorporated. Similar to cross-fit, high intensity interval training (HIIT), and circuit training, boot camp often involves traditional bodyweight movements like squats and push-ups with dynamic stretching. You can also expect some running drills and burpees.
Boot camp is perfect for large group workouts, and you can be sure that your members will work up a sweat and walk away feeling accomplished. This group fitness class format is designed to push your clients further than they normally would and promote camaraderie. Many instructors also like incorporating competitive games into their boot camp classes. Due to the high-intensity nature of boot camp workouts, we recommend keeping within a time limit, like 30 minutes to an hour maximum.
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Things To Consider Before Starting A Group Workout
Before you put any of these team workout ideas into action, you’ll want to make sure you have thought everything through and are ready for the change. A group workout program won’t be successful if you don’t take steps to prepare. We’ve put together a list of primary considerations you’ll want to keep in mind as you are developing your group workout program.
- Do I have the proper space and equipment?
- How much should I charge for the group workouts?
- Which certifications do instructors need to offer this class safely?
- How can I encourage community in the classes so the participants feel comfortable together?
- Which challenges could the class include so the clients are engaged and see results?
- Do I have sufficient time to plan classes?
- Does this group workout align with my studio’s overall mission and goals?
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