Using Group Workouts to Bring Your Gym Members Together

Fitness is a sport that can bring people together. Exercising in a group increases motivation and helps foster a sense of community. Nothing bonds humans like taking on a challenge together, after all. Here are some ideas for group workouts that will bring members of your gym together.

Plan Partner Workouts

Partner workouts are a great way to build community. Create a workout that pairs gym members and helps them push themselves. Many are more likely to work harder and push themselves harder if they know someone else is counting on them. If you plan a partner workout, encourage athletes of a similar skill level to work together. This is also an opportunity to plan a longer workout, especially if one member gets to rest while the other is working.

Partner or team workouts are great ways to build teams at your gym, and they can also happen online. Activities that involve virtual team building can be a great way to strengthen team bonds. Getting gym members to collaborate together and use their minds in ways that sharpens them will benefit them as they workout in the gym. It also has the benefit of giving members a new space to get to know each other, especially considering some may workout at different hours and rarely have the opportunity to meet.

Host Gym-Wide Challenges

Gym-wide challenges can also foster community and bring gym members together. A nutrition challenge or a movement challenge are great examples of this. Encourage members to all take place in a challenge like Sober October or Whole 30. This will leave them feeling good and bonded in completing the challenge. 

Plan a Strength Training Cycle

A strength training cycle is also a great series of workouts to bring people together. Plan a strength cycle that lasts a few weeks and have members test to see if they’ve improved at the end of the cycle. Finding new personal bests, all with other gym members cheering you on, can be such a positive experience. Plus, strength training sessions give members a chance to lift together, another great bonding experience.

Plan an Athletic Competition

Like strength cycles, in-house competitions can also bring gym members together. Whether you plan an event where you have athletes from other gyms compete, or you limit the event to members, these sort of competitions can be great bonding experiences. Members can participate on a team and have the opportunity to practice together and compete on the big day.

There’s also the added bonus of members working together to make the competition a success. From coordinating volunteers, to making sure the actual competition goes off without a hitch, there’s a lot to be gained from members working together to make something big happen.

Encourage Friendly Competition

Members competing against each other on a daily basis can also create a tight-knit group, even if it’s not in a full-fledged competition. Plan workouts and have your members try them. Share the scores so everyone can see where they stand. Even consider working on skills that the workout requires over a series of weeks, and then retesting it to see if members improve after the initial test.

Benchmark workouts are great for testing this too. Not only can members see how they stack up on specific skill tests, but they can see how they stack up against others who have performed the same workouts at different gyms.

Have Members Step Outside Their Comfort Zones

Encourage members to try workouts outside of their comfort zones. Everyone has a type of fitness they prefer, but having members learn a new skill, either in a gym workshop or in a special class, can be a lot of fun. It can also be humbling and eye-opening. If you’re a CrossFit gym, have your members try yoga. If you’re a yoga instructor, have your members try a high intensity interval class.

Creating and designing group workout opportunities can do your members and your gym a world of good, because you’re strengthening bonds and building community with your members.

Mark Palmer

Mark Palmer is a small business expert who has a passion for helping entrepreneurs make the most of their company. As a freelance writer, Mark hopes to influence others so they can have a positive business experience. Mark’s interests include hiking, skiing, and discovering new business podcasts.