New research suggests that group exercise unleashes a flood of chemicals in the brain, triggering the same responses that have made collective activities from dancing and laughter to religion itself such enduring aspects of human culture. For some (but not all) people, finding workout buddies could help turn fitness into a pleasant addiction.
Researchers from Oxford's Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology report on a study of the university's famed rowing team. The crew was divided into teams of six, each of which performed a series of identical workouts on rowing machines. The only variable was whether the workouts were performed alone, or in teams with the six machines synchronized by the crew's coxswain.
Results:
After each workout, a blood-pressure cuff was tightened around one arm of each subject until he reported pain, an indirect method of measuring endorphin levels in the brain. Endorphins – the same chemicals that stimulate “runner's high” – produce a mild opiate high and create a sense of well-being as well as blocking pain. Sure enough, the rowers' pain threshold was consistently twice as high after exercising with their teammates compared to exercising alone, even though the intensity of the workouts was identical.
“We also suspect that shared goals – ultimate goals, like winning the big race, and proximate goals, like endeavouring to row together in synch – are at least part of the trigger,” she said by e-mail.
Endorphins are produced by virtually any vigorous physical activity, but group work appears to enhance the effect dramatically – and there's plenty of evidence that exercise classes meet that description. In a series of studies stretching back more than a decade, University of Saskatchewan professor Kevin Spink has found those who feel a greater sense of “groupness” and cohesion within an exercise class are more punctual, have better attendance and even work harder.
Is Group Exercise Better than Working Out Solo? 2010. Accessed 2, October, 2011.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/is-group-exercise-better-than-working-out-solo/article1421529/
WHAT does this mean for our project?? This evidence will greatly assist our concept- as we are arguing that our 'exercise motivation' product, will be successful because it allows the users to interact with the results of each others fitness. This article also proves that similar group goals further benefit exercise motivation. This research not only proves the successfulness of group fitness over individual fitness, but also re-confirms the connection between exercise and mood improvement.
Conclude: Group exercise is more successful than individual exercise !
