Posted on November 18, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

Something not a lot of people know is that at the motive8 North personal training studios in Leeds we do a lot of group personal training! When I say group personal training I don’t mean 4 or 5 people, not that we don’t have groups that big, but our main ‘(rye)bread and butter’ is when we train groups of 2-3 people.

Some people will question whether group personal training gets results. Obviously it’s never going to be as personalised as 1:1 personal training as the personal trainers attention must be split between two individuals. However, it can be a highly effective approach especially if your quite competitive and enjoy working out with other people.

When you have similar training goals to your partner, you’re at a similar stage in your fitness journey it can really help your training, there’s nothing like a challenge between two friends training together! But, to be honest, the team of personal trainers at motive8 North are so flexible and experienced that we can train still groups of individuals who might have different training goals or fitness levels so don’t let this put you off!

Some of the best results we’ve achieved with clients in individual 1:1 sessions has evolved to training with clients working towards a similar goal. This helps clients stay focused, train harder, and more importantly highlights weaknesses.

For example I have two un-named clients looking to improve functional strength, one clients back squat is 12.5kg greater than the other, despite them being within 1ilb in weight of each other there is still that difference in strength. Without spending hours and weeks de-loading and trying a new approach in strength training, I can simply observe the lifts the stronger client achieves and work on the individual elements.

Exercise	Client 1	Client 2
Back Squat 1RM	82.5kg	70kg
Hack Squat 6RM	20kg	12.5kg
Reverse Barbell Lunge 4RM	65kg	62.5kg
Cabel Reverse Kick 15RM	13.75kg	12.25kg
Front Squat 5RM	65kg	52.5kg

As you can see above Client 2 was considerably weaker in the hack squat and front squat movements, these are quad dominant leg exercises, suggesting client 2 will need to spend more time focusing on developing the quadriceps specifically in this case the VMO. This in turn should help the client achieve a greater PB in the squat. Without the two clients training together in this particular case it would have taken considerably longer to achieve the strength improvement.

For weight loss clients group training is an excellent approach, as the training methods used for women, men, different age groups are very similar. They all essentially revolve around lactic acid training protocols. Working in a group not only helps push out those critical extra reps but outside the gym it acts as a separate support system. This is something I believe is so undervalued, being accountable to a personal trainer is one thing, but being accountable to your friends, husband, wife really helps hit those goals quickly!

The Benefits of Group Personal Training

* First and foremost it’s cheaper! Whilst our group personal training sessions are slightly more expensive per session , you get to split this cost with your friend working out at a bargain £27.50 each!

* More fun!

* You get to spend quality time with your friends, family or partner…those who train together, stay together!

* If you’re competitive group personal training is great as you will encourage and push each other.

* On the days either of you don’t want to train you will motivate each other!

IF YOU’RE READING THIS BLOG AND THINKING YOU FANCY GIVING GROUP PERSONAL TRAINING A WHIRL THEN SIGN UP FOR OUR 3 FOR 2 OFFER TODAY!