What Community Can Do For Your Fitness Routine
To get through just about everything in life, it helps to have people around to support you. Even seemingly individual things, like our own health and fitness, can be supported by those around us. For any fitness goals or fitness path, a community can make a difference.
Community is the thing that can keep you coming back for more and make fitness more than just a drudging task. Here are four ways a community does just that!
Why You Should Join A Fitness Community
Encourage & motivate you
Even the most disciplined of us may need encouragement once in a while. But for most of us, we need encouragement a lot!
Finding a community within fitness can give you that. It can motivate you to move in the first place, encourage you to do better at the moment, and be there for you when you’re done!
For example, let’s say you recently found out a friend just got into cycling, and you both decide to be cycling buddies. With even just this one friend, you can set weekly meetups and have the accountability to show up. Then while you’re on your ride, you can encourage your friend, and they can encourage you to push in certain moments or check in. And lastly, you can cheer each other on that you did it!
And we aren’t just making this up! Scientists have found exercise partners typically increases the number of exercise people do, and if they are supportive, it increases it even more.
Decrease stress
But it’s not all physical, being in a group environment or being in a group while you exercise could decrease your stress.
In one study with medical school students, a group of students involved in group fitness activities showed significant stress relief after just 4 weeks in comparison to those that worked out alone or didn’t work out at all.
Thus, it might be worth trying a group fitness class or inviting a friend along to do an activity for an extra boost of stress relief!
Teach you new things
Maybe a less obvious impact, but still an important one is that having a community in your fitness routine gives you the ability to learn new things and teach others new things. Chances are if you are in a community with people you are bound to learn something! Whether that’s a tip to help your running, a pre-workout stretch, or something not even involving fitness. And learning something new can help with stress!
This relationship can be reciprocal as well because you get the chance to teach others new things.
Make fitness fun!
Lastly, and what we happen to think is one of the best benefits of a fitness community is it can make fitness fun! No matter your fitness level or fitness goals, having fun just makes fitness better- and a community can help make that happen.
Fitness doesn’t have to be so serious, and a community helps remind you that your fitness goals are important but so is laughing and having fun, and you don’t have to pick just one.
How do I find a fitness community?
Given how beneficial community can be on your routine, motivation, and overall wellbeing, you may find yourself thinking well that’s great but how do I find community? Here are a couple of areas you could try to seek out fitness buddies!
- Group Classes: Group fitness classes can be fun and help you meet people. Try and pick one fitness class and make it a routine that way, you can see who else is going and meet them.
- Fitness Meetup Groups: Just about every city has running, cycling, and other fitness clubs. These are a great (free) way to meet up with new people.
- Vingo: Every time you explore on Vingo you have the opportunity to meet new people and connect with an inclusive fitness community. Plus, you can use vocal chat features actually to talk to them in real-time.
- Social Media: Just do a simple search on whatever social media you use, and you will likely find groups, forums, profiles, and more.
Don’t know where to start? Join our inclusive fitness community today!
Key takeaways:
Finding community in your fitness routine can help you stay motivated and make it more fun! Being around people while you exercise can decrease your stress and teach you new things. So if you haven’t found your community yet, it’s worth taking steps to find oneTired of hypercompetitive fitness apps?
Enjoy Vingo’s judgment-free community!
Explore new worlds on many different terrains Personalize your avatar with cool clothes and gears Experience Vingo anywhere on any exercise bike or treadmill
Sources
- University of Aberdeen. (2016, October 4). A new exercise partner is the key to exercising more. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 10, 2021 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161004081548.htm
- Yorks, D., Frothingham, C. & Schuenke, M. (2017). Effects of Group Fitness Classes on Stress and Quality of Life of Medical Students. Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 117(11), e17-e25. https://doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2017.140
Zhang, C., Myers, C. G., & Mayer, D. M. (2018). To cope with stress, try learning something new. Harvard Business Review.
Photo Sources:
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Image by Wenisa Ng from Pixabay
