keeping your fitness resolution this year

It's a reality that many individuals working to lose weight eventually face: after faithfully exercising and watching your diet, your weight loss comes to a screeching halt. Weight loss plateaus are common and caused by a number of factors. As you lose weight, your body needs fewer calories. If you do the same exercise routine at every workout, your body adapts to the workout and burns fewer calories per session.

Fitness experts typically advise that you shake up your exercise routine to help bust your plateau. One possibility is to add group exercise classes to your workout schedule. Here are just a few benefits of group exercise that can help you beat your plateau.

1. Group Exercise Classes Offer Additional Motivation

It can be demotivating to feel like you are doing everything that you should to lose weight and improve your health, only to have your results fall short of your expectations. Though consistency and patience will help your efforts pay off in the long run, group exercise can help you obtain the motivation you need to keep pushing.

Many individuals find that a group exercise setting increases their motivation. You receive valuable encouragement from your instructor and fellow classmates that encourages you to move faster, add weight, or eek out a few more reps.

A group setting adds accountability to your exercise routine. Even if you feel like your motivating is dwindling, knowing that your group exercise peers are expecting you to be at class can give you the push you need to make it to class.

2. Group Classes Make It Easy to Switch Up Your Workout Routine

A stale workout routine is a contributing factor to many weight loss plateaus. Group exercise makes it effortless to switch up your routine. This is in part due to the large variety of classes available at many fitness centers. You can choose from many popular workouts, like cycling, weight lifting, yoga, and dance.

Within each category of exercise, there are even more options. You might attend a longer course that focuses on improving endurance, or you may opt for a shorter course that uses high-intensity interval training. 

3. Group Fitness Classes Can Encourage a Healthier Body Composition

When working through a plateau, it is important to consider aspects other than your weight, such as your body fat percentage and muscle mass. If you can increase your muscle mass while decreasing your body fat, you may not have a huge loss on the scale. However, you will drop inches and appear more toned. 

One of the best ways to improve your body composition is to incorporate some type of weight bearing exercise, like weights or resistance moves. Many group fitness courses incorporate these moves, making it easy work your muscles.