Most people think choosing between training alone and training in a class is just down to preference. Some people like the energy of a group, others would rather quietly get on with it by themselves.
That’s part of it. But there’s a bigger reason group training tends to win out, and it’s got very little to do with preference.
Willpower isn’t a personality trait – it’s a tank that runs dry
There’s a well-studied idea that self-control works like a limited resource, not a fixed trait. Whether you’ve got the willpower to train at 6pm often has less to do with your character and more to do with how many small decisions and stresses have already worn you down since 7am that morning.
This is exactly why solo training tends to fall apart the moment life gets busy – which is the worst possible time for it to happen. It’s not that people wanted it less. It’s that the willpower needed to override an exhausted brain and go anyway simply isn’t a bottomless well. Nobody’s is.
Group training gets round this problem almost entirely, because it doesn’t lean on willpower in the same way.
Belonging runs on something different
When you’re part of a group – a class, a small team, people who’d actually notice if you weren’t there – showing up stops being purely a test of your own resolve. It becomes social.
There’s solid research behind this too – group-based exercise consistently shows better adherence than solo programmes, even when the actual workout is identical. The difference isn’t the exercise. It’s the people.
There’s something else that happens too, and I see it every week at the studio – shared effort builds connection fast. A room full of people finding the last set tough together builds a kind of camaraderie solo training just can’t replicate. That camaraderie becomes its own reason to keep showing up, completely separate from how motivated anyone feels that day.
Solo training isn’t wrong – it just asks more of you
To be clear, training alone isn’t a bad choice. For some people, at some stages, it’s exactly right.
But it’s worth being honest about what it demands – consistent self-discipline, week in, week out, with nobody nudging you if you skip a session. For anyone who’s struggled to stay consistent before – and let’s be honest, that’s most of us – that’s often the hardest version of the task you could set yourself.
Group classes take that weight off. The structure’s there whether or not your willpower turns up that day. And so are the people.
What this means for you
If you’ve tried solo gym memberships before and drifted off after a few weeks, that’s not a discipline failure. That’s what tends to happen when showing up depends entirely on one resource – your willpower – with nothing else backing it up.
Group coaching changes that equation. You’re not relying on your own resolve every single day. You’re relying on a room full of people who’d notice, and a coach who’s expecting you.
If solo training’s never quite stuck for you, it might just be worth trying a different structure. Come along to a class, see what the room feels like, and judge for yourself.