GROUP exercise has become far and away the fastest-growing trend in Australia's fitness industry, and it's easy to see why. You're guaranteed intensity, variety, structure and the expertise of a qualified instructor to see you through your workout. But with so many schools and styles of group exercise to choose from, how can you tell which is best suited for you? While all the purported benefits of group exercise may hold plenty of appeal, they could be doing you harm.

 

Staple indoor group classes such as Pump and Step, while hugely popular, are certainly not appropriate for everyone. Let's ruffle some feathers and discuss why. Pump classes, generally the most popular in any mainstream gym, are a concoction of super high-volume resistance training with a dash of bodyweight endurance training. On paper, Pump appears to be an ideal amalgamation of strength, endurance, fat burning and muscular toning. The combination of multiple muscle-group barbell exercises with upper and lower bodyweight movements makes for a great foundation of functional strength and calorie burning. However, while the principles of Pump are great, the reality is not so squeaky clean.