Could your friends be your secret workout weapon?

Forget burpees, planks or stretches. Sometimes, despite everything we know about how good it’ll feel afterwards, the act of making it to class is the hardest thing about it. 

Turns out, you’ve got a fun and free workout weapon right under your nose: your friends. Evidence shows working out with others has a golden ripple effect on your mental and emotional health, makes you work harder in class, and feel better after it.

People taking group and solo workouts were monitored over a period of 12 weeks in a study published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. Those doing the solo workouts reported feeling better physically, but those in the group workout felt a significant improvement in their quality of life in three other areas, too. As well as feeling 24.8 per cent better physically, they felt 12.6 per cent better in their mental health and had an increased emotional health of 26 per cent. What’s more, they felt 26 per cent less stressed.

But it’s not just the afterglow that your friends help with. A recent study suggests that you work harder when you’re in class with others, too. Especially if you think they might be fitter than you. 

When people exercise with someone they think is better than them they increase the effort they put into their workout by 200 per cent and put more time in too, found researchers at Kansas State University. And when you have someone around to impress, you can hold a plank for 24 per cent longer than if you were alone, revealed a study from Michigan State University.

This doesn’t surprise Thomas Rothwell, physiologist at AXA PPP healthcare. “When we’re active with others, their emotions and behaviours can influence how we feel,” he says. “Having motivational and hardworking people around you – whether it’s at a gym class, or a park run –  can only be a positive thing.” 

So that’s that. Time to get on the group chat…