Why You Should Balance Your Home Workouts With Group Fitness

POPSUGAR Photography | Maria del Rio
POPSUGAR Photography | Maria del Rio

We love at-home workouts; they're an incredible way to get in some much needed "me time" and do something great for yourself. They're also a low-cost way to set your own challenges and goals, better yourself, and add a dose of mood-boosting endorphines to your everyday life on your own schedule.

There's also something to be said for group fitness — and while those classes can definitely be more expensive than working out on your own, there are some serious perks to meeting in a studio with a group of people. We also talked about this with Kathryn Budig — total yogi goddess, athlete, yoga teacher, and Under Armour ambassador — while we were chatting about her new UA campaign, "Find Strength in Support."

And although Kathryn teaches online classes, she reinforced our thoughts about the power of a group class and working out in the studio. It comes down to accountability, community, and energy.

"I always really recommend that people get into a studio and practice [yoga] with a group," said Kathryn. She went on to say that it's for many reasons. For one, you're more likely to be held accountable if you've got a friend asking you to go to class. "If they're on their way to class, you can't just say 'No, I'm gonna sit here on the couch.' So you have that support system already in action." It's true that working out with a friend helps, but what about strangers?

That's your community, she told us. "You have your community of friends that you may not be hanging out with outside of the studio, but when you're there, that's a community." And it's true. We've talked a lot about finding a community through fitness, and that really only happens in a studio, gym, or group fitness environment.

"You all have this shared love and bond toward your practice," said Kathryn. "There's that walking in the door, seeing their faces, and feeling like you're at home." And that's what creates the energy.

The energy of a class is so important. From personal experience, it can sometimes make or break a workout! Even if you don't know the people riding, practicing, or dancing next to you, "you can feed off the energy of everyone surrounding you," said Kathryn. I couldn't agree more. Putting into words what I've struggled to articulate, she said, "It may not necessarily be verbal support that's happening, but this energetic support system that is surrounding you."

That energy can carry you through another 30 seconds of a plank when you're at your edge, another few push-ups when your triceps feel like they're failing, or a crow pose that you're just barely holding on to. It's something that doesn't always come with an at-home workout.

So keep up the good work, and make sure you're balancing your convenient at-home workouts with the powerful energy and mood-boosting community of a studio class now and then, too.