Research reveals exercising together increases desire to workout by 56%, and that people are extremely motivated by live effort feedback.
Study shows people significantly increase the amount of exercise they undertake when it is shared with a group, and motivation is maintained during exercise when viewing personal live performance feedback.
Myzone, an effort-based wearable fitness brand, has revealed that people complete 56% more exercise when they workout with other people in a social environment, compared to those who don’t*.
Additionally, new research has found 91% of people agreed having visibility of live effort feedback during exercise motivated them to keep going.
Since the UK has gone into lockdown, Britons have had to ditch their usual gym classes and group workouts for new forms of exercise. According to a study by Sport England, 25% of UK adults have taken up doing home fitness workouts online as their choice of physical activity, with 60% of those working out alone**.
Loneliness has been an ongoing problem in the UK, with a third of people saying they often feel lonely throughout the day***. With lockdown increasing pressures on the UKs mental health, it is more important than ever to stay connected and healthy, both physically and mentally. 71% of adults in the UK said that exercise is helping them manage both their physical health and their mental health (67%) during the outbreak**.
To help people stay socially connected, Myzone has launched MZ-Remote – the world’s first virtual live group workout where participants can connect and exercise together, whilst receiving real-time biometric feedback and personalised coaching from a trainer.
Myzone’s versatile heart-rate monitor provides users with real-time feedback on their heart-rate and calories which is converted into Myzone Effort Points (MEPs).
MZ-Remote offers users the chance to sign-up to a live group virtual fitness class provided by a Myzone Master Trainer. Once participants connect through the Myzone app, their live effort performance is tracked via the brand’s MZ-3 heart-rate monitor and is shared with the virtual group on screen, allowing everyone to workout together from their smartphone, as if they were physically in a fitness centre. The Myzone Master Trainer can then individually coach everyone in the class by providing targeted and personal training based on their biometric feedback of effort and heart-rate. Therefore, MZ-Remote provides users with a platform to stay socially connected with friends and family whilst keeping fit, and increasing motivation to workout in the process.
University of Leeds found that 91% of Myzone users agreed having visibility of live effort motivated them to keep going during exercise, and 89% were motivated to improve their own personal effort.
**** Beginners who were mixed in a group with advanced levels found that they felt more capable when they could view their effort feedback, making them feel happier and more positive with their performance when compared to having no visibility of their effort.
Dave Wright, CEO of Myzone, commented: “At a time when physically distancing is necessary, it is essential to stay socially connected. We wanted to provide our Myzone community with a way to do this through exercise. MZ-Remote differs from other live virtual fitness classes as we do not just simply broadcast our class, we provide personalised coaching to all participants based on their live effort feedback, which everyone else in the workout can also see. Since lockdown we have had thousands of new users join every week, so we are very excited to launch MZ-Remote so our community can stay both physically and mentally fit by working out together, remotely.”
MZ-Remote will be available on the Myzone app from 21 May. The MZ-3 heart-rate monitor is available to buy from myzone.org.
References:
*Study conducted by Myzone on 2,000 users found that those with 4 or more connections on the Myzone app, on average completed 56% more exercise compared to those with 0 connections. ** Sport England Survey – View Survey *** Study conducted in 2018 by Qualter with 55,000 respondents **** Study conducted by University of Leeds Postgraduate Research on Social group impact on motivation for exercise