81: The Unwritten Rules of Group Fitness Everyone Should Know

Ever wondered why someone setting up their mat one inch away from yours in an empty room feels so... wrong? That's because group fitness has unwritten rules nobody talks about—but everyone notices when they're broken. 

In this entertaining episode of Group X Appeal, Kimberly and Terry reveal the studio etiquette that keeps classes running smoothly, energy flowing positively, and communities thriving.

From arrival timing to personal space boundaries, phone usage to equipment courtesy, discover the simple habits that separate respectful participants from room disruptors. 

Some rules are about safety, others about respect, and a few are just common sense—but knowing them transforms the experience for everyone in the room, instructors included.

Whether you're new to group fitness or a seasoned regular, this conversation will make you laugh, cringe at past mistakes, and maybe even realize you've been breaking a rule you didn't know existed. Plus, Kimberly and Terry want to know: what unwritten rule would YOU add to the list?

Sweat happens. Courtesy matters. Let's talk about it.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube - @groupxappeal.

Questions or topic ideas? Email us @ groupxappeal@gmail.com

Get your FREE Guide To Holistic Well-Being here: https://gxaguide.com/

Stay Connected with Kimberly:
- @kimberlyspreenglick on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube
- email: kimberly@theinspiredlifeuniversity.com
- website: www.theinspiredlifeuniversity.com

Stay Connected with Terry:
- @terryshorter on Instagram & Facebook
- email: terry@rippedplanet.com
- website: www.rippedplanet.com

Transcript

Every group fitness class has rules, but nobody ever writes them down. Like the unspoken rule about not setting up your mat one inch from someone else when the room is empty. No, and today we are revealing the unwritten rules of group fitness.

Kimberly/terry (00:49)
We're together again. We are. This is episode 81, 81. It was a good year. It was. don't remember. I don't remember it at all. How old were you in 81? We were eight. How old were you? How old were we? We were eight years old. Thank you. So episode 81, I'm Terry Shorter. I'm Kimberly Spreen Glick Welcome to group X appeal. I say welcome to? Welcome. I feel very welcome.

Me too. So welcome to Group X Appeal. We're having way too much fun here. And this one is actually a lot of fun. I think it's why we're laughing already. Yes. Because we know what's coming. It is, absolutely. And you know, group exercise, as you well know, whether you're an instructor or whether you are a participant, it has this really cool thing about bringing people together from all walks of life, which is great, right?

Over time what happens is there's a kind of a studio etiquette that develops, you know, like little habits and just simple courtesies that keep the experience positive for everyone. At least we hope so. I know, fingers crossed. You know, some are about respect. Some are about safety for sure. And you know what, Terry, some are just common sense. But some say that sense is not very common. know.

And what my brother Terry likes to say sometimes is if it's simple to do, is simple not to do. So today we're talking about the five unwritten rules of group fitness. Yeah. Let's get into the etiquette here. Can you kick us off? Yeah, let's kick this off. So I think the number one rule and we're going to get, let's go like chronologically here is somewhat, guess. Um, and this is not just for the participants, by the way, this is for instructors too.

Right. So our first tip, you know, to have that etiquette and that respect is to arrive early enough to set up. Right. Nobody loves someone scrambling around for equipment once class starts and tripping over other people's equipment and, you know, just disrupting what's happening when people are getting set or when people are already in their routine, they're already in class mode. Right. Absolutely. So ⁓ show up early. That helps out. It's just

It's respectful. Also, it helps you get in the groove rather than jacking the groove up.

I mean, there are times when we're running late. Maybe you had car trouble, maybe you kid trouble, maybe you got stuck in traffic, or whatever the case may be. We would rather you get there late than not get there at all. This is speaking to the participants for sure. That said, if it's a regular thing because you just hit snooze too many times and you just come in late as a habit, it might be time to look at this kind of written rule, or unwritten rule, I suppose it is. Well, we're writing it now, so it's now a written rule, a studio etiquette.

So the second rule, and we've had some conversation about this one, but it's so simple and it seems like such common sense. Respect personal space. A little room goes a long way when we are as a community moving, sweating, working out together, hard, breathing heavy. And it's so interesting how ⁓ some people are very comfortable.

being very close to other people when they're sweating and breathing hard and working hard. And the encouragement here, the invitation, the role is to just be respectful of people's personal space. We don't have to have like a six foot rule or anything like that. We have that already. We're done with that. We went through that. We're done with the six foot rule. We do want a sense of closeness. We are a community. We want the energy being close together. Actually, probably one of the challenges we as instructors would have is if it's a

big room and people are so spread out that they're kind of popcorn around the room. And the energy between the people doesn't connect at all. We want the people to come together. But you don't have to be on top of each other because that can create a little bit of discomfort and awkward moments. if you're on top of each other, it could be inappropriate too. Oh my, I wasn't going to go there, but he went there. You see that? Well, I say that because, um, I don't know, have you ever had, um, participants put their hands in to class?

Any what's never never no, but have you ever had participants put their hands on other participants like literally? Yes. Yes. wow. Okay. Same. Yeah, keep your distance Yeah, but you he's had it where people are pushing to get into class like yeah, it's never the answer Yeah, and I didn't know exactly how to react to it. I was like keep your hands to yourself. I felt like dad again. Yeah, right. So ⁓

But even in a more complimentary way too, like the one that came to mind when you asked me that question is, a female member coming up to a male member and like squeezing his arm saying, like your, your, your biceps are getting really big. And I'm thinking he did not ask you to touch him. Like you gotta respect that personal space. Yeah. Yeah. I just had flashbacks. We'll save that for another episode. But, ⁓ yeah. So keep your hands off of biceps and other.

other body parts, have respect the personal space. That's all we ask. Right. ⁓ the third one is, think we've talked about this in a couple episodes way back when, but it seems to continue to pop up and in your class, it's, it's a normal thing. Now silence your phone. were you saying? Put down your phone. Yeah. Silent your phone, put down your phone. Don't bring your phone to class unless you're expecting there's some sort of emergency or something that, ⁓ or

Yeah, something's happening. Someone's in the hospital. ⁓ Your kids may be sick and you're expecting a call from the school. We get that, right? ⁓ But what happens is the only beats that should be coming are from the playlist, the instructor's playlist, right? And not from your cell phones. You just mentioned to me the thing that's happening, the trend, I guess, in your classes nowadays. ⁓ What is it? Instead of...

prone pigeon or like sleeping pigeon. It has become texting pigeon. I don't understand, but it's like the moment we go prone face down, people are grabbing their phones and texting and I'm like, ⁓ my goodness, put the phone aside. That is not helping your experience. It is not. anybody else's more exactly or anybody else's for sure. But, ⁓ yeah. Focus, focus on your, your health and your wellbeing and the workout, not your phone. Yeah. It's only for a few minutes. You're only

Yeah. Doing this for a few minutes and it could, it could wait. Most likely it can wait. Definitely. And now no matter what class you take, if you take a cycle class, let's think about the bikes. If you take a strength training class, let's think about the, the, the bars or the hand weights or the kettlebells. If you take yoga, think about the mats, clean your equipment. Now.

I am a huge proponent for cleaning the equipment before and after, especially, you if I'm a participant, I'm going to be cleaning that map before I step on it. And then I'm to clean it again out of courtesy. this, so much of these are about courtesy and, just being good to each other. ⁓ but definitely queen queen queen. could queen it too. You can princess it. Queen the equipment.

But do clean the equipment. Hopefully wherever you take class, there's the option of either wipes or some kind of spray and grab a towel and you can wipe down the equipment. Some facilities like a lot of the lifetime facilities have the micro spray now where you literally spray and let it dry on its own. You don't have to go through the manual labor of wiping anything anymore, but ⁓ use whatever is available to be able to clean down the equipment that you have used.

it's just the right thing to do for the next person who's going to use it. Absolutely. So we're not only getting stronger together, we're staying healthy together too, right? Sweat happens. yes, courtesy matters. You need a bumper sticker. It sounds like a bumper sticker, right? Sweat happens. Courtesy matters. love that. So, ⁓ the fifth thing, you know, this happens all the time, but you know, I think it's still, ⁓ is important to share is encourage others.

Right? We're all there to, to reach our goals. We're all there to feel better. Some, for some people, they want to look better. Um, they would just want to perform better overall. So perhaps just a smile or just a quick, you've got this can make someone's entire workout. And so, um, I think that that's, you know, never hurts being nice. Kindness is free. Yeah. Kindness is free. Yeah. And, and honestly, it feels good.

to show kindness, like why don't we do it more often? I think that's such a great point. And when we're talking about etiquette, the idea of choosing kindness, even if you're in a moment of frustration, and we get it, maybe you're stressed, you're running late, you're coming to class because you're stressed out, but the moment you can show kindness to another person, it elevates the experience for everyone. So I that should be, I think I should be number one. ⁓

Another bumper sticker. There we go. I think that is a bumper sticker actually. I think I've had that one before. Kindness contagious. Okay. If you don't, I'm going to get it for you. Okay. Perfect. But that's after I get you sweat happens courtesy matters. Yeah, I understand. Well, group fitness works best when everyone contributes to the experience. We're all in this together and I think it's important we remember that. Yeah. And when we respect each other and

the space that we share, the whole entire room wins, right? Definitely. So what unwritten rule or what rule do you think needs to be written that you would add? Or Witten. Or Witten. I'm just going to leave the Rs out for the rest of this episode. OK, Tweety Bird. We'd love for you to share with us. Is there a rule that you would add to this list? It's a pretty short list, but there's pretty powerful rules that we think are necessary to ensure a positive experience for everyone. Share it.

Tag us on social media, share it in the comments. If you're watching on YouTube, we'd love to hear from you. Absolutely. It would definitely mean the world to us. So as always, we're excited. We're very grateful that you joined us today on this episode, episode number 81, son. That's it for us. I'm Terry Shorter. I'm done. He's done. We're done. We've filmed a lot today. We're done. I am Kimberly Spreen Glick And we look forward to seeing you, hearing from you soon or again.

And until next time we meet, encourage you to make it a great day and why? Because it is a great day to have. It sure is. Peace out.