How the New Science of Social Energetics Explains the Magic of Group Exercise
Sometimes, thanks to work travel or a kids’ soccer game or some other conflict, I have to do my weekly tempo run alone. Most Saturday mornings for the last two decades, I’ve met up with a group of friends to perform this ritual. We chat and banter for a mile or two, then we lock in: an amoeba-like entity with 8 or 12 or 16 legs, united in purpose and moving as a single unit. What has always amazed me, on the days when I go through the same motions by myself, is how much harder it is to hit the usual pace.
Some of the benefits of my Saturday morning routine, and of group exercise more generally, are fairly obvious: accountability (I can’t leave my friends hanging if they’re expecting me to show up), distraction, someone else to share the pace and block the wind, and so on. But some scientists believe there’s also something deeper going on—an idea sitting at the intersection of physiology, anthropology, and cognitive science that ties group workouts to ancient practices like music-making, dancing, and even religious rites. They call this emerging concept “social energetics.”
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