I first heard about small group personal training back in 2011.
I listened to some talks on it and looked into gyms that made it their main offer. It seemed smart, and I was very interested.
But it wasn’t until 2015 that it all clicked for me.
At that time, I was doing a lot of one-on-one training sessions.
I looked at my schedule over 10 weeks and did the math.
Most of my clients were only training 1.5 times per week.
They wanted to come more often—but it was too expensive.
At $100 per session, coming in 3 or 4 days a week just didn’t make sense for most people.
That’s when I saw the real value of small group training.
It fixed the problem—for me and for them.
With small group training, we could:
- Still make custom programs for each person
- Still coach them during every session
- Let people train more often—without spending more money
- And cut out the parts of one-on-one sessions that weren’t helpful
The vibe was better too.
Everyone had their own plan. No pressure to keep up. No guessing. No comparing.
Just people doing what works for them, side by side.
That said, small group training isn’t the only path that works, but in my estimation- ideal for 90-95% of the population.
Some people may truly benefit more from one-on-one training—especially those who need close, arm’s-length guidance for the full hour.
There are also people who enjoy jumping into a group workout where everyone does the same routine. If they don’t have many limitations and aren’t at high risk of injury, that approach could be fine.
But for what we’ve seen most people need—customized programming, quality coaching, and the ability to train more often without breaking the bank—small group personal training has been the best solution by far.
If you know someone doing one-on-one training, keep this in mind:
You’re probably getting 3 to 4 times the training—for the same cost as their one session.
— James Pratt