Why Flywheel Training is the Perfect Tool for Group Sessions

September 2, 2021

As we’re now seeing more facilities offering flywheel training in fitness classes, Fredrik Correa took some time to explain the extraordinary flywheel benefits in a group setting.

Key points:

kBox and kPulley allow for a wide range of applications with a small footprint.
Flywheel training has unique physiological benefits over gravity-based training, making your training sessions more efficient.
Flywheel group sessions can easily be incorporated into any gym or training area without any modifications.

Flywheel training has already been adopted by pro teams, elite athletes and Olympians world-wide for quite some time. The athletes and their coaches are dedicated, well educated and are always chasing that extra percentage in performance. So when a tool that offers unique benefits pops up and delivers results, it is obviously welcomed into their regimen.

What is not as obvious for the non-performance crowd, however, is that many of those benefits that attract world class athletes are actually applicable for everyone, and especially, in group sessions. I wanted to take the time to look at some of these benefits that make the kBox and the kPulley excellent tools for group training.

Do whatever you want

First of all, kBox and kPulley are both multi-exercise devices and together they provide a package that can train your whole body in all aspects: strength, power and metabolically. You have an enormous range of exercises and can switch in between them in no time just by changing an attachment. So with the same setup you can train athletes, youth, seniors, upper body, lower body, HIIT or complete general preparation or fitness and perform completely different classes back to back without any change in setup.

More results in less time

Athletes, despite being pros, have a time constraint in their day-to-day life. They need to sleep and eat of course, often more than us who are moderately active. They have to dedicate a large amount of time to travel and tactical sessions, as well as to sports-specific training; on the pitch, the ice or the field. Strength training is just a component of their training and it needs to be effective both in terms of time, results and efficiency, where the kBox excels.

With the variable resistance and ability to make fast transitions between athletes and exercises, the training flow is so much faster. A S&C coach can cycle through a whole team doing squats, deadlifts, rows and complementary exercises in a much shorter time compared to free weights and barbells.

Since the resistance and load depends on the user’s strength and intent, switching between users is just basically getting off and the next user stepping on. No unloading of weight, changing heights of bars or moving around heavy equipment. This is of course, a bigger benefit in a general population group class as the range of the users are wider in terms of strength and ability but also, as an instructor you might not even know how fit your attendees are. As the load adapts this isn’t an issue, the users sets the load by being stronger and going harder. However, us moderately active people are also living with a time constraint. We train for different reasons and some are of course very dedicated but at the end of the day, it’s just one of those tasks we want to scratch off the list, besides working, doing grocery shopping, cooking food, picking up kids and so on. If you can deliver a fast paced class with optimal resistance based on every individual you are also offering great results in less time. Results will bring clients back for more.

On top of that, the physiological stimulus from the variable resistance and eccentric overload provided by flywheels will create a faster and more pronounced adaptation. Increased muscle mass, tendon stiffness, longer muscle fascicles, improved performance and larger strength gains have been proven in multiple studies to be superior using flywheel vs weights.

Get started fast

As a trainer in a gym or as a gym owner there are limitations to how fast you can adapt to the market. If a new class or training fad demands you to rebuild the gym and move equipment around it will be harder and take longer time to implement it. With the lead time from order to set up being 5 working days or less world wide, its small footprint and easy installation you can basically get started within a week. You can store the equipment and bring it out into the gym for every class or into a group session area when you need it or you can just take an empty space and dedicate it to flywheel training. No need to prepare the flooring, since installation is basically unboxing it and you are ready to go. With the heaviest kBox being 15 kg (≈ 33 lbs) you can imagine that moving them or even stacking them is very easy to do for anyone.

Being space efficient also means that you can bring more people in, earn more money and get more work done so this is an excellent way to scale your business without adding cost for big bulky equipment or upgrading to a larger facility. Running a strength class doing squats and deadlifts will probably be capped at approximately 12-16 people if you want to be able to interact and provide feedback on technique as well as fitting everyone in the space you have. With a kBox and kPulley setup you can easily have 4 people per device and with the units taking up approx. 5 sq ft or 0.5 sq meter you can see how you might be able to increase the number of attendees in the same space.

To educate your trainers we also offer onboarding, events, clinics and courses with instructors that have 20+ years of experience in strength training and flywheel training, so you will be up and running with your clients in no time at all.

Safe & Simple

Strength training is beneficial for everybody, even those who don’t want to become more muscular. It helps to counteract the normal degradation that comes with aging, strengthening tendons, joints and muscles and preventing sarcopenia, making it one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves. Many feel uncomfortable about lifting weights, putting bars on their backs or lifting dumbbells, including many elite athletes. With the kBox you are either gripping a soft bar, a grip or connected with a belt or harness so you never have that load on your back or your body. With the ergonomic harness you are also unloading the spine during those lower limb exercises so combined with the benefit of variable resistance, as a coach you can focus more on making your athletes push themselves instead of worrying about form, injuries or excessive loads. After a couple of sessions your users will be well up to speed with how the flywheel works and the session will run smoother than ever before.

If you want to know more about how to implement flywheel training in a group setting please contact us and we will let you know more and also help you custom design both equipment and education based on your needs.