But did you know that exercising with friends comes with its own unexpected benefits?

If you're the type of person who likes to go to the gym, put on some headphones and kind of focus on your own thing, this idea might seem a bit strange.

What difference could exercising with other people actually make?

I feel like it's just so nice to have the support of your friends and your teammates and everything and just having people cheer you on.

Like everybody cheers behind you and gets behind you goes,

"Come on, you can finish it, last 500 meters" and you know, you know you're gonna make it.

Humans evolved as a social species.

Being around our friends makes us feel safer and less cautious, and this can change how our bodies respond to exercise.

Fatigue evolved to protect us from overexertion and injury.

It works like a brake mechanism that tells us when we need to stop, but it also limits our endurance.

When our social environment tells us we're safe and supported, our bodies can ease that protective break.

So by making us feel less fatigued and more energized, exercising with family and friends or even just as part of a group can actually boost our physical performance.

To show this, we ran an experiment with 25 teenage rowers here at the Fulham Reach Boat Club.

We asked them to row at a set pace for as long as they could in two different social environments.

One was designed to make them feel socially supported and the other was meant to make them feel on their own.

We found that those who felt supported got tired less quickly and were able to row for a longer amount of time.

You see everyone else are next to you, you can sort of just zone in and realize that you're not the only one and also you have each other cheering you on, of course.

Whilst you're on your own is just really miserable I guess.

In a boat with other people, there's a sense of camaraderie which you don't have in the boat by yourself.

But on top of boosting our performance and making our workouts feel a bit easier, there's another major benefit to group exercise.

You kind of have that social aspect, so it kind of gives you a mental health benefit by coming out to the runs.

I think the social activity, I mean, I've got so many friends now because of it and I think that's that's one of the big bonuses.

And do a run in a coffee and cake afterwards, so it's just... it's great.

Scientific research is beginning to show that the more we exercise with our friends, the closer we feel to them.

Evolutionary anthropologists call this social bonding.

This happens because our bodies release chemical messengers called endorphins and endocannabinoids during exercise which make us feel happy and content.

You might have heard people saying they give us a runner's high.

This natural high can help us be more positive and in tune with the people we're exercising with and this helps us feel closer and more connected to one another.

And it turns out these social connections don't just disappear after exercise.

We followed over 50 teams of teenagers who took part in a challenge which required them to navigate a difficult 50-mile course over two days.

Teams who reported working together and supporting one another said they felt closer and more connected when they finished.

What we found really interesting was that these feelings of social connection positively impacted their mental well-being a whole week after the event.

Again and again, studies have shown that social relationships are really important for our overall health.

When we feel lonely, we get more stressed, and this fight-or-flight response is our body's way of protecting itself from the dangers our ancestors faced when they were alone.

But in the modern world, this stress response can be a bit counterproductive.

And when loneliness causes us to feel chronically stressed, it can be harmful to our long-term health.

One study even found that lacking social connection can be as dangerous for our health as smoking cigarettes.

So by exercising together, we're helping to build the social relationships we need to live happy and healthy lives.

When I'm here, I'm not stressed about exams.

I'm not stressed about like all of other things I have like it's just rowing and I'm just here with my friends.

But what happens if you don't have family and friends nearby?

Maybe you've just moved or maybe you can be a bit shy and you're not sure where to meet people.

It turns out there are a lot of exercise groups and clubs that are happy to get new members, even if you're just getting started.

In fact, some are even specifically for beginners.

I found the group on Facebook and it was set up as an event.

So I just kept going. I was really nervous about it going for the first time worried about meeting new people, but they were so welcoming.

That wasn't really a thing to worry about, really.

And if you can't do intense exercise, finding a partner to go on light walks with can also have positive effects on your health.

In fact, any kind of physical activity that we can do in collaboration with other people So things like dancing gardening or singing can help us move more and feel more socially connected

Public health experts have described rising levels of physical inactivity and loneliness as two new epidemics that are harming our physical and mental health.

It turns out that exercising together or even just being active with other people might help to cure both.

Thanks for watching.

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