“It’s Great to Exercise Together on Zoom!”: Understanding the Practices and Challenges of Live Stream Group Fitness Classes

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The COVID-19 pandemic greatly changed many people’s daily life. Because of the temporary closure of gym and fitness centers, many people started to take group fitness classes online. The abrupt transition to synchronous online exercise brought lots of uncertainty and challenges to fitness instructors and participants. This study aims to understand how people teach and participate in live stream group fitness classes, the challenges they have encountered, and their practices to address these challenges. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 instructors and 14 participants who had experience teaching or taking live stream group fitness classes on Zoom during the pandemic. Our interviews showed that instructors saw teaching online as a new, more cognitively demanding experience than teaching in-person classes; they found limited resources to create a professional workout space, experienced stress and anxiety, had limited information and approaches to give participants feedback, and faced difficulties with rapport building. Participants found it hard to give real-time reactions while exercising far away from their laptops; they receive less customized instructions, and have difficulty engaging in private chats. Despite the challenges, we envision CMC in exercise is an opportunity for new design and interactions. We propose design recommendations, including using smartwatches to give real-time reactions and smart garment to generate tactile feedback. Health and biometric data can be shared with instructors and other participants during exercise for safety and to create social connections.