For Alison Stockton, a wellness entrepreneur, exercising alone is more of a practical decision, saying that while she finds “team sports and group classes are great, the times don’t always work. Solo training is a joy – I don’t feel tied to someone else’s schedule.”

This is crucial to me, as exercise is something that I want to feel free with, not constrained by. That way, I end up getting more from my workouts. While some people might love the feeling of collaborating towards a win or run faster when they have someone else relying on their speed, the opposite is true for me. I find the days that I go to the gym, headphones in, seeing no one I know, are the days that I feel the most accomplished.

I love the fact that there’s no one to fall back on but myself, that I am responsible for whatever weight it is that I lift off the floor. While that does mean I can get stuck in my own head sometimes (if I’m solely to thank for success, I’m also solely to blame for failure), it’s added huge value to the rest of my life. Team sports might teach you to trust in other people but exercising alone teaches you to trust in yourself.

“Why exercising alone deserves the same respect as team sports”