Yes — training with a friend in small group sessions is not only allowed, it's one of the smartest ways to use the format. You book the same session, train side by side, and the coach scales each of your stations individually, so a fitness gap between you never becomes a problem. The one practical requirement: book early enough that you both get spots, because small group sessions cap their numbers.
The accountability effect is real
Research on exercise adherence consistently points the same direction: people who train with a partner stay with it longer. The mechanism is ordinary — cancelling on an app is free, cancelling on a person costs something. A friend in the same booked session converts your workout from a private intention into a small social contract, and social contracts survive the rainy North Vancouver Tuesday evenings that intentions don't.
It also cuts the intimidation tax. Walking into a new room with someone beside you removes about half of what makes first visits hard.
Different fitness levels don't matter here
The worry that stops most pairs — one of you is far fitter than the other — dissolves in this format. You share the clock and the stations, not the loads. Your friend runs while you incline-walk; you press a lighter bell; both of you finish each station at the same moment because time, not reps, ends it. The coach handles all of that scaling without ceremony.
If anything, the gap helps: the fitter friend gets pushed honestly instead of coasting, and the newer one gets a live preview of where consistent training leads. A complete newcomer joining alongside an experienced friend is a normal pairing — whether small group training suits beginners covers the newcomer's side of it.
How to set it up
- Visit together first if you can — a free 15-minute tour works perfectly well as a two-person outing, and you'll both know exactly what you're agreeing to.
- Each of you books your own spot through the live schedule — pick the same session and confirm before it fills.
- Agree on a fixed weekly pattern rather than deciding week to week; a standing same-sessions-same-days arrangement is what makes the accountability automatic.
- During busy times, book ahead — capped sessions mean the slower decider sometimes finds the other one's session already full.
When training together backfires
Two things to watch. First, chatting through the work — a session is social, but it isn't a coffee date, and the norms of a shared room are their own topic: the unwritten rules of small group training. Second, dependency: if your attendance only exists when your friend's does, one cancellation takes down two people. The fix is simple — treat the shared sessions as a bonus, not a condition, and keep your own booking even on the weeks they bail.
Common questions
Can three or four of us join together?
Usually yes, as long as the session has open spots — a cluster of friends inside a small group session is common. Book as a bloc early, and expect the coach to still treat each of you as an individual when it comes to loads and scaling.
What if we can only make different days?
You lose the side-by-side element but keep the rest — same studio, same programming style, and progress to compare between sessions. Plenty of pairs train apart most weeks and share one session whenever schedules line up.
What happens if my friend quits?
Your training doesn't have to follow them out the door. By then you'll know the room, the coach, and the rhythm of your week. The healthiest setup treats the friendship as the entry point, not the foundation.
Will we actually get to be side by side at stations?
Formats vary — some rotations keep you together naturally, others mix the room. If pairing up matters to you, mention it to the coach before the briefing; it's usually an easy accommodation.
