5 Reasons to Workout with a Partner
It’s Valentine’s Day, the day to celebrate romantic love and relationships. Given how important relationships are in our lives, we thought it would be a good idea to talk about partner workouts and how training with a significant other or friend can have a positive impact on your mental and physical wellbeing.
A partner workout is quite simply working out with another person. A significant other, a friend or a family member make great workout partners and training with these people accomplishes two very important things simultaneously.
- It makes you pay attention to your relationships
- It engages you in exercise.
On our list of things to do to improve your wellbeing a partner workout therefore ticks two major boxes and comes out very highly.
In this blog we are going to take a closer look at partner workouts, unravel 5 reasons why a partner workout is great for health and relationships, and if you’re not already doing them encourage you to start!
Reasons include:
- Better Relationships
- Accountability
- Healthy Competition
- Adding Variety
- Safety in Numbers
Better Relationships
It’s not uncommon for people to view their time at the gym or in an exercise class as personal time to spend alone. However, research suggests that having company during your workouts may be better for your relationships, particularly a romantic relationship.
In the study by Sackett-Fox and Colleagues it was found that “people are more successful at exercising if they do so together with their romantic partner”. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that exercising with a romantic partner improves mood during a workout and throughout the day, and increases levels of relationship satisfaction.
Healthy competition
Training with a partner does not only add to your mood and relationships, but it can also help you to get more from your workout and increase the speed at which you improve!
When people know somebody is watching, they tend to act differently. This principle applies to a partner workout because we are likely to want to perform better than if we were alone. Whether it’s doing 2 more press-ups than usual, or lifting 5kg heavier on your bench press, these small intensifications to your workout are going to yield better results – which at the end of the day is what we’re all working towards. Call it vanity but it’s effective!
It’s a good idea to partner with somebody who is a similar fitness level to you. If you partner with somebody a lot fitter than you, it is likely the workout will be too hard and leave you feeling negative about your fitness level. This is called setting yourself up for disappointment.
On the other hand, by partnering with somebody of a similar ability you are setting a realistic challenge for yourself and introducing a healthy level of friendly competition to your workouts. This will motivate you to push harder and get more out of yourself in a positive way.
Accountability
Accountability is widely noted as a highly effective method of helping people achieve their goals, non-fitness related goals included. Accountability simply means taking responsibility for your actions.
We all have those days where we don’t feel like we have the energy to go to the gym, especially if you’re having to work out early before work, or after a long day. Even the biggest fitness fanatic will experience dwindling motivation at times, but research has shown that you are far more likely to work through the challenging times if you have strategy in place to keep you accountable.
- 65% of people complete a challenge when they tell a friend about it
- 95% of people complete a challenge when they meet with somebody in person
Why is having an ‘accountability partner’ so successful? A key reason is the pressure that having to show up for a friend or partner places on you. As stated by impactus.org “Cancelling on your own plans is easy, but cancelling on your partner is not.”
So, if you’re the type of person who needs an extra push to get to the gym, then having a gym buddy is great way to keep you on the right path.
Adding Variety
If you only ever train by yourself, then you limit yourself to opportunities to learn. A partner can introduce you to new exercises, new training methods and add variety to your workout. Variety is the spice of life after all, and by changing up a few things in your workouts you can avoid the dreaded plateau.
Likewise, training with a friend or significant other might show you areas for improvement. Although this can be challenging to come to terms with, taking control of your individual targets from the beginning will allow you to look forward and create a more focused and purposeful workout split. This will set you up on the path to success by ensuring you are working towards your intended goals in the most efficient and effective way.
Safety in Numbers
Our final reason why you should workout with a partner is because of the safety aspect. Let’s say your goal is to increase your strength. To do this you will need to train at a very high intensity and to the point of failure. When training intensely like this, there is added risk of injury.
Having a partner there to spot you, gives you the peace of mind to push yourself as hard as possible without having to worry about accidents happening. As well as another pair of hands, you also have another pair of eyes there to watch your form and technique when lifting.
So, there you have it, 5 reasons to work out with a partner. It strengthens your relationships with a friend or significant other; it holds you accountable making it more likely you’ll continue to show up, and it can increase your performance in the gym! Ultimately all these reasons help you to achieve your fitness goals, in a more motivated and fun way, with the bonus of improving your relationships.
Have a friend or significant other who you can workout with? Why not sign-up to our Joint Membership Package?
Sign-up today and pay no Joining fee. Visit here Joint Membership – Everybody Health & Leisure
References:
Sackett-Fox, K., Gere, J., & Updegraff, J. A. (2021). Better together: The impact of exercising with a romantic partner. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38(11), 3078–3096. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211012086