Could training with a partner unlock higher performance and results?
By Yajen Tan
We all know that getting our butts off the couch is incredibly beneficial to our health and wellbeing, but sometimes we all just need that extra little kick from a partner to get up and work out. Whether you workout in the living or the park, the gym or a studio, there are huge benefits that you’ll be able to realize from training with the right workout buddy.
Motivation plays a huge factor in determining whether or not you will achieve your goals, and it’s no different in fitness. A study showed that between two groups that went on a weight loss program, the group who participated in a group environment not only had almost 20 percent higher success rate, but also were 42 percent more likely to maintain the results. If you’ve ever gone on a diet or weight loss program and saw your precious results disappear afterwards, you’ll definitely want to find a partner or a group when you’re ready to knock out that goal for good.
The goal of working out is to push yourself, both mentally and physically, to help your body grow and improve. Although there are people who achieve great success training alone, I know many others who tend to have a below average workout when they don’t have a partner to push them. Turns out, having a workout buddy can double the volume of your workout! By training with a partner, you not only get someone to help keep you accountable, but also to push you to finish when all you want is to take a nap instead.
As many benefits as there are to training with a suitable workout buddy, there are a few reasons why I ended up choosing to go it alone. If your partner is not truly there to train, you’ll find the two of you just chatting more breaks into your workout. It’s easy to get distracted and if you can’t tell your partner to zip it sometimes, you’ll easily end up spending an extra half hour getting through your workout.
It’s incredibly important for you to understand your purpose for training, so that you can cater your workouts toward your goals and find someone who is shooting for the same achievements. A drastic example is to compare a cross country runner and an Olympic weightlifter. Not to say that either wouldn’t be able to benefit from a bit of cross training in the other’s profession, but they’re better off finding partners who are training towards the same, or at least similar, results.
At the end of the day, finding the right workout partners is about figuring out who works well with you. Just as any partner you would look for, the two of you should be pushing each other to become better with each session, so you end up with better performance than when you started. If you’ve fallen off your workout grind, try to pick a partner in the same situation and pick back up this November.
