The Advantages of Working Out With a Partner

Let’s face it, the thing keeping many of us from reaching our health and fitness goals is motivation (or a lack thereof). It can be tough, at the end of a long day, to force yourself into the gym to train, so you need to do whatever you can to stack the odds in your favour. One of the best ways to do that is to find a workout partner.

Your partner needs to be someone that will motivate you, maybe even get you fired up and competitive. It should not be someone with whom you can’t stop talking for 2 minutes, and it definitely shouldn’t be someone who will help you make excuses!

You guys will work together to be accountable and to make sure that you’re both sticking to your plan. It’s easy to bail on the gym if there’s no one waiting for you, but when you’ve got a friend who’s dragged their tired self over there in the evening it is a LOT tougher to justify not going.

The other thing working with a partner affords you is the opportunity to try partner exercises that you simply wouldn’t be able to do on your own. And, in the case of partner training at The Body Temple, bringing a partner means that you get top quality training (which is essentially still personal training) at a lower price. More fun, different challenges, less expensive – you can see why partner training is so popular at our gym.

So what can you and your friend do, right now, to workout together? Grab a large towel (like a beach or bath towel) and then roll it up so that it resembles a rope. The partners each grab an end of the towel and face off. From here, you’re going to perform squats together while pulling on the towel. The idea is to find that point of balance and move in unison. The towel will force your forearms, biceps, and upper back to work, while the squats will work your entire lower body and even your core. Perform 10 repetitions, slowly. Look at your partner and make sure that your movements match. If 4 sets of 10 reps isn’t enough for you, try for 4 sets of 20 reps. This will really get your whole body going, even your heart and lungs (provided you don’t take too much rest in between sets).

So, if getting yourself into the gym hasn’t been working for you lately, grab a friend! And if you’re at a loss for what to do, come in and train with us and see what all the fuss is about!

[Via http://bodytempleblog.wordpress.com]

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