Find A Workout Buddy – It Makes A Huge Difference

Trust me on this one, find a workout buddy.  They come in handy.  I write this after having to workout though I did not want to.  It was just one of those days where I felt tired, didn’t feel like working out, and I had a million other things that I needed to get done.  In the past, I would have ignored my workout and put it off for a day.  What harm can missing one day do, right?  The trouble is for me, that one day will usually turn into several, and if I am not careful, I will realize all of a sudden that I have not worked out for a month.  But luckily now, I have a buddy.

A friend of mine approached me a while back and asked if we could workout together.  He was a buddy from college and we don’t get to see each other very often these days, so we both thought it would be a great chance to catch up.  It has made exercising much more fun, but the best side effect is that I can’t just decide I’m not going to workout that day.  I know that my workout buddy is going to show up ready to workout, so I better be ready to go.

So what should you look for in your search to find a workout buddy?  Below are three factors that will make or break your success.

1. Make Sure You Both Want The Same Thing

I can’t stress this one enough.  You need to make sure that you and your buddy have a similar level of commitment, and that you have similar style of exercising.  If you like to socialize during a workout, make sure that your buddy feels the same way.  If you prefer a fast intense workout, this is important for your buddy to know.  Just make sure that you talk about this beforehand so that you do not end up frustrated with each other and quit your exercise routine.  I guess I should note that if you just want someone to drag you off of the couch to make sure you get some exercise, you don’t need to be as picky!

2. Set Up Some Ground Rules

This stuff is all trivial, but it can make or brake your success as workout buddies.  Talk about the schedule, where you will workout, how often, and what your goals are (weight loss, strength, endurance, etc.).  Setting all of this up beforehand can help to save some headaches later.

3. Stick With Your Gender

I recommend staying with your gender if you are after results.  If socializing is as important to you as your workout, then feel free to workout with someone of the opposite sex.  I just find that long term, mixed gender workout buddies add unnecessary complications.  And, complications are what we need to avoid to keep us in our routine.  The last thing you want is to skip going to the gym because of some relationship drama.

I hope these tips were helpful.  I have had much better success when I have a workout buddy.  If you don’t have anyone in your group of friends or family that you can workout with, try craigslist or other popular local classified ad sites.  Just find someone that you know is counting on you and you will be that much more likely to get up off of the couch on the days that you don’t want to.