Numbers are strong. Never is this truer than when it comes to committing to exercise.
This is why people hire personal trainers or sign up for a boot camp with a friend: Accountability. And which more comfortable responsible partner is your intimate partner? If you live with the person, even better.
What if we have different fitness levels? How does this work?
Rest assured, it can still work even if one person is much fitter, stronger, or faster than the other.
Here are 5 ways to train with your partner, even if you choose to.
1. Choose your own adventure burpees
Burpee intervals, where you each work for a specific amount of time, usually work well for people moving at different speeds, as you both end up doing a fair amount of work for your level, as opposed to one person who has worked with whooping cough is another person's butt.
Try this::
- One person works for 30 seconds and does as many burpees as possible while the other person is resting. Then reverse roles.
- Repeat for 8 to 10 rounds every time. Can you hold the same number of burpees in your last interval as in your first?
Make sure that your chest is touching the floor at the bottom of the burpe and that you fully extend your hips and end up jumping with your hands over you.
2. High Five Partner Planks
You've likely done a plank and maybe a pat on the back, where you raise one arm and your hand touch the opposite shoulder as you stabilize yourself through the core and keep your hips from shifting.
This is the same concept, just instead of tapping on the shoulder, raise your hand and raise your partner's hand.
Perform::
- Stand facing each other and take the plank position.
- At the same time, raise your right hands and gently raise five. Then left. Back and forth.
- Focus on ensuring that your hips do not shift and that your glutes and abs are as tight as possible for the duration of this exercise.
After you've completed selecting your own adventure burpees, finish with 3 rounds of 20 high five partner boards with a one minute break between sets.
3. From War
One two three four – I'm declaring a war.
On a day when you are feeling competitive, your best efforts should be to assert yourself against each other. Who can hold a hollow handle longer?
Make sure your shoulder blades are off the floor, your lower back is taped to the floor, your hands are straight above your head, and your heels are four to six inches off the floor.
Then finish with 100 hollow stones as a team. Split them up as needed and complete 100 together.
4. Interval isometric fun
Similar to burpee training, you should weigh the movements of::
- Hold the wall for 30 seconds
- 30 seconds dead bug hold
Or better yet, make it a dead bully where your partner pushes your arms and legs around a little to force you to resist their thrusts and tone your core with everything you have. This is also a great core activation exercise.
5th race 10 to 1
I really like 10-1 workouts because every lap gets easier. You can do this with all types of movements, but basically choose two movements and do 10 reps each, then 9 reps each, then 8, 7, 6 to 1.
If you are at a similar fitness level, pick one movement at a time that you are good at and then race against each other. Or if one person is a lot fit, have them do 10-1 while the other does 9-1, much like a handicap in golf.
Try squats and sit-ups or burpees and lunges or push-ups and hollow stones. The sky is the limit.
Why?
Because as the saying goes: "If you train together, you stay together."