February is the month of love, but it is also a month about heart health. Getting that heart muscle exercised though can be so much easier with a Teammate cheering you on than working out solo, so sharing in your love of fitness with your significant other can be more rewarding – both in the gym and in your relationship.
Here are a few reasons why working out with your S.O can make a difference:
1. Motivation and Happiness – It is proven that exercise makes you happier, boosting those ‘feel good’ hormones. If you participate in physical activity with your partner, you get to experience that feeling together. Pushing and motivating each other, then experiencing results, creates a positivity to bond over.
2. Better results while building an emotional bond – While working out together you create a team-like or nonverbal matching bond – tossing the medicine ball back and forth, counting reps or lifting weights – you will push yourself a little bit harder, which will help you and your partner achieve better results.
3. Creativity – There are many exercises you can do in small group training that you cannot do in solo training. For example, partner exercises that incorporate two people are a great way to add flavour to a workout.
4. Accountability – If you need that extra push to get of out bed in the morning for that 6.15 workout, setting goals together with your partner could be the loving nudge you need. You are not only accountable to your coach or group, but to your partner as well. Remember – you don’t want to let them down.
5. Cost: Benefit – Purchasing a subscription as a couple, or family or even friends, can save money.
6. Working out with your S.O establishes a mutual commitment and the importance of physical activity in a relationship.
Studies show that individuals are more likely to make a positive health behavior change if their partner does too, so go ahead and make a daily workout part of your relationship routine.
Still not convinced?
Urban Casual Founder Samantha and husband David are in my SWEAT SQUAD and workout 5 days a week! Every now and then, I get a screenshot of their heart rate monitors and hear how they are pushing each other to be better, and how it has created a lifestyle of nurturing and supporting each other to be better for each other and themselves.
