Working out tends to be one of those things many of us do alone. You know, like showering or - um - making a cup of tea. The point is that showering and making a brew take a few minutes and require zero motivation. We can do them alone, no problem. There’s no need for anyone else to be by our side all the time, egging us on, telling us “you’re doing a great job, man.” Working out, on the other hand, can be gruelling and exhausting - and doing it alone all the time can make it tougher. So why not buddy up with a training partner? In this article, Beast Gear examines the reasons why some of us choose to work out as a pair. Training Partners Can Boost Your Motivation I agree with some beasts who say motivation isn’t what you need. On the contrary, discipline is what you need, as it’s what helps you to stay consistent. Motivation comes and goes. However, many of us still need to be motivated in order to get our ass to the gym. And nothing motivates us like a buddy who’s showing up at our door at 6am, all pumped and ready to do this. In fact, just bantering with your pal on the way to the gym can help to ignite a spark in you that reminds you why you do this. Sure, you go to the gym to get fitter, but you could also say you go there to see your friend and have a laugh. Training Partners Hold Us Accountable Many people find it hard to hold themselves accountable to themselves. “I’m gonna smash X goals this week,” we might say to ourselves in the mirror. \ By the time Friday swings around, we’re hiding from the mirror. You can’t hide from a friend who’s greasing you. What you need is a ‘tough love’ friend who’ll give it to you straight. When you’ve broken your promises this week, they will remind you. When you said you’d go harder this month, they would remind you. And they’ll do it out of love. Training Partners Keep Us Consistent Remember when Tuesday night was ‘boys night out’? Bet you stuck to that rigidly every single week. You stayed consistent. Bagging yourself a training partner can help you stay consistent when it comes to the gym, too. Let’s say Wednesday night is gym night with your buddy. You don’t wanna let them down and they don’t wanna let you down. So you keep it up. You gee each other on and stay consistent. After all, it’s far easier to cancel when there’s only you going anyway. Training Partners Can Help With Your Form Lastly, it’s not always easy to perfect our form when it’s just us. We might think we’re doing it right, but we’re not. I mean, we could video ourselves and upload it to Facebook and ask our mates to tell us how we look. But it’s not the same. If you partner up with a buddy, though, they can monitor your form and make the right corrections. Naturally, we’d all like our own personal trainer. But if you can’t afford one, a training partner is the next best thing.
