How a Friend Can Motivate You

Government holidays: the best part of the job! I had Monday off for President’s Day so I took advantage of that fact by sleeping in, having a leisurely breakfast and then making my way to the gym. I was looking forward a nice workout with my friend Robyn but when I got there I discovered the place was PACKED. Did everyone have the day off and decide to take advantage of that by going to the gym? I was so confused! The parking lot was 100% full. I did find a spot but geez…

Robyn and I found equipment next to each other. I hopped on the treadmill and Robyn used the elliptical next to me. We did about 40 minutes or so on the cardio machines. Today was my 4th day in a row working out — which I try not to do too often — but I wanted to take advantage of the day off. Despite the four days of working out (Swimming twice and snowshoeing) my body was perfectly fine.

I ran on the treadmill a little faster than normal, finding that I didn’t need to warm up at such a slow speed anymore. I eventually worked up to 4.7 on the treadmill. Almost at 5.0–the speed I USED to warm up at before my injury. I’m getting better!

I was feeling awesome after my 3 mile run. After that Robyn and I headed over to the weight machines to workout together.

We frog-leaped each other on the machines. She started with the Lat Pulldown and I started with the Chest Press and then we swapped. We did this with all the weight machines we were doing.

One of the benefits to working out with a friend: Competition. I’m not really a competitive person (in fact I’m not at all–when I play Scrabble I play to have fun, as opposed to Michael who plays like it’s a math game and he wants to get the most points). But working out with Robyn (who is in the Army) motivated me to push myself harder. She was lifting heavier weights than me so on a few machines I tried to increase the weight. Sometimes I get complacent in my workouts so this was a good challenge.

I had a great time working out with my friend. We spent some time together and got a good sweat. After all the weight lifting we headed over to the mats to do some ab work. Robyn showed me a few moves that she does and I loved having some new things to try!

We worked on abs, stretched and then showered before grabbing lunch.

Gym Stats:

Time: 1:30

Calories Burned: 736

Lunch was at Stanford’s Restaurant. They had some nice options for lunch. I ended up ordering the house salad with Pomegranite Vinagrette dressing. I also ordered the Artichoke Crab sandwich. Oh my was that delicious! The salad had cucumber, egg, bacon and tomato on it.

The sandwich was a half sandwich on ciabatta bread. It was topped with artichoke, crab, coleslaw, tomato and then melted cheese on top. Every bite was good. I was glad I went with the whim to satisfy my craving.

I was kinda sad that there was only one half of the sandwich…

Working Out with a Friend

There are lots of good reasons to work out with a friend. If you’re feeling like it’s hard to motivate yourself to get to the gym or work out, why not ask a friend to join you?

1. Find a friend that will support and motivate you– not quit and bring you down too.

2. Take classes you’d normally never try. If you go alone, maybe you’ll meet someone in the class. Or ask a friend to join you. I have to say it’s REALLY hard for me to motivate myself to go to fitness classes. But having Robyn there to go to a yoga class or Turbo Kick motivated me to try it.

3. They can teach you something new. Maybe they have a background in aerobics classes, or they weight lift. Learn things from them and teach them some things that you are good at.

4. Getting healthy can be a fun way to spend time with a friend. Instead of Happy Hours or dinner and a movie, try hitting a yoga class on a Friday night when the gym isn’t as crowded.

5. Don’t have a gym membership? That doesn’t keep you from getting fit together! Go for hikes or walks together, find a local school track and run or do intervals. You can also workout together with fitness DVDs or the Nike Training Club app. Or check out this fun list of exercises you can do in a park!

6. Another great thing about working out with a friend: you have a date once a week to catch up on life and things that are going on!

QUESTION: Do you prefer to workout alone or with a partner? If you workout with a partner, what do you guys do together?