I just got home from a killer and FUN (yes, I said fun) workout with one of my oldest, dearest, and best friends and felt like I needed to write a quick post.

For all the ladies out there with crazy schedules (which really applies to all of us, right?), there is nothing better than enlisting friends or partners to keep your exercise game going strong.

I used to love going to classes, but these days – with a young baby at home – I often have no other choice than to work out in the house alone. It’s just what works. After putting her down for a nap or for the night, I do what I gotta do. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you have seen photos of my late-night hill walks on the treadmill. Even if it doesn’t happen until 10pm, I try to get some movement in whenever I can.

The problem is that it is SO easy to just not do it. Too tired today? Skip it. Too busy today? Skip it. Husband isn’t travelling tonight and wants to have a cocktail on the dock? Ummm yeah, skip. it. I mean there are literally hundreds of reasons to not exercise and if you are only accountable to yourself, then it can be hard to stop yourself from saying “well, I’ll just do it tomorrow.”

But what if you committed to meet up with someone else and exercise together? What if you committed to challenge each other on a goal and then worked to keep each other accountable? It becomes so much harder to opt out in these scenarios.

Example: I just finished up a “Squat Challenge” with my husband. Gosh, I really hate squats! All my life, ballet classes naturally gave me the chance to work out the same muscles targeted by this hellish exercise so I never worried about them. Now that ballet classes are a thing of my past, it’s time to face the squats.

Enter our challenge!  This little guy is posted on our fridge at home:

Seriously, there is no way in hell I would have CHOSEN to do 100 squats a day for 60 days without my hubby. And here’s the thing, there is also no way in hell I was going to let my Hubby win (sorry honey, I love you). But that is the beauty of these types of things. They force you to do what you might otherwise avoid because you’re accountable to someone else and have the added incentive of competition. In this case, you bet your booty (see what I did there?), I was NOT going to lose!

So that brings me to my next point… you’ll work harder with a partner. This was the thing that stood out to me when I exercised with my girlfriend today. We decided to work out together at the very last-minute. Half way through our sweat session, I realized that I work out WAY HARDER when someone else is there. To be fair, her workout was a beast anyway, but even given that, I wasn’t going to quit one rep before she did. I couldn’t say I was too tired to do the last set, because she was going to do it without me, and then I’d be standing there feeling silly just watching her.

For example: I was originally going to do three segments with her and then go home. When we finished those three, she said she was doing one more. She showed me the exercises she had planned and the next thing I knew I was saying “ok, fine, I’ll do those too.” I had to do them at home, so my little lady could go down for a nap… but I still did them. I told her I would, so I did. There is no way I would have bothered with that by myself. I would have been tired and probably told myself what I had done already was “good enough.” You know those words, right?

Ladies (and Gents too), it makes a big difference to include others in your exercise plan. And this is actually backed by research… Having family and friends that are supportive of your fitness program makes you significantly more likely to succeed (Fraser & Spink, 2002). You will often find that you push yourself past your comfort zones when someone else is there to witness your decision-making and commitment. So, if you have a friend to meet up with, seriously, do it! It’s even better if that friend doesn’t mind your child banging into things in her house with her walker and occasionally shrieking because Mommy was too busy doing push-ups to give her a cheerio when she wanted it. Oh, and did I mention how awesome it is to have someone to laugh with while you work out? Laughter boosts endorphins, which make you feel good, which means one more rep might just not feel so bad when you’re having fun!

Here are some ideas for your own workout challenges with your friends or partners:

• 20 push-ups/day for 30 days
• 1 30 min. walk/day at lunchtime
• 10 sit ups/commercial break during your favorite TV show
• Engage in five exercise classes or sessions/week for 4, 6, or 8 weeks
• Challenge each other to work up to a 1 min wall sit. Who can do it first?
• 1 Burpee every time your child yells (that’s a joke, folks. Don’t do that. You’ll die

Be creative, but don’t let finding the perfect challenge hold you up. Pick something and go. It’s more important that the challenge just gets you moving. You can always choose a different challenge after the first one is over.

As I’m finishing this up, there is a little voice in the back of my head thinking… what about those readers without a workout buddy they can reach out to? You are not left out of this conversation. There are so many ways to tap into other people exercising!

Here are some ideas:

• If possible, join a class. You don’t have to go every day. Pick one class a week that works with your schedule and go. Once you go a few times, people will start to expect to see you and wonder where you are when you don’t show. This used to happen all the time when I taught dance classes. People knew others in the class would be waiting on them, so they came even when they would have rather stayed home.
• Take a look at meetup.com. I just did a quick search of my zip code and turned up a ridiculous amount of hits on groups of people interested in different fitness activities. Hiking, dancing, yoga, tennis, running, biking, etc. So many people are looking for other people they can go do activities with. Join a group and go!
• For my mommas, get on Facebook and look for local Mom groups. I am part of one for my neighborhood and for a nearby city. There are hundreds of other Moms in those groups. I guarantee at least a few of them are looking for people they can get together with (probably with their kids!) so they can get out and get active.
• And if all else fails, most fitness apps now allow you to share your exercise sessions with your friends. FitBod, for example, (if you haven’t read about how much I love this app or their special offer to our readers, click here!) allows me to log my workout and then share it with other people. (I hadn’t thought about it until now, but I guess technically my Hubby and I could do another challenge and use it to keep each other on task! This could get interesting!) The beauty is, it doesn’t matter if your accountability partner lives across the country, you can still keep each other moving! It’s one of the health benefits of all this technology we have.

So, next time you’re trying to figure out how to get your fitness goals back on track, consider adding friendship into your game plan! You might find it is the key to keeping you going strong to the finish line! And it’s so much more fun than counting out those reps all alone!

As Always, Stay Healthy as Heck Friends, KH