5 Reasons Why You Should Exercise With Your Valentine

Valentine’s day is often associated with the warmth of a coffee date or a romantic dinner in a dimly lit rooftop restaurant. Today, we give you reasons why working out together in the morning breeze is the best non-conventional romantic thing you can do as a couple, besides being the best exercise to lose weight or whatever your fitness goal might be. 

More Time, More Bonding: If you have been in a relationship for a while, you would know how much you two enjoy doing things together. Social Psychology research suggests that any novel activity which involves shared participation brings people close together. As a fitness trainer, I make sure to keep some spare time for new drills or challenges which can be done together and my clients love doing something new each week. If you find your exercise routine boring, you need to search for a better trainer.

Balancing Your Fitness: We all know men love to work on their arms and women love their cardio and abs routine. Contrary to popular opinion, apart from addressing personalized issues like a lacking fitness parameter or an injury, men and women should work out in pretty similar manner. However, women are intimidated by weights and typically most Indian men focus on building just a good looking upper body. Working out together brings a balance between the exercises you love and the exercises you hate. This means more work on the lower body, endurance and flexibility for men and more strength training for women.

Being Held Accountable: This is a personal favorite of mine. A trainer is often held accountable for their client’s results. But if the client is not showing up regularly for the sessions, it is hard to get results. A quick analysis for the past 3 months on my client tracker sheet showed that couple clients cancelled 28% lesser sessions as compared to solo clients. I believe this is because your partner helps you get up on the days you don’t want to and/or you would feel guilty if they go solo so you embrace the grind and go with them. Even if a session is unavoidably cancelled, working out together as a couple ensures that at least clients make up with exercises at home. 

A Little Competition Hurts Nobody: It is human nature to be competitive, even if it is your better half. Sure, men are typically stronger than women but bodyweight exercises like walking lunges, planks and squat variations create an equal playing field for the couple to compete. I have seen husbands get humbled by their wives so many times. You can also play around with a 40-50 meter sprint or compete on who finishes first on a 3 cone drill but make sure the lady gets a slight head start. As the saying goes, ladies first.

Together Forever: I have seen multiple times that a client often drags along their husband/wife with them for a session or two and then the other person also joins in. Similarly, if I suggest a healthier breakfast, and if one person follows it, the other goes along for the ride too.

If you personally believe that becoming fitter should be a priority, you can push your partner a bit too until they get hooked to the endorphin rushes of a good ol’ tough workout session. After all, both of you deserve a healthy and a happy life together!

Interested in getting fit? Here are a few tips from the Iron Man, Milind Soman himself!