partnermedbalFebruary 14th, of course, is St Valentine’s Day. Regardless of whether you see it as a chance to show your sweetheart some love, or a meaningless commercial holiday, there are very good reasons to consider setting some fitness goals WITH your partner!

  1. It can help keep you together. Most Personal Trainers will see a couple break-up over the course of their career. It usually goes something like this: one partner decides to ‘get fit’. The other does not. Fit partner gets fit. Non-fit partner resents fit partner’s fitness, new attractiveness, overall changes. Fit partner resents the lack of support from non-fit partner and becomes frustrated at the refusal to participate in something that has become newly important to them. Breakup ensues. Moral of the story: if you and your honey could both stand to be a little more active, do your best to start a program together, lest it become a wedge that drives you apart!

 

  1. It can help you achieve your fitness goals. A 2013 study (Skoyen, Blank, Corkery, & Butler) found that it is easier to achieve fitness goals when your partner cares about your goal as well as theirs. The study found that average-weight husbands engaged in more physical activity when their wives offered supportive health-related comments. Positive feedback works!

 

  1. It can make you feel more satisfied with your partner. Interestingly, a 2000 study showed that after participating together in an exciting physical challenge or activity, couples reported feeling more satisfied with their relationships and more in love with their partner (Aron, Norman, Aron, & Heyman).That’s an easy win! It’s clear how completing something tough with your partner like a Tough Mudder, for example, would make you feel like you’ve bonded.

 

  1. It seriously helps guard against giving up the program! A 12-month study found that those who joined and worked out with their spouse had a drop-out rate of only 6.3% – as anyone who has ever been involved in fitness knows, that’s amazing! That means that 94.7% of participants continued with the fitness program! To put it in perspective, 43% of married people who didn’t join with their spouse dropped out of the program. If you want to stay consistent, your spouse is the perfect training partner.

 

Maybe you and your partner are considering studying to be personal trainers together? We have had quite a few couples gain their Certificate III and IV in Fitness together over the years and they all reported finding each other very useful in the process! You can help each other through the tough assignments and motivate each other through the rough patches. Plus – you get to revel in each other’s success when you gain your certificates together! What better way to bond?

 

Happy Training!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *