You can go shopping, take a trip together to the Bahamas, or spend the weekend watching the reruns of your favorite movie flicks. Couples can spend some quality time together in so many ways. However, there is one way that will not only strengthen your emotional bond but also lead to physical fitness, working out together.
Fitness doesn’t have to be an individual activity. Besides, pounding the pavement or unrolling the yoga mat every morning alone can be tiresome. Hitting the gym with your partner, whether it’s your sweetheart or the better half, can unlock a plethora of benefits for you both.
Read on to discover how couples that work together enjoy better physical and emotional health.
1. Increased Accountability
All those who work out know that starting a workout is not the hardest part of fitness. The hardest part is to keep up an exercise routine. Unfortunately, most people struggle to stick to their workouts. It happens because when you have no external accountability, you are more likely to skip your workout.
Roping in your partner to exercise with you allows him/her to keep you accountable. In fact, it allows both of you to keep each other accountable. It’s human nature not to let down your partner. Your partner, thus, ensures you stick to your routine and meet your fitness goals in due time. A study by Prevention Magazine found that 94% of couples stuck to their workout plan when they did it together.
2. Enhanced Workout Efficiency
Working out with a partner not only increases your accountability but also improves your workout efficiency. You can push each other to work harder. Working out together gives you a chance to encourage each other, share mutual goals, and celebrate each other’s successes.
For example, most main tend to focus on heavy workouts while women are keenly interested in stretching. Thus, you are more likely to skip stretching when working out alone. But, when exercising together, you stick around with each other. You start stretching and she starts doing the weights.
Working out together can also lead to a healthy competition between you and your partner. When you set fitness goals together, you can see who achieves it first. You can also create a reward system (use your imagination) to take this competition a step further. It is perhaps the best way to increase motivation and progress.
3. Better Diet Support
Diet is one of the most critical factors in your fitness regime. It provides you with the necessary nutrition and energy for the exercise. You can’t even begin to think of shedding a few pounds without a proper diet.
Sticking to your diet is extremely difficult when your partner continues to indulge in sweet treats. What happens when your girlfriend offers you a bowl of mac-and-cheese or asks you to share a donut at the breakfast table? You give in to the temptation. Unfortunately, indulgence loves company. So, you continue to slip your diet again and again.
If you exercise together, however, your partner will also need to stick to a healthy diet plan. As a result, both of you will get better diet support from each other. Together, you can try new nutritious recipes and banish the indulging foods from your kitchen.
4. Spend More Quality Time Together
Spending time with your spouse is vital to maintaining a healthy relationship. In today’s busy lifestyle, however, couples get almost no quality time together. If you and your partner make working out together a regular thing, you get to spend more quality time together as a couple.
Having a common goal, as a couple, helps keep things interesting in your relationship. It may work as a welcome distraction from any relationship issues or strains. Plus, you get a ready-made spotter that will allow you to choose a wide range of weightlifting exercises such as bench press.
To bring more spontaneity and variation in your relationship, you can try different couple workout options such as cycling, rock climbing, couple yoga, and a game of one-on-one basketball among others.
5. Improve Emotional Intimacy
The more quality time you spend together, the stronger your emotional bond gets. When you work out, it releases endorphins. These chemicals not only reduce your perception of pain but also create a positive feeling. That’s why you feel happy and invigorated after work out. Endorphins also reduce stress, anxiety, and help boost your self-esteem.
When you feel relaxed and happy, you are more likely to talk about your feelings with your partner. Thus, working out together can help you open up to each other and strengthen your emotional bond.
Non-verbal communication plays a critical role in developing a better emotional connection with your spouse. It helps increase the level of respect and trust for each other as a couple. The human body is surprisingly expressive. It can convey a wide range of emotions without saying a word. Working out together improves your non-verbal communication allowing you to read emotions better.
Also, exercise improves your overall physical appearance and brings a youthful glow on your skin which is attractive enough for your partner to draw towards you.
6. Save Money
Apart from improving your physical and mental health and strengthening the emotional bond, training together can also save your money in several different ways. When you hit the gym together, you are more likely to travel in the same car which saves money and also reduced pollution.
Most gyms and fitness centers offer special packages for couples and group workouts that are less expensive compared to one-on-one sessions with a fitness expert. With the increased efficiency of your workouts and a motivating partner, you are also likely to get the most bang for your buck.
Conclusion
There are so many activities couples can do together. However, nothing can beat the benefits of training with your partner. You will not only spend more quality time together but accomplish your fitness goals readily when couples work out together. Hopefully, reading about the above benefits will prompt you to rope in your partner to participate in healthy physical activities with you. Stay healthy, stay fit, and stay together!
