I’ve said it before—how it is important to have a workout partner who will keep you accountable to your workout sessions. If you miss your workout date, it will be more than your own guilt riding on your mind.
This V-Day you and your workout buddy may have dates with others or each other. Either way, how about incorporating some paired exercises at the local park to prep yourself for the hot outfit you’ll be wearing for your hot night out…or in…
1- Fartlek relay~Yes, that hardly sounds date worthy, but fartlek is a Swedish term meaning speedplay and is used in interval training. After a 5-10 minute warm-up of walking and dynamic stretching, you and your partner will alternate speed intervals. Jog together for a few minutes before beginning “speedplay work”. Toss a coin or ro-sham-bo who sprints first. The first person takes off, sprinting to the end of the block, and continues with a slow jog to recover. Your partner keeps a steady jogging pace until she/he catches up. When partner catches up, tag and sprint to the end of the block. You continue in relay form until you can’t handle it anymore.
2- Boxers’ push-ups~I call it the boxers’ push-up because my boxing coach used to pair my teammates and me across from one another so we’d keep eye contact during our push-ups. The first person to break would do extra push-ups. These days, my husband and I do these face-to-face push-ups to keep each other motivated and make faces at each other. It’s fun to try to keep in sync with one another while one of us sets the pace.
3- Patty-cake crunches~Sit facing one another, toes-to-toes or link feet, knees bent while lying on your backs. Curl up and touch hand to hand your right to his/her right. Lower and repeat on the other side.
4- Assisted pull-ups/weighted squat~Pull-ups are challenging, but made easier with a partner. First person gets in ready position, holding pull-up bar, abs in tight, and lift feet off the ground by bending at the knees. Your partner, the spotter, holds abs in and in squat position holds onto your ankles. You press into your partner’s hands as you pull your chin close to the bar, as your partner lifts up into a standing position assisting you in the pull-up. Switch and once you’ve finished both of you have completed a full-body strength workout. (Note: Avoid this one if either of you have an injured back.)
5- Assisted stretching~Any stretch can be done with a little gentle assistance. You can make this romantic if you want it to be, with the right gentle touch.
You don’t need a special occasion to include these exercises in your workout program. Make your workout date and plan to get sweaty. The workout, at least, will be invigorating.
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Christine Kwok Has Written 122 Articles For Us!
These are some great partner work out exercises! I love the interval sprinting and boxing push ups. Not only will it give you great workouts but I feel like it would be a lot more enjoyable if you do it
Thank you for visiting and commenting, Pete! I thought I had replied yesterday, but it appears it didn’t post.
Those are exercises that I do, myself, and have included in sessions with my private training clients and group exercise classes. I hope that you try them, and let me know what you think!