Need motivation to workout? Grab a friend!
We are well into the New Year, and how many of those New Year fitness resolutions have been tossed a side? There are probably a long list of excused… “Not enough time” or “I have a cold” maybe… “Well I missed Monday and Tuesday so I might as well start over next week” or even….”my dog ate my shoes”. (insert eye roll here!) What’s the solution? Grab a buddy!
Recent research by Professor Shiriki Kumanyika and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, conducted a two-year trial with the help of 344 men and women. The goal was to achieve and maintain a 5 to 10% weight loss.
The groups were split into three sections:
- those who trained alone
- those who had a partner that received little coaching
- those who were with a friend who also had a high level of coaching.
According to the research, published in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine journal, the participants with a partner in the high support group lost the most weight at all of the measurement periods. In addition, the people who had partners that shed at least 5 % of their body weight experienced a greater weight loss than those whose partner shifted less than 5 % which suggests that when we get a little competitive with our workout buddy we are far more successful.
While research from IDEA Health & Fitness Association shows study after study that working out with a coach or trainer has a 5x success rate of going at it alone but the price of working with a trainer or coach isn’t always feasible. There are resources all over the web that can help you with financially incentives such as Healthy Wage an Diet Bet. Otherwise, the next best thing is to find a workout partner that is going to motivate you and keep you accountable for showing up and getting it done!
So grab a buddy,workout your schedule. Put $20 bet on it, and get moving!
Have questions about your health and fitness? Comment below!
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I coudn’t agree more! I love working out with other people. I belonged to a running group in my last town. Loved them! We would run every Tuesday & Thursday morning, rain, snow or shine. Mostly snow and rain! But we did it because we knew the others would be there doing it, too and if we didn’t, they would be wondering where the heck we were.
Now that I have moved to a new town, I workout with my daughters almost every day. They are always up for an adventure and are ready to go at a moment’s notice.
I could not agree more about having a friend to workout with you! I would LOVE to have someone in my life who would start running with me because I don’t like to run alone where I live at, so hopefully I’ll find someone soon. In the meantime, I’ll just stick to taking yoga classes :)
Lol This works! IF you have a friend around…. -_- I don’t know anyone down here to do this stuff with and it would require 5 minutes of not blogging to go out and meet the neighbors…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO >,>