Due to a family situation, I’m taking a blogging break. Today’s guest post is courtesy of Kara Thom, who blogs over at Mama Sweat. Thank you Kara!
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While I’ve come to enjoy solo workouts every now and then, and definitely try to include my children in workouts on a regular basis (I’m a multitasking mom), my love for fitness was fueled by friends who joined me in the pursuit of shared goals. For the most part it takes someone with similar interests and a similar pace to make a good match. These friends in fitness are good for accountability and keeping boredom at bay. And unlike exercising with your children, you rarely have to stop to discipline them. If you’re looking for an all-grown up workout partner, I’ve got four considerations for sharing the sweat with someone.
1) The need to talk (or not): And laugh. Pam, my fitness partner for the last five years has a killer sense of humor. So, not only do we spill our guts about various life issues, we manage to put them in a context that becomes hilarious, even when they didn’t start out that way. It’s a good thing. But some of us aren’t so chatty. While we might want a warm body by our side, we may require an easy silence to get through the workout. Know what you need.
2) Scheduling: Finding time to hook up with someone else for fitness is challenging. Some of us have jobs to get to at specific times. Or having children of various ages can make it difficult to coordinate. But once you do find that golden hour or two to meet, keep that date locked in for a weekly appointment. Then you never have to make arrangements or coordinate, and the standing date makes it less likely that one of you will cancel. Most often the best time of day for two busy moms is early morning. What else can conflict with exercise that time of day except sleep? Even when I’m tired, I’ve never regretted getting up early to exercise. I have regretted sleeping in and missing my only opportunity to work out.
3) Accountability: This should go without saying, but you do need to hook up with someone who is equally committed. In fact, I’d go as far as to say you need a partner who is “enabling.” By this I mean, someone who can rescue you to workout even when you thought you couldn’t. Pam and I will take turns watching each others kids so we can each take a turn exercising. No, we’re not running together, but it’s the next best thing. When the set schedule fails us, we still find a way to make it happen.
4) Reaping the Rewards: Sharing in a common goal is an easy way to make all the above fall into place. I’m also in favor of making sweat the “social glue” of my female friendships. I meet a group of fantastic women once a week in the summer for a track workout. The speed ranges from the very slow to the very fast but we’re never far from each other on a quarter mile track so we still manage to workout together. In the winter we meet once a month to try something new: speed skating, hip hop, cross-country skiing, cardio tennis. It puts a whole new spin on “Girls Night Out.”
If you’re a dedicated Workout Mommy you’ll likely find the time to exercise with or without the nearest warm body.
Do you have a preference? Solo sweat sessions, sweating with the kids, or socializing while you sweat? If you do have a workout partner, what makes him/her a good match for you?
{ 6 comments }
**waves to mamasweat whose writing she always loves**
Ive nothing to add here–great post. and for me it is a lotlot about the first one.
the laughter. although the first and last person I met who could TRULY made me belly laugh I married
hugs to BOTH you women,
Miz.
I look for someone who goes at roughly the same pace I do. When I trained for long-distance bicycle riding, it was important to find someone who didn’t always make me feel I had to pant hard to keep up, but who also had a pace that could keep me from slacking off.
Plus, it helped that she knew all the gossip from work
Merrys last blog post..Office workers can get skin cancer?
This is all such great stuff! I usually prefer to workout by myself, but it’s nice when you can find someone that you work really well with.
Sagans last blog post..Interpretations of Marketing Strategies: Botox for Dogs
I work for and own a Whole Body Vibration Platform and it is a work alone item. I love the private time when trying to focus on what I personally need and go to group when I want to have the social contact and added presure. With WBV my time is shortened too. This allows me do get my own workout in and then one with others if i choose. I really liked your post. It made me think about how I am and need to get help at times and sweat on my own at times.
solo sweat for me! Just me and my music………and the sun if I am lucky to have that too
It’s the only “me” time I really get most days…….away from the 4 kiddos……….so I am selfish with my time and I doubt if I’d want a partner!
Annettes last blog post..Sharing Some Love & a Recipe
Hi all–thanks for the great comments–I woulda come in sooner to respond but I was in LABOR when this got posted. Just a tad busy this last week… Annette, now that I have four kids i wonder if I’ll prefer solo workouts too…
Kara from Mama Sweats last blog post..Something Else to Read While I Nurse My Wounds
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