If you’ve declared 2016 as your year to get the body you’ve always dreamed of you’re not alone. According to national polls the most common New Year’s resolution revolves around getting in shape or getting healthy. Unfortunately this is also the most abandoned goal as well. Some of the main culprits for losing site of your goal are lack of motivation, no accountability, and no one to share your vision. My solution for that is a workout buddy.
Now why would you want a workout buddy? As I stated above many get fit resolutions are abandoned because there is a lack of motivation. When you have a partner with the same goal they can give you a swift kick in the rear (literally or figuratively, but that depends on your agreement) to get off the couch and into the gym. This also works vice versa and on the days that your pal can’t possibly imagine sweating it out, it’s your turn to push her to workout. Furthermore it’s much harder to ditch plans with someone else than it is with yourself. If you tell your buddy that you will meet her in the morning, by the time your alarm goes off and you decide this is the worst plan it’ll be too late to cancel.
If you’re currently working to get into shape then you probably know the pain of reaching a new personal best at something or hitting a goal and trying to tell someone else but they just stare at you blankly. Your workout buddy will right there with you to experience the milestones and everything in between.
Last but certainly not least (perhaps even most importantly) you have someone to share your vision with. Perhaps I got lucky because my workout buddy is also one of my best friends but we picture ourselves as Beyoncé and Nicki from “Feeling Myself.” No one else understands when one of us is looking longingly at the fries and the other simple says, “Beyoncé” and we go for a salad instead.
Now how do you go about choosing a workout buddy? For me it has always been easy to choose someone, at home it’s my sister and here at school it’s one of my best friend/roommate/teammate so I lucked out. But what if you don’t have a sister and your best friend could care less about working out? Well that takes me down memory lane of freshman year when I didn’t know anyone. I began working out with two people in my freshman cohort. One day we brought up the idea of working out here and were trying to figure out where and when. Then we all just turned into workout buddies. Truthfully, it didn’t last past the first semester but it was completely worth it because without them I most likely would have been sitting on my butt watching Netflix for a semester.
I suggest scanning your BFFs for potential matches because no one else is going to know you as well plus you’ve seen each other do so many other stupid things that you can’t possibly be self-conscious when you struggle during your workout. But alas if you don’t find any matches there then don’t be afraid to look beyond your closest friends, maybe that kid who used to run track in high school, or the perky girl in your chem class could be dying to have a get fit buddy too. All in all, your workout buddy needs to be someone who is motivational, supportive, fun and that you’ll make an effort to see at least three times a week.