What are some ways to keep a workout partner motivated?

January 28, 2024

If working out was easy, everybody would do it.

Choose Your Friends Wisely

We’ve discovered that a great way to ease the burden of commitment to exercise is to share it with a friend—but you have to pick that friend wisely. For example, your weekend drinking buddies are less likely to appreciate your fitness goals than someone from your hiking group.

You want to workout with someone near your level, or just a few steps ahead. If someone is too far ahead or too far behind, then you can’t do the same kinds of workouts at similar intensity, not to mention that someone always ends up feeling bad due to that imbalance.

Share Responsibility

Great! Now you have a great match.

Before you start, it’s a great idea to sit together and discuss why you both want to work out. When you share goals this way, you also share accountability. Each person knows where the other is supposed to be on their path, and provides healthy peer pressure to keep each other on track.

Peer pressure gets a bad rap, but it can also be good when it enforces good habits and healthy living in a group, even if that group is just a couple of friends. You will want to fit in and keep up with your friends, but unlike high school—it’s for all the right reasons.

Motivate Each Other

This is where the fun begins, because you gamify your progress. For example, if you’re both targeting weight loss, then sharing your weekly weight measurements is a great way to divvy up common tasks like who picks up who for gym, or who owes the other friend an extra protein shake.

Keeping it fun and light hearted will make it feel less like work, more like play.

With some luck, you might even remember the joy of playgrounds and recess.