Four Workout Partner Commandments–How to Be a Good Gym Buddy
By Lisa Maloney on February 7, 2012 5:49 pm | Leave A Comment

Misery loves company, and so does exercise. Having a gym buddy along can be just the trick to getting through a tough workout, pushing yourself to excel–or even just showing up. But being a workout partner is a two-way street, so here are the rules for how to make sure you give as good as you get.

Show up

Just knowing you’re there, waiting on her and wondering where she is, may be all the motivation your gym buddy needs to drag herself out of bed or off the comfy couch. You’ll feed off each other’s reliability, so the more faithful you are about showing up on time, the more likely she is to return the favor. If one of you is out of town or otherwise indisposed for a while, you can still keep in touch–and maintain some level of accountability–through phone calls or text messages.

Communicate

If you and a friend have committed to going to the gym regularly, odds are good that you’re both trying to achieve something. Take the time to sit down and discuss your goals, map out plans for achieving them (check out this S.M.A.R.T. plan), and identify specific ways you can help each other out.

You don’t have to have the exact same goals to work well together, but you should have a good idea of what kind of support you can offer each other. Sometimes this happens organically, but if either of you is the planning type, it’s good to sit down and think it out together.

Try hard

You don’t have to be perfect shape–or even any shape–to be a good gym buddy. But you should try your best every time. In a good gym partnership, you should both motivate each other to excel, not to spend extra time in the sauna. If you and your buddy find yourselves getting distracted instead–or if even just one of you ends up distracted or feels neglected–it may be time to rethink the partnership.

Don’t judge

Do pay attention to what your workout partner’s doing (especially if she’s asked you to spot her). Do encourage her–and if appropriate, push her–to do her best. But don’t judge, and don’t for a second think that it’s your job to control her workouts. Just like any other adult relationship, your responsibilities end at offering unconditional encouragement, acceptance, support–and sometimes a little honest feedback, too–but never a judgmental comparison.