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Work out to work it out.
By Paula Mooney — Written on Apr 05, 2019
The benefits of exercise are innumerable and consistently backed by empirical evidence. According to the CDC, exercise helps maintain a healthier weight, reduces stress and anxiety, makes you feel more energetic, facilitate a healthier sleep pattern, and improves and stabilizes your mood. Not to mention, it also makes you more confident.
But the benefits of exercise are not limited to solo ventures. In fact, you can get even more by doing a couple workout with your significant other. So why is it that couples who workout together have stronger relationships?
1. By planning and setting a goal, you learn how to work as a team.
Setting and achieving goals together is a good way to strengthen a partnership. You and your partner may be emotionally and romantically connected, but you’re also partners in a logistical sense.
Taking the time to create a plan for your fitness habits together is a way to share your values with each other, learn about each other’s needs, and make compromises. Not only does this help align your individual visions and create something both of you can strive for together, it also gives you communication and collaboration skills that you can use in other areas of your relationship.
2. Your energies and moods will match.
Most couples experience moments of mood dissonance, where one individual is experiencing a contrasting mood or energy level to the other. Working out together and engaging in the same dietary habits can help you both sustain the same mood and energy boosts over time.
For example, if the two of you always work out in the morning and take vitamins and minerals like CoQ10 and B-complex vitamins, you’ll both feel an adrenaline rush at the same time, which should last throughout the day.
3. You provide each other with motivation and support.
While some people are natural-born gym rats, for most of us, there are some days when exercise is a challenge. We may be eating poorly, getting too little sleep, or extra stressed from work, but whatever the case, it’s easy for an individual to lose motivation (at least temporarily).
With a partner, you’ll find a reliable counterbalance to those downturns. If you work out on a regular basis, you’ll be more inclined to follow through on your plans, and your partner may be able to give you the pep talk you need to keep going (and vice versa).
4. It's an opportunity to bond and enjoy each other.
When you’re at the gym together or running together, you’ll be able to spend more time with each other (while simultaneously burning stress). You’ll have a chance to talk and catch up, and bask in each other’s company.
If you’re in a new relationship, this helps you form long-lasting bonds. If you’ve been in a relationship for many years, it gives you a chance to rediscover what attracted you to this person in the first place.
As an added bonus, your workouts will be more engaging since you’ll have more to listen to than the same old playlist and the grunts from the person on the treadmill next to you.
5. Your sex life will skyrocket.
Exercise does wonders for your sex life. Exercising regularly improves your blood circulation, which facilitates faster and more sustainable arousal (not to mention more overall pleasure), and it gives you more energy, which naturally leads to better sex.
Exercise also releases endorphins, which relieves stress and regulates your mood, so you’re in the mood more often. Plus, if you’re both exercising regularly, you’ll be in better shape, making you more attractive and more confident at the same time — a winning combination.
If you’re single and you’re reading this article, don’t worry! You can still get most of these benefits by working out with a friend, rather than a lover. You can create goals together, keep each other entertained while working out, bond with each other, and keep each other motivated throughout the process.
And who knows? If you’re looking for a romantic partner to stay fit with, you might just find one at the gym.
Whatever your goals are, and whether you’re single or in a relationship already, exercising with another person you care about can multiply the already-impressive benefits of exercise. There’s no excuse not to give it a try, so if you’re not already in a workout regiment, consider having a conversation with your partner or friend about getting in better shape together.
Paula Neal Mooney is author of several books, and her essays and articles have been featured in national print magazines such as Writer's Digest, Yahoo, Examiner and more.
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