“Paired Workouts” Is the Answer to Exercise With Your Partner
Working out with a partner is not always easy, especially if you have different fitness levels or what you want to focus on is not the same thing. These are both reasons I don’t usually train with my boyfriend, but we tried bodyweight couples workout this weekend and it turned out to be really successful!
This isn’t the first time my boyfriend and I have tried to practice together, and to be honest, I’m not in the same shape as him, which is part of the problem. The couples workout we did took joint exercise to the next level as it focused on using each other’s body weights rather than equipment or just your body weight. This is why training for the couple has been more successful than just training together.
- We had a common goal . Since each exercise requires you and your partner to work together to complete them, we had a common goal, such as not kicking my boyfriend in the face or getting him in the face from me. These exercises are also harder than I expected because they require you to use balance muscles and stabilizers that you don’t often use in other workouts.
- Each exercise can be customized . Since my boyfriend and I are at two different fitness levels, being able to adjust the exercises (like reps or position) was key to making this workout reliable for both of us.
- It was challenging … and fun . I’m not a fitness model, so this workout was challenging for me, but great. Unlike the couple in the video above, we are not strong men and trapeze performers who escaped from the circus of the 1930s, so some of the exercises were difficult only because we needed to figure out how to make them work to our level of fitness and be closer. … in size than many of the pairs in the videos we used for reference. I often fell on my boyfriend, he was a good athlete and laughed with me.
You don’t need to have a romantic partner to try these workouts, but you should be fine with the likelihood that you might fall on your partner or find yourself in a semi-uncomfortable position. We tried the following exercises:
- Squats and Push-Ups : One person assumes a push-up position while the other holds onto the first person’s ankles. When the first person goes down in a push-up, the second person crouches. In a more difficult variation, the second person can also hold the squat and keep the first person’s legs higher.
- Throw Downand Squat : One person lies down and the other takes a squatting position. The first raises the legs, and the second pushes them. To work the oblique muscles of the abdomen, the second person can push the legs of the first to the sides or straight down.
- Bodyweight LegPress : One person lies down and puts their legs at an angle of approximately 90 degrees. The second person places the chest or shoulders on the legs of the first person, and the first person does the leg press. I did this exercise with my boyfriend’s weight in mind, but he did not do this exercise since I weigh a lot less than him, it would not be a good workout. You can change this so that the second person rests their hands on the first person’s feet and does push-ups at the top of the leg press (as shown in the video at the link).
- Push-up duet : The heavier partner lies down and extends his arms, palms up. The other person stands up, puts his hands on top of the first person’s hands, and pushes his legs back so that their body is at an angle. Then they do the bottom of the push-up. Once they reach the end of the push-up, the first one lowers his arms, so the two of you are just a few centimeters apart. Then the first person pushes off, and the standing person rises to the starting position.
There are tons of workouts for couples online, so if you don’t want to try the above or want to do something a little more challenging, you have options.