Is Marriage The Ultimate Fitness Tracker?
When two training personalities live under one roof, following this guide ensures adding muscle, as well as strength, to family bond.
The couple who work out together, stay together (if they share common goals!)
THE BRIEF
Time to read: 3 minutes
Time to action: 5 minutes
Mantra: Love thy trainer
Main message: Turn your partner into your perfect trainer
Stat: 95% of those who start a weight loss programme with their partner's help complete it
A lack of synergy with your loved one is among the top 10 reasons a health goal is derailed. The actuals, the practicals, and the to-dos that mean change from the much-loved routines you share can quickly turn your drive for that V-shape into a wedge between you two.
These are the 5 simple rules to follow that enable you to still find common ground for the daily grind, even if you are looking to bulk up while your other half wants to slim down.
1. Mirror positivity - absorb negativity
How you respond to each other is mainly accountable for the strength of your bond. If you’re slim, it might be tough to understand the excitement of losing 2 lbs from a more… robust frame. But the bond will only increase if you can be as excited as they are.
Of course, the flip side is not to mirror personal negativity. You don’t (necessarily) have to refute it proactively, so if you don’t, offer rational and calm insight instead, as this is less prone to the dangers of a “sentiment spike”.
When the emotion has levelled out, your partner can then see the rationale behind your engagement of not simply leaping to their defence because you have to. It’s an approach with higher emotional value over the long-term.
That being said, of course, be kind at all costs. If your partner says, “I am fat,” there is still only one correct response.
2. Together in protein powder
Come together to eat meals, even if they are a little like feast and famine. Although this is admittedly unlikely, even if you’re looking to gain size, you’re still not going to go overboard on unhealthy fats (we hope).
Eating is relaxing, even if the meal isn’t what you want it to be. It signifies to your body a moment to take stock and refuel. This time is a key part of the bonding process you mustn’t lose, even if your training goals are oil and water. Or indeed, if that’s your meal!
3. Explain the end game
Don’t say what you want to achieve. Instead, explain the necessary actions you need to take to get there, especially as it impacts on your daily routines. Your shopping list will change, for example, as will the time you spend training.
The bond you share is not just physical or cognitive. It’s also practical – sharing the small things actually accounts for a surprisingly large amount of joy in your coupling. This open approach helps ensure the fun stays, even if you head to different ends of the supermarket aisle.
4. New trumps plateauing
You might be on different paths to fitness, but beautifully they're running in parallel, and you are both fundamentally heading toward better health. If either of you gets bored with the same-same, try doing each other's workouts, even if it contradicts your own goals.
Don’t do it very often, and don’t alter your nutrition to match it, but unless you're a pro athlete, the chances are your body could cope with a slight change-up to its health and fitness system.
New stimuli for both the muscle and cardio system and increased empathy with your other half. What’s not to love?
5. Increase active participation
So that’s support, practicality, and understanding ticked off. Now push each other!
It is well-documented that partners regularly have more faith in their other halves than in themselves. It’s something to do with, you know, being in love. So tell them and push them to be as brilliant as you know they are.
You’d be surprised at how big the gap between the two can be. And you are better placed than anyone in the world to push them outside their comfort zone without upsetting them, so relay that belief and explain why they can do it.
It will help keep the love burning as intensely as your newly revitalised metabolism.
DR DOG
A cognitive psychologist specialising in those most 21st Century of issues: anxiety and depression. Dog is especially good at delivering actionable answers, removing the rhetoric and hyperbole, and focusing simply and directly on practical information that can be used to help mental health on a daily basis.
ANTHROPOLOGY ANTELOPE
Sociology may have been that degree way back when, but can you honestly think of a time when we needed to understand our society more than we do today? Antelope is a respected and published author of numerous thesis on the human condition and the nature of human interactions.
