Friday, 26 November 2021 00:00

Great Ways Your Friends Can Help You Reach Your Fitness Goals

One of the biggest barriers to being able to stick to a fitness routine and reach your goals is having a social life. It’s not fair, but it’s true. After all, most of us are very busy people, so if we want to do something in the evening, we usually have to choose either going to the gym or heading out with friends, not both. But that’s where the strategy has been wrong! It is possible to combine.

You Don’t Have to Work for Your Fitness Goals on Your Own

One of the hardest parts of trying to reach your fitness goals is that you can feel like you need to rely on yourself alone to exercise. That means that if you’re not feeling motivated one day, it’s not all that hard to skip your workout. Moreover, once you’ve done it once, it feels easier the next time.

Getting a buddy or a group of friends to help you to remain active can help you to keep each other accountable. You won’t just feel like you need to keep doing it for yourself. Your buddy or friends are counting on you, too. As a result, you’ll feel less likely to simply cancel unless there is an excuse beyond your mood to stop you.

Even better? It’s far more fun and interesting to work out with others than it is to do it alone. In fact, you might even find yourself enjoying your workouts. Even if you don’t quite look forward to exercising straight away, at least you might discover that you’re enjoying that workout you’ve dragged yourself to do.

Get Active by Going Out with Friends

There is no reason that going out with friends needs to involve sitting idle, eating foods that will only leave you feeling guilty later on, and drinking enough to send your calories through the roof. The odds are that your friends are just as frustrated as you are with the struggle to try to balance a social life with the time that is required to achieve a fit body.

So the best thing that you can do is find out how many of them would be interested in spending time together and working to achieve fitness goals at the same time. After all, your closest friends have always been your best support system throughout your journeys to reach all of your other goals – why not this one, too?

Check out these great ways to include your friends in your fitness program.

  • Girl’s Night Out 
  • Join a club 
  • Walk every weekday 
  • Buddy up at work
  • Talk on the phone

Instead of going to your usual dinner and drinks hangout, try testing out various kinds of fitness classes. This can be a lot of fun because you’re trying out new things and it can also help you to discover things that you genuinely like to do together.

Before heading out, drop by daily deals sites to see where you can find a discount, too. You can try out yoga, barre, indoor cycling (spin classes), boot camps, zumba, rowing, and any of a long list of other opportunities. Pole dancing and belly dancing classes can also be a fun alternative to traditional types of workouts and a great way to lose belly fat!

if your usual friends don’t feel like getting in on the fitness plan, then maybe you need to make some new friends. You can still hang out with your old ones in the traditional way, but you can join a class or a club and make some new friends so that you can still be social and work out with some like minded people, too, without feeling as though you’ve isolated yourself from other human beings.

Find a neighbor who wants to walk with you before or after work. This way, you’ll enjoy the opportunity to spend time with someone and talk, but you’ll be getting some cardio in at the same time.

Talk to some of your coworkers whose company you enjoy. See if one or a few of them are interested in joining you at lunchtime. You may be surprised at how many people will be interested in coming with you as you pursue your fitness goals. Though it’s nice to have at least one person who will walk with you, it is often nice to walk as a group.

The reason is that if some people drop out or are only fair-weather walkers, you’ll always have someone to talk to as you keep up your physical activity levels.

One of the reasons people hesitate to use their home gym equipment like treadmills, striders, ellipticals and others is that they are boring to use. It’s all good if you can focus on music, an audiobook or a movie while you’re stepping away, but it can become a drag over time unless you feel genuinely engrossed in your distraction.

If you get on the phone with someone chatty, you’ll quickly discover that gabbing away is one of the best ways to help yourself to reach your fitness goals. The presence of your friend, even on the phone, can help pass the time. You’ll keep going with your exercise and still enjoy some companionship.

Typically, it’s better for you to do the majority of the talking first, then switch sides and let your friend let you know how their day went as you pick up the speed on your treadmill and find it more challenging to do the talking yourself.

Your Friends Provide Surprising Support in Reaching Your Fitness Goals

You might also discover that by pursuing your fitness goals together, you will work together more efficiently both in your exercising and on the job. It never hurts to solidify some friendships and develop your skills together as a team, after all.

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