Your significant other has a great deal of influence on your health and happiness. A 2015 study looked at the influence of a partner on healthy behavior change.(1)
This study examined over 3,000 married or cohabiting couples, finding that when one person adjusted their behavior in a healthier direction, the other was likelier to follow suit. Couples often move in concordance with one another, whether that means encouraging another bowl of ice cream or a morning run.
The best way to get your significant other to be fit, in other words, is to be fit yourself.
Another study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health tracked the activity levels of over 3,000 couples, six years apart.(2) If the wife met the recommended levels of exercise on the first visit, the husband was 70 percent more likely to reach those levels six years later.
Who says a little competition isn’t healthy?
Rather than nagging your partner into exercise, you can love them all the way to the gym. Once they are on board, here are some fun things to try together.
Sign up for a race
Even if you have never run before, a walk/run plan and a commitment to a future day can help you both stick with it.
If you still aren’t convinced, a Brooks Running survey of over 1,000 runners indicated that 66 percent of them claimed that they had more sex in their relationship when they ran with their other halves.(3) Worth a shot.
Classes for two
Sign up for a pass that allows you to be non-monogamous with your workout. Choose three days a week for classes and alternate who gets to choose the gym and the activity.
You can encourage the idea of yoga. He can finally get you to try CrossFit. It will have you both cross-training rather than staying stagnant in your comfort zones.
Literal body weight
You can squat in sync. You can have your partner bench-press you. You can hold your partner’s ankles as they do push-ups.
There are countless opportunities to try new moves. Many of them won’t work out as well as they do on Instagram, but they will certainly be a hilarious new way to bond.
A new sport
You don’t want either of you to have the upper hand, so try a sport that neither of you was playing at college level. From snowboarding to tennis, a bonded passion can be an exciting way to stay fit as a couple.
After all, the couple that plays together, stays together.
Reviewed July 7, 2016
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith