Day 13: Benefits of Having A Workout Partner | "For The Belt" Challenge |

Day 13

"Benefits of Having A Workout Partner"

WOD 130413

Rest Day

Quick Review

Clean room. Eat clean. Share experience

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"Benefits of Having A Workout Partner"

Just like many things in life, you don't want to do something along. You don't want to go through high school without that one friend that has all the same classes as you, you don't want to try that new restaurant by yourself, you don't want to go out to party unless your friend comes along, and you definitely don't always have to workout alone. When it comes to exercise, you don't have to to it alone. In my experience and in other studies, working out with a partner improves your overall results. CrossFit athletes always have training partners, Rich Froning/Dan Bailey, Jason Khalipa/Neal Maddox, or Tyson and Miranda Oylroyd. Here are some benefits I believe having a workout partner can give you.

1. Motivation & Accountability

Sometimes the days you don't want to workout are the days your partner want to go. The days you feel like skipping can get you in the gym if they want to.

2. Spotters & Safety

Bench. Squat. Lifting. Your partner can help spot you, keeping your workouts safe and challenge at the same time.

3. Exercise Vocabulary

There are plenty of strength moves and exercises that you can do with a partner, like med ball crunches, partner push ups, partner deadlifts, etc. They are both fun and effective.

4. Companionship

Workout out alone sucks sometimes. Admit it. Long cardio runs and no spotting sessions. Having a friend next to you to workout with can make the time go by fast.

5. Competition

This is probably the most important reason why I love having a workout partner. Whether it's my brother, Steven, Arvin, or the guy next to me in class, they always push me to go a little bit faster, a little bit strong, and jump a little bit higher to get that one more rep. By keeping each other hungry for improvement and winning, you can definitely challenge yourself more than you could ever do alone.

6. Celebration

What better feeling is to be happy together for your accomplishments at the gym? At CrossFit, everyone knows what the pain feels like because we all do it together. When the workout is done, every that's gone thru it just gives the "good job" to everyone because we all reached a goal.

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"For The Belt" Challenge 130413

So what is this "For The Belt" challenge? Well, it all started with me and my friends at the box (we call the CrossFit gym, 'the box') wanting to challenge each other to different WODs. Since all of our workouts are either time priority (20 AMRAP, 5 MIN AMRAP) or task priority (4 Rounds for Time, 100 Reps), all the workouts could be scored. If workouts can be scored, then you can have competition. We believe (healthy) competition brings out the best in your group and pushes everyone to strive harder.

These challenges are created equally between both athlete's skills levels. The first "For The Belt" challenge was between me and Steven, where I came out on top. The workout consisted of something I liked (thrusters) and something Steven liked (muscle ups). We had a workout that completed both our strengths so it was fair.

This weekend, I was lucky enough to have one of my best friends come up from Sierra Vista for a mutual friend's birthday. We planned to workout both Friday and Saturday, but was even better was that we decided to have a "For The Belt" Challenge between Arvin and an equal competitor. I was having trouble getting my blogs for day 13 and day 14 because I was hitting a writer's block, but after this weekend I knew exactly what I was able to write about (after recovering from the pain, of course). The video below is the actual workout that Arvin and Tedi (his competition) performed along with me and Steven on Saturday.