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Whether you're new to the gym or are a long time weekend warrior, getting a great training partner can be the missing link between success and failure when it comes to your goals. Here are 5 reasons why a well selected training partner can be beneficial. Although it's best to choose a partner near your own abilities, any partner is usually better than none.
#1 Accountability - Having a training partner will help keep you accountable and vice versa. There are always days when you want to lower the weight, skip a set, or skip the gym altogether. A training partner who will keep you going to the gym when your moodis offwill help you in the long run. They'll make sure you finish every rep and every set. This doesn't have to stop in the gym, they can keep you from going for fast food or ice cream when you leave the gym too!
#2 Perfection - A knowledgeable training partner can watch you on every rep of every set making sure you're paying attention to all the details of form. As great as it would be to have a personal trainer for every session, sometimes life and finances get in the way. Becoming educated on training form and techniquewill help reduce injuries and make you more efficient at your lifts.
#3 Motivation - Sometimes keeping up motivation and intensityfor an entire workout can be difficult alone. Just like a good hardcore playlist, a training partner can help push you and pick you up when you're in a rut. If you're the type of person who feels self conscious in the gym, having a partner motivating will help you forget about all the other people in the gym.
#4 Sharing isCaring- When it comes to working out and achieve your newly set goals, there are often little tricks that can help you stay on track or put you over the top. A partner who is going through the same things is a good source to trade secrets and tips to help achieve your goals. This could be training tools, programs, techniques or even recipes and food ideas. Adding more tools to your box will make you more efficient and prepared.
#5 Friendship - With an increased focus on social networking and email, face to face contact is becoming a rare commodity. Training with someone 3 to 5 times per week guarantees a lot of face time with that person. This may not be what you would call socializing, but it does build powerful relationships. Going through some of the struggles associated with training will truly develop a bond between you and your training partner. Even without meaning to, chatting between sets will end up revealing many personal things only someone close could know. This could easily be #1 on the list, since long lasting relationships are very important for health and well being.
Although other factors seem like more of an immediate necessity to tackle your fitness goals, don't underestimate the power of the training partner. Many superheroes need sidekicks and even if they didn't, it would make crime fighting more interesting anyhow. Get out your phone and start looking for a sidekick.