We’re all social creatures by nature. Even those of us who are introverted need people around us and need support and encouragement. But wait Gemfit, you said this the other day when you wrote about support, aren’t you repeating yourself? Well yes and no. The previous post was about asking for support and supporting someone in your life by asking for the support you need. Today, I’m talking writing about another kind of support: that of The Gym Buddy.
The Gym Buddy can be an important part of your fitness life. The Gym Buddy does not have to be a literal gym buddy – some people hate the gym, don’t belong to a gym and never will. Your gym buddy has a number of qualities.
- They encourage you by joining you on your journey
- They join you in your exercise of choice – they’re your walking/running/Zumba/diet/Weight Watchers buddy
- They make “appointments” with you (by organising runs or meetings to attend together) which forces you to actually do these things you talk about but often don’t follow through on
The buddy can be an important part of your healthy living journey and the best thing is that they can be anyone in your life and you can have many buddies! My Walking Buddy is the Boy, who pushes me to walk further and faster than I would alone. My walks alone would be about 5km on average – his are 12km on average. That’s a lot more activity and even when we’re walking quietly, it’s encouragement and support. My Gym Buddy (newly acquired) is the Boy’s brother’s girlfriend (wow, that’s a mouthful) who lives down the road from the gym and is a new Zumba convert thanks to me. Together we muddle through Zumba and make up our own moves when we get lost (and end up cracking up in the back row like kids). I can be sitting at home thinking about going to the gym when a text message from her asking if I’m going comes through. As soon as I say yes, I’m committed and I get off the couch and go. Hopefully we can keep it up.
I know Charlotte at The Great Fitness Experiment has a great bunch of gym buddies (I’m kinda jealous to tell the truth) but you don’t need a huge group. All you need is the accountability and commitment of having someone with you on your journey, whatever your journey is. Who are your gym/diet/running/whatever buddies?
Staying on course 
I don’t really have any gym buddies. Many think I’m crazy and should go somewhere and sit down.
Although, watching people go at *it* in the gym can be inspiring. Also, chitchatting with people at the pool is cool too. Last night, this woman told me that she could do a mile if she had a week. I laughed and got in some additional ab work.
So, I guess, I kind of have drive-by buddies.
I’ll be your online gym buddy…we live in the same hemisphere 🙂
We do indeed! We still have a bit of a time difference but I’m sure we can make an exercise date at a time that works!
I was finishing my first 5K today and I passed a woman about my age near the end, then she passed me, then I passed her again. I had this crazy urge to ask her to jog with me to the finish! I could use a gym buddy– my husband pitches in sometimes.
She sounds like a perfect gym buddy!