Why You Need To Find A Training Partner Today
Although bodybuilding is not a team sport, the role of a training partner is arguably indispensable in the gym. From golden-era legends like Arnold to modern-day stars like Flex Lewis, all of them train with a training buddy for a reason.
The pros who don’t have a workout partner, train with a coach. As the famous adage goes, “if you want to become a pro, you need to start behaving like one.” In this article, we’ll discuss why you’re missing out if you’re training alone.
Benefits of a Training Partner
Motivation
No matter who you are, where you come from or what you do, there will be days when you won’t feel like working out. At first, you might skip a training session thinking that its no big deal but you’ll soon find the number of ‘voluntary rest days’ piling up.
Hitting the gym on these days is what separates the men from the boys. Having a motivated and committed training partner can make all the difference in the world on days like these.
Accountability
One of the biggest reasons why most people drop the fit lifestyle is because they are not answerable to anyone. If you train with a buddy, both of you will be subconsciously accountable to each other.
Before starting training together, you need to share your goals with your training buddy. If at the end of the period, you don’t reach your goals, both of you are responsible for the failure.
Healthy Competition
We recommend finding a training partner who is on a higher experience level than you. If you train with someone whose training intensity is high and lifts heavier than you, you’ll most probably start trying to catch up to him.
Training with a partner can unlock your competitive drive no matter how chilled out you are. While you’ll try to catch up to him, your workout buddy won’t take it lying down. He will push himself and try to maintain his lead.
Spotter
If you’ve hit a plateau, training to failure might be necessary to make progress. Having someone there to help control the weight means that you can push further than you could have done while training all alone.
An experienced gym buddy can be a godsend. If you’re someone who lifts heavy, you know the struggle of finding the right spotter. Not only can having a spotter reduce your chances of an injury, but they can also help you improve your form.
Second Opinions
Most lifters fall under two categories. The first believe that they have the best physiques in the world and are deserving of the Mr. Olympia title, and the others are way too critical about how they look.
In this sport, you might be your own worst critic or the biggest fan. A good training partner will always be able to look at your concerns through fresh eyes and give a healthy second opinion.
Do you train with a training buddy? Let us know in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook and Twitter.
