3 TIPS TO TURN FRIENDS INTO THE X-FACTOR OF ACHIEVING YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS

Doing sports and working out is not only more fun with a friend.  In an ideal world, you and your friends can help each other to stick to the schedule, correct form to prevent injury, push each other a little bit harder, help each other to eat right, and ultimately, achieve the weight loss goals together.

Unfortunately, we all live in the real world, where distance, schedule conflicts and different skill levels can substantially hinder the possibility of working out with a friend.  Here are the 3 main obstacles (aka, “LIFE”), and some easy tips you can implement to overcome the obstacles. 

OBSTACLE #1:  EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT SKILL LEVEL

A few years ago, my college buddies convince me to try snowboarding with them. I can surf and skate a little, so we thought that we could learn snowboarding on the spot without professional lessons.  We found a mutually agreeable Saturday, drove up the mountains, got geared up.  My friend promised to teach me. Then, 5 minutes after we got off the lift, my friends took off and left me thumbing and falling for the rest of the day. That sucked.

It’s not that we are not good friends, it’s just the gap between our skill level was too big that it wasn’t fun for a Level 10 snowboarder to hang out at a bunny hill, and it was way too dangerous for me to even try the black diamond.  (Despite the incident, we remain friends till this day) 

This is the same challenge when you try to workout and lose weight with a friend.  Whether your activity is playing sports, biking, or as simple as running together. Everybody has a different optimal skill level of performance where the activity has the right amount of challenge and the workout is most effective.  Even if two friends start with beginner level (say dancing), one person often learns the sport faster than the other. Then the same activity becomes not as fun for you two. 

SOLUTION: FIND A SKILL-NEUTRAL ACTIVITY

We recommend team sports such as baseball, basketball, and football.  Team sport could work well here since each person can excel in a specific position and the whole team can enjoy it together. 

For Workout Buddy X routines, we painstakingly designed, tested, then revised, and re-tested different modifications of exercises that are similar, but still deliver optimal results for beginners, intermediate and advanced users.  Our testing method was quite simple.  1) We created different workout groups by mixing people of all gender, age, and shapes. 2) put them in a room together to do a WBX workout. 3) when everyone can find an intensity level that they can accomplish yet remains challenging and enjoyable, we know we have a winning receipt.

If you and your friends live in close proximity, we highly recommend you and your friend join forces to do a WBX workout at least once a week.  This will help everyone stay on track.  The Level 3 folks can also act as a team leader to push the groups a little further!  And most importantly, remember to have FUN!

 OBSTACLE #2 LOCATION CONFLICTS

Friends move, get married, have kids, have new jobs, or you are the one that moved for a job and your friends are no longer within arms reach. For some of us, it’s simply physically impossible to find friends who live in close enough proximity to workout with you.  

SOLUTION: WORKOUT WITH NEW FRIENDS

But fortunately, the solution is also quite simple. MAKE NEW FRIENDS!  Do you have co-workers, classmates, new roommates?  Sports and exercising is one of the most fundamental and rewarding activity new friends can do together!  So don’t be shy. Use working out as an opportunity to make new friends.  Remember that everybody wants to look better and feel better. 

OBSTACLE #3 SCHEDULE CONFLICTS

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have jobs, schools, kids, etc, it’s always hard to schedule group events. Even if we all have similar 9-5 work schedules, it’s still challenging to find friends in the same workout schedule, and physical meet with you. 

SOLUTION: MAKE WORKING OUT A PRIORITY

The truth is, you can always find excuses to skip exercising and eating right. But honestly ask yourself, was it REALLY that impossible? I’m not say that it’s not challenging, but if it’s not literally impossible, skip the excuses and start exercising first. You’ll be done before you know it. Not only that exercising is a key factor to lose weight and get healthy, it is also scientifically proven to improve you mood, help your brain functions, which could drastically improve your other work productivity! So next time when you and your friend already scheduled a workout session, DON”T FLAKE! Remember that the short 30 –60 min workout could potentially shorten the time on your other tasks.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS?

Now we'd love to hear from you.  From our blind studies, we found that members working out as groups are able to stick to the plan much better than the ones working out alone.  The result has been impressive.  Workout Buddy X groups on average lost 230% more body fat than the members doing it alone. What are your experience in working out with your friends?  Are you seeing the same results we are?  You can share your thoughts in the comments below.