Friends That Workout Together, Stay Together.

Let’s face it, losing weight or gaining muscle has never been easier when you have a friend to share the experience with. You both motivate each other out of bed or help them stop the temptations of unwanted junk foods.

Make your joint effort a breeze with these helpful tips:

When it comes to working out and losing weight, the whole process is hands-down easier when you have your friends and family standing behind you.  It is said that those who recruited three friends or family members to assist them in their quest to lose weight had better weight loss results than those who had no buddy system to fall back on.

While getting your friends to join you in your weight-slashing aspirations may seem daunting at first, it’s very important for both individuals. Understandably though,  there’s not always someone at our disposal willing to be our support system and undergo intense training with us when it comes to the long journey that is weight loss.

Check out these 3 suggestions for losing weight with friends:

1. Make it cheap

Sometimes the idea of a $50 a month gym membership may frighten your potential gym partner, everyone functions by a budget for the month to make their lives manageable. If you wish to bring together a group of friends to exercise regularly with, it’s super important to be mindful of the costs. Generally speaking, the less expensive you make it, the more people can join you and the more likely it is that people will stick with the program. Take part in activities like walking around your neighborhood or a park tracks that are obviously free.

The odds are that at least one person from your group will have some gym equipment (gym balls, dumbbells) at home, so why not  start a strength training group where members could meet at each other’s homes twice a week. You can all work out to an exercise video or do a workout you found in a book or magazine, with the motivational music of your choosing playing in the background. Many strength-training routines rely on just your body weight. Therefore, think squats, lunges, pushups, and crunches. But for a minor investment ($9 to $12), you each could purchase an exercise band. These multipurpose rubber bands offer all of the workout possibilities of a set of dumbbells.

And if you want to apply the same sort of economic thinking to healthy eating habits too. Then a possibility is to replace one of your regular outings to a calorie-heavy dinner on the town with an evening in with your friends, preparing your own food together. Not only does this satisfy the penny-pincher in all of us, but it also gives us far more control over what we are eating.

2. Make it easy (and convenient)

If we magically lived in a world where the word ‘tiredness’ didn’t exist, then you could agree to get up and meet your friends at 5:00 a.m. for a casual 10 mile run four days a week. But let’s be realistic, that fairytale ain’t happening anytime soon unless say your best friend is a gym obsessed fanatic. Same really applies for unrealistic and overly restrictive expectations for food choices. It’s better to start with an activity or a healthy eating option that involves a convenient time and location and does not seem like a task you’re going out your way to achieve. Make it easy for your friends to join you, and chances are your new routine will stick successfully.

3. Make it fun

The best part of the experience of training together, is to make it fun! You might even want to take advantage of preexisting routines. For example, if you have a weekly movie/sports night, then take this opportunity to serve healthy snacks instead of unhealthy ones. Here’s some ideas: