Strength Training with a Partner

Thinking back to when I first started training seriously in 2009, there’s no way I would have stuck with the training if I wasn’t doing it with a training partner! It would have just been another attempt at fulfilling a promise that I really wanted to keep but wouldn’t have managed. 

Personally I think this is why many people don’t achieve their goals when they start to train and this would be the first thing I’d tell anyone who wants to get fit. 

There are lots of reasons why I started to train with my partner, such as:

• Making a commitment to another person is harder to break

• My partner was really encouraging and acted as a motivator i.e. I wasn’t allowed to cheat on the training with half a rep

• I was able to push myself more with a training partner than I could safely do alone

• It was fun training together so it made me want to keep training

• I could try new things, we could bounce training ideas around and I could get advice on my form as I was training

• I got to spend more time with my best friend

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Photo by Andrea Piacquadioㅤ

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PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS 

I remember looking at the first training plan my partner drafted and thinking “I’ll never be able to do this!”

The good thing in having a training plan that was designed to fit around me was that I had no reason to cancel any sessions and I knew I could start getting ready for each session that was coming. The other thing the training plan helped me to do was motivate and encourage me as I printed off the plan and simply crossed off the sessions every time I did one. I could see the progress being made and this made me commit more to the training plan.

I’m not going to lie, at the start of the training I wanted to quit as it was tough and a total change to any training I’ve done before. What was great though was the encouragement I got from my partner before, during and after any training we were doing as it really helped to spur me on and hit my goals. This kind of encouragement really develops your psychological belief in what you can actually achieve, especially when you are lifting weights. Encouragement easily motivates you to go that extra rep. If I trained alone, maybe I would have quit a few reps earlier because that’s an easy thing to do and you’re not really accountable to someone else.

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PRACTICAL ELEMENTS

One thing I’d never considered in a training plan before was to use the Olympic bar, mainly as I had no idea how to use it and I thought it was more for power lifters. 

The Olympic bar slowly turned into one of my best friends as I was shown how to correctly use it and how to monitor my form in the mirror correctly if I was to ever train alone. This was when I first started to dead lift and my partner was able to give me advice to not rush and set up my body position so that I was more comfortable, along with other little tips to help me prepare for the lift. This was the same throughout any of the training sessions, getting advice on where I could improve and try new things. This worked both ways as I was also able to give my partner feedback on his lifts and training meaning he could also improve. 

We would always bounce these new ideas between each other from magazines and posts we would be reading. One of the best tips we shared with each other was about the tempo when lowering the weight slowly and bringing it up faster. Another was the rest period between sets and why we needed a designated rest period when working at a certain intensity. 

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Photo by Monstera

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PHYSICAL ELEMENTS

My advice is to definitely get yourself a training partner as there are so many benefits! Just make sure that when working with a training partner you agree on a plan that is suitable for you both, you can always alter weights accordingly. Stick to the plan you have agreed on, do exercises that help get you both involved - even if it’s just spotting for each other. Pick a training partner who will motivate you and someone you like being around. 

If you want to bolster training with a partner with some solo training then why not add in a cardio session like running or a short mobility session using a foam roller at home.

Advice provided by Paul Stainthorpe at Father Fitness: http://www.fatherfitness.co.uk/

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