Kevin explores the surprising benefits of training with a partner. Whether it’s tackling a grueling rowing session or facing a tough CrossFit workout, having someone to challenge and support you can push your limits in ways you never imagined. He also shares personal stories and tips on how working out with a friend can keep you motivated, make your workouts more enjoyable, and help you reach your fitness goals faster.
Kevin explores the surprising benefits of training with a partner. Whether it’s tackling a grueling rowing session or facing a tough CrossFit workout, having someone to challenge and support you can push your limits in ways you never imagined. He also shares personal stories and tips on how working out with a friend can keep you motivated, make your workouts more enjoyable, and help you reach your fitness goals faster.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hello again listeners, this is Kevin and welcome to another episode of Get Fit Guy. This week I am going to talk about the merits of training together and see if its true that you might get more from your training if you have a training partner.
So, like most things that happen on this podcast, I am usually triggered by something that happens in my week. The ‘powers that be’ want me to plan this stuff out months in advance, but I prefer bringing real life into it and think plans months out are big corporate yawn. So, sticking with my usual modus operandi, I’m inspired to talk about something that happened this week.
A very close friend of mine, using Aristotle’s language, a friend of true virtue, was getting into doing some rowing recently at the gym. They were doing great and hitting personal bests. I thought maybe I could help with some advice because I know a bit about using the indoor rowing erg. They sent me over screenshots of the monitor after their training and I gave some tips. But I then realised that tips can be hard to understand on text message, so I decided I would go to the gym and make them a video on setting up the ergometer and another video on rowing technique.
I did this and then thought to myself, ok hold on, what is the distance my friend is rowing? Hmmmm ok you know what that sounds fun to see if I can match their time or maybe beat it. If I can beat it, maybe then they can go away and try to beat my time and this becomes a really fun little game. So, I went out and rowed the same distance. With about 400m to go, I was wishing hard that I hadn’t decided to do this. However, it is also possible that if I hadn’t made this commitment to this new game I was going to play, then I would have stopped and went to train legs instead. I didn’t stop, I finished strong and then lay on the ground like a dying animal for 5 minutes trying to recover.
So, what did I take away from this? Well, it’s that there is a real thing in the reason why group training, classes or even just a training partner is so common and so popular. If I hadn’t had someone to share info on rowing with, I wouldn’t have gone to the rowers on Saturday. If someone hadn’t sent me their rowing times, I wouldn’t have had something to challenge myself with. Now, I have sent them my time back as a challenge or inspiration to them. In short, I was inspired to do something physically active at a hard effort because of another person. How cool is that?!
I have said before on this podcast that the most important indicator of success is adherence. And the biggest indicator of adherence is enjoyment. Unless you have some kind of weird trauma bond to a situation, you either seek to fix it when it’s not fun anymore, or you stop doing it. I have had an email in the past with a listener claiming I’m wrong and that enjoyment shouldn’t be a factor in the pursuit of a goal. Now, I can’t speak to how a total nihilist goes through life, in spite of the fact that my same rowing friend has told me I have a cynical and nihilistic world view! But I would definitely make the claim that:
Which made me reflect on the first time I ever tried CrossFit and why I think it became as popular as it did, although I do think that has waned somewhat from the peak, which for me would have been 2012-2015. So, here is the story: I was living in Hong Kong and I was coaching full contact karate at a gym called Epic MMA. One of my clients was a super wealthy in-house counsel for an investment bank and had been asked to be one of the investors in bringing a new fitness thing to Korea. This was maybe 2009. No one in Asia had ever heard of CrossFit back then, I myself was interested in martial arts and so I hadn’t heard of it either. So, my client proposed we take a skiing trip to Korea, enjoy some slopes, some apres ski and go see what the script was with this CrossFit thing.
So, that’s what we did, we went skiing in Yong Pyong, which has hosted alpine skiing in the Olympic Winter Games. It was a great time and then we headed back to Seoul to check out the CrossFit. So, we headed into a basement that was going to be the first CrossFit gym in Korea and the coach, a lovely guy from New Zealand, called Cody explained the workout to us, It was called the ‘Filthy 50’. I will explain the workout in case anyone wants to try it out.
It is a 500 rep workout and you have to perform all the reps of each exercise before you move onto the next movement. You can’t mix and match until you get all the 500 reps done.
It is:
For Time (so as fast as possible)
You can also google ‘Filthy 50 scaled workout’ for a more accessible option if you think you might not be able to perform all the movements as prescribed.
Now, I remember that I got to about 30 reps into the burpees and my triceps cramped up and I thought wow ok this is legit kicking my ass. But, what happened next was a Korean trainer there, who had already finished the workout came over and said “how many reps to go?” I said 20 and the double unders and, although she was already done AND was tired herself, she said “ok lets do them together”. And we did. All the way until I was done and then I went to the restroom to be sick. After that, I said to my friend that this was the most stupid thing I had ever seen. Thirty minutes later I said “that was awesome can we come back again tomorrow”.
On my own, I would never have done 500 reps of that workout. I wouldn’t ever have even devised that workout because, frankly, it doesn’t make any sense. But, I have spoken on here before about this. There is a big difference between training and working out. Training, you have a specific goal and everything you do is aimed at moving you towards that end point. It might not be any fun, like bodybuilders force feeding themselves chicken because they need another 50 grams of protein and no fat before bed. It can be miserable. As someone that did sport, I can assure you it can rob you of the enjoyment. Even more so if you go through it all and then you get your ass kicked in the sporting event you were training for. But most people out there, including most people listening to this podcast aren’t training for specific goals. They just want to look better naked, not die carrying the groceries into the house from the car and play with their kids or grandkids.
So, I think that letting go of this idea of there really needing to be a perfect training plan could be useful. Not just for you listeners, but for me too. I’m basically an old man now, at the university karate club the other day, one of the coaches said to me if I train hard this year maybe I can win the British Universities. I just laughed. I’m not going to do that, but you know what I might do? Ask my friend what they up to at the gym and see if I can go beat their time. Or just try something new because its fun. So, maybe this week, I’d encourage everyone to go find a class or group training or a friend they can go do something physical with and just enjoy being active without worrying how it fits into some master plan.
If you have any questions or would like to just say ‘hi’, please email me at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com
Get-Fit Guy is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to the team at Quick and Dirty Tips Morgan Christianson, Holly Hutchings, the director of podcasts Brannan Goetschius and Davina Tomlin. I’m your host, Kevin Don. If you have a question for me, leave me a voicemail at 510-353-3104 or send me an email at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com. For more information about the show, visit quickanddirtytips.com, or check out the shownotes in your podcast app