Obligatory Definition: A Training Partner is someone who exercises with you or you exercise with them. You’d both workout together or you won’t. {Trying to sound comical lol, but yeah in most cases that is what it is”"}
So I came across this post today on one of the pages on Facebook [Which is my major platform by the way. You can connect to my Facebook Page, Facebook Forum and Personal Profile. <click on the blue text separately to connect to the given platform. If confused, hover the cursor on them and a box will appear to guide you>
The Real Question: Why do you need a training partner in the gym at all to lift the weights?
What All Things that form a perfect bodybuilding routine apart from workout itself do you have a partner for?
Tell Me this: Do you carry your training partner with you when you go and prepare+eat your rest of the day's diet too? Ok your mom cooks for you but does she go and lift the weights for you as well?
Tell me this: Do you need someone to push you to get enough sleep so you can get through the next workout? Then why do you need someone at all to push in the gym? Oh by the way, I am unmarried by now. I do not know how will I be able to sleep comfortably with someone else next to me, or will I actually sleep in the night at all
Are you too weak and unfocused to just put on your headphones, play your favorite music and disconnect from everyone else in the world.
I hate the gym music personally and listen to my own. (PS my favorites are Aesthetics Mix tape, Workout Mix 2013, and The OST from Need for Speed Most Wanted video game). I disconnect from all the distractions and do what needs to be done.
You can email me personally if you need to choose good headphones within a given budget. Always Happy to Help!
Do you Both have same reasons which motivate you to workout?
There might be days when you feel alone but that is the real test when you remove the plates from bar done by someone else and bring the set of right plates for you to beat up your next deadlift PR. Don't think of it as a burden. I rather think of it as
When you train alone you don't have to deal with the BS as "Aw bro I am not in mood to squat or do bent-over rows" whereas you are the one who is laser focused towards their goals and don't want to drift away from it.
You will always be having a good feeling about having that discipline and control if you REALLY REALLY are passionate about doing what you are doing. If not? Then cancel your gym membership right away and do something else you enjoy.
Why am I saying this? Not because I am trying to put you down but of course I want you to be happy and do things which make you happy. Life is short. Live it up. Working out is awful at times and I feel dizzy all the time when I am cutting down especially but I just imagine the euphoria of what I will look like when I am done with it.
So should you. Did you have man boobs at any point of time? Do you shop from plus sized stores and not wear the best clothes made by other brands? Do people make you uncomfortable?
You can roam around with fat people or unhealthy people as they are of your type but what about others? Are you going to carry your gym partner all the way with you? You will meet different people all the time and trust me, I read all the business magazines out there. NJF didn’t become what it is today only by my knowledge of diet and exercise but by various disciplines. Yet I have never come across any book or article without a mention of exercise and importance of looks anywhere.
In this ugly world you will first be judged by your appearance. Good looking people and charming ones get jobs easily, get promoted faster, and seemed to be as intelligent. And especially true if being judged by a person of opposite sex. They might not be looking to date you or have sex with you, but we are wired to have our senses loosened when we come across someone attractive. Personally I would not want to lose out on benefits of looking good or at least average in my professional life. That is what pays for bills. Even this blog’s rent on which you are reading this article.
You were born alone. Your parents raised you. Many people didn't have luxury of that too. They were born orphans. But you will die alone as well.
Do You training partners have exact Carbon Copy of your Genetic Code, and same levels of motivation to use the same?
Will your gym partner be able to push at those intensities as you do? Either they will be better than you and feel you as a burden else you will. This is not a team sport definitely.
What is the goal about looks? Are you looking to cut or bulk? Does your partner have same genetics exactly and the same goals? Certainly not. Then why do you not pursue a routine for you both yourself and make full use of potential separately?
I could never find anyone who trained at same intensities and madness that I did. I lift more than guys in the gym when I am on a calorie restricted diet compared to those who eat everything.
Did I become like that in one day? Certainly not. Would I have got here with a training? Hah, not that either. I would have just stayed an average gym goer who looks same day in and day out.
I want you to value your time. Your energy and enthusiasm.
So tell me again. Do you want to be an average gym goer or do you want to achieve the greatness of being a champion who can fight through everything no matter what?
If you want to go fast, then run alone. If you want to go long, walk with a partner. I do not remember clearly who said this, but I guess it was by Robert Frost. If I am wrong please tell me in the comments below.
Now here is my opinion, yours may differ: Talking of it in a metaphorical way and not cardio-vascular exercise:
I Run because I want to WIN. I do not run for health. –Abhishek Bachan in movie Guru
What about the Injuries?
Injuries are inevitable in sports or any physical activity as much as they are in everyday life. What would you do if your gym partner or you get injured. Will either of you wait for them to get healed and quit the workouts till then? Or will you wait for the other person to rehab and build up their strength back? Will you both be the same?
In most cases the one who is fine will continue the workout without the other but the healthy one will still have a hard time transitioning through the process.
Personally I would not like any factor limiting me. Those who have fought in the army might disagree where they all have to watch around each person’s back. But here neither the lives are on stakes and nor it is a team sport. Think of it like an MMA, not a street brawl from Seelampur Area in Delhi where people come in gangs.
I would want to be a lion, not a wolf in the pack <who later evolved into dogs>
I would not sacrifice my training for someone else’s injury. I would take them for first aid and help them if I can, but training screw-up is not going to be beneficial for either. So my perspective is again the same. Yours may differ.
What about the Accuracy of Intensity and also Adherence to your Routine? <Most Important>
Do you really know how much did YOU yourself actually lift when the training partner was assisting you? You must not certainly be able to perform the same without them. At varying levels of the rep (contraction and expansion both) will you ever be able to achieve the whole thing with them assisting you? Can you calculate how much they did it for you and how much did they do?
And since you do not know this what do you do when often they say "Man, I will be late from work/college" "I have to drop my brother to the airport" "I have to see my relatives" and so on.
You'll be bummed and whole routine will be out of whack.
But while you are thinking about it, let me tell you a fact. Your muscles don't have eyes to see how much is the weight on the bar, they only feel the amount of weight they have to resist to let you through that very specific movement. Who is getting most of the workout with maximum accuracy?
The person who has a training partner and appears to lift more, or the person who trains by himself albeit using smaller weights in comparison.
If someone wants to train with you, however, like all the people who know me would like to train with me. Not bragging but last time I was training a guy in person I was charging 2000 a session and that is why I drifted to online training to help more people in lesser the charges.
Not deviating from the topic now, I would simply tell them that I will be in the gym at this time, you can come if you want. But I will ensure I am not dependent on them and they are the one who have that willingness.
If you are the one willing to train with someone else, do it but only after making a calculated decision after reading and answering all these questions to yourself. Not even me. I had a training partner at one time in the gym when I had been working out for a few months, but he left the gym shortly and I slowly realized all these things. And I made my decision. Now you make yours
If you have anything to share or ask please comment below, I would love to interact with you
-Nipun