Fitness is Better with Friends: Here’s Why
Exercise is Better with a Buddy
Ask any fitness enthusiast what keeps them coming back to the gym, and you’ll likely start to see a common theme. Regardless of the type of exercise one chooses to engage in, most of us can agree that being a part of a supportive social environment is a key contributing factor to exercise enjoyment and consistency. Although you might not realize it, the people you surround yourself with and the degree of support and encouragement they offer towards your fitness goals plays a huge role in your overall experience with exercise. You can also hold each other accountable.
Reflecting on the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: How a Diminished Support System may have Impacted your Exercise Adherence
We may not even realize how significantly our social environment impacts our exercise habits, but this impact became especially noticeable during the COVID-19 pandemic when social distancing protocols dramatically altered how we exercised and the support we received. Early on we witnessed gyms temporarily closing, the cancellation of fitness classes and clubs, and even some outdoor team sports and/or exercise activities such as running and biking meetups were put on hold.
Regardless of what your exercise of choice may have been at the time, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about abrupt changes in the context of the level of social support we received as it pertained to fitness. Personally, I went from enjoying the camaraderie and group atmosphere at my local gym to working out alone in my windowless basement. My dog kept me company but never offered much encouragement and mostly slept the whole time.
I found that without any social support I tended to have less motivation to exercise, and when I did exercise, I felt like I was just going through the motions. If you reflect on your exercise routine at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may share similar sentiments.
Interestingly enough, the social distancing precautions put in place during the pandemic presented researchers with an opportunity to examine the relationship between social support (and the lack thereof) and exercise adherence, and their findings were in line with what you might expect. Researchers Yuge Tian and Zhenguo Shi collected data via questionnaires from 459 eligible college students in China, and unsurprisingly found that “social support can positively predict exercise adherence among college students”, further supporting the negative effect that a lack of social support may have had on exercise adherence during the pandemic.
While it’s clear that having a strong social support system is positively correlated with exercise adherence, the question remains regarding how exactly social support supports exercise adherence.
How Social Support Increases Exercise Adherence: A Closer Look at Self-efficacy
What is it exactly about having a strong social support system surrounding exercise that increases exercise adherence? It’s quite possible that having a strong support system may positively impact our self-efficacy. In the context of exercise, self-efficacy usually refers to a person’s belief that they can successfully execute a certain exercise or achieve certain fitness goals, and it is known to be one of the most significant determinants of whether an individual adheres to their exercise program.
This makes sense when you think about it. Take for example a person who doesn’t believe that they have any control over their ability to do a push up. They likely won’t commit to or even attempt a goal of completing a push up. However, if that same person had a high level of self-efficacy such that they said to themself “I can’t do a push up right now, but I know I can do an elevated push up, and I know that if I commit to practicing elevated push ups, I will eventually be able to complete a push up”, we’d expect them to have a much higher level of adherence to their exercise program.
Terry E. Duncan and Edward McAuley sought to examine the relationship between social support and exercise adherence and found that “...social support failed to influence exercise behaviors directly, but did so indirectly, [supporting] the contention that self-efficacy may be an important mediating variable explaining the effects of various provisions of social relationships on such health promoting behaviors as regular exercise”.
Put simply, having a strong support system might not directly impact your likelihood to consistently exercise (exercise adherence), but it does positively impact your belief in your ability to exercise (self-efficacy) which in turn positively influences your exercise adherence.
So now that we’ve established that a strong social support system plays a key role in exercise adherence, let’s talk about some practical ways you can leverage your support system to increase your consistency in the gym, or wherever you choose to exercise.
Improving your Exercise Adherence by Leveraging your Support System
For starters, try bringing a buddy with you for your workouts if you’re currently working out independently or just getting into the gym. A workout partner will make your workouts more enjoyable and hold you accountable when it comes to attending workouts that you’ve planned to go to with a friend.
You can also try signing up for a group class where you can enjoy the companionship of others while you learn something new. If you are looking for a little more one-on-one attention, consider inviting a friend to join your personal training sessions. Many gyms (including ours) will even give you a discounted rate if you choose to train with a buddy.
And last but not least, take advantage of technology! We all know at least one person with an apple watch who always has to “get their steps in” or “hit their move goals”, and many of these individuals are actually competing with their friends via a sharing feature on their watch.
Interested in the effects of such technological social features on exercise, researchers Yaguang Zhu, Stephanie L. Dailey, Daniel Kreitzberg, and Jay Bernhardt examined the relationship between these wearable fitness trackers and the intention to exercise, and found that “technological devices’ social features influence people’s intention to exercise”, specifically demonstrating “the importance of maintaining devices’ compatibility with social media”. The study recommended that designers of fitness apps and tech integrate ways for users to share their fitness data on social media such that they can compete and engage with others.
What does all this mean for you? Even if you don’t have an apple watch, most of us have a tech device that allows you to download fitness-related apps that enable social sharing and competition. Sharing your exercise goals and competing with your friends may improve your exercise adherence by making you more likely to form a plan to exercise and stick to it.
TLDR
All that being said, everything's better with a buddy, including your exercise adherence. Whether you’re trying to get into exercising more often, or an avid exerciser who just needs to be a little more consistent, your level of social support plays a big role in your belief that you can do it and your action plan to actually follow through and do it.
To summarize, here’s some ways you can utilize your support system to level up your exercise adherence:
Exercise with a buddy
Schedule your exercises such that you do them with a partner
Join a club or group that exercises together
Participate in group fitness classes
Invite a friend or family member to join you during your personal training sessions
Utilize tech features to share your social achievements and compete with your friends and family
Share your workout and fitness achievements on social media and in person with friends and family
Befriend and spend time with others who have similar fitness-related goals
