Mikaela Wong | Freelancer
In this day and age, social media has proven to be an influential tool to educate a broad audience a multitude of skills – specifically, fitness exercises. This progressive movement in the area of health and wellness has brought about newfound motivation for many people of all ages.
One of the biggest trends right now is partner workouts – exercises that are based on manipulating a partner’s body weight in various positions and vice versa, such as a push-up/squat. It’s a concept that promotes exercising with friends rather than working out alone. However, many of these workouts are very easy to perform with improper form because one doesn’t only have to be very aware of how their body is moving, but they also have to be skilled enough to control their body movements in reaction to the constantly-changing body of their partner’s. The goal of partner workouts is to exercise with a friend simultaneously and have fun with it; one shouldn’t have to sacrifice the safety of their body in order to do it. Instead, there are ways to have a fun and exciting workout with a friend that maximizes progress and minimizes the potential for injury.
Interval training is a type of training in which an athlete will alternate between two different types of exercises that require varying amounts of effort and speed, and have been proven to be an effective type of training that is safe and modifiable. Whether you and your partner are alternating between one workout and the next, or you do the same workouts at the same time, each person can focus on their steady exercise without having to rely on the inconsistent stability of their partner or even their own.
Example Workout: Full Body
Partner 1:
- 20 second push up
- 10 second rest
- 20 second plank
- 10 second rest
- 20 second mountain climbers
- 10 second rest
Partner 2:
- 20 second jump squat
- 10 second rest
- 20 second wall sit
- 10 second rest
- 20 second high knees
- 10 second rest
Contact the author at mwong16@wou.edu
