The Importance of Finding a Training Partner
Your training sessions will be forever changed
Many athletes, including myself, struggle to find ways to motivate, and push themselves in a way that furthers them. After many attempts of using things like motivational quotes to push me through my workouts, I have learned that the only true way to enter that next level of training is through a partner.
I have a love-hate relationship with training. At times, there is no place I would rather be. I enter a zone in which no outside factor can reach me. No stress, no worries, and no tension. But then, something changes. When I reach a part of the workout that I despise, no longer am I in that zone. Now I begin to wonder, why am I here? Why am I here in the blazing hot sun with sweat dripping down my back?
Previously, at this point in training, I would either read an inspirational quote or think of something that would inspire me. For example, as a high school soccer player, I would attempt to motivate myself by convincing my mind that someone on the team was working harder than me. This thinking was very vague, but sometimes it worked. Still, nothing could motivate me consistently. With no motivation, I had little drive to continue through the parts of my workout that I hated.
I thought back to my best workouts that I ever had. I realized that they always came when I was with my soccer team. Since it is offseason, and I am not able to be with the full team, I challenged myself to find one person to hold me accountable. Listening to the hard work a fellow teammate was putting in would inspire me to go even harder.
For me, that person was the one friend I get to sit with at lunch. Thanks to Uncle Covid, we are allowed to sit two per lunch table. This is a blessing and a curse. On some days, I love to talk to my one friend for 30 minutes but on other days, this is just simply not the case. What was 30 minutes of fun the day before is now 30 minutes of silence. We only have so much to talk about for 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Nevertheless, my relationship with this friend has grown tremendously over the course of the entire school year.
This friend has quickly filled the training partner role that needed to be filled. Each day, we explain to each other what we did to get better at soccer the previous night. We also cover our plans for that evening. We share the struggles that we have and the lessons that we have learned.
Explaining our workouts to each other inspires us to go further. When we hear what each other is doing, our competitive nature kicks into gear and pushes us to work harder during our next training session. Although it would be better to work with each other in-person, as of now, this is the best that we can do.
Training with a partner gives you that extra push you need. Partners will motivate, support, and encourage you to go further. If possible, try to work out with that partner or even partners in-person. This can be a struggle with everyone’s crazy schedules. You will see an immediate change when working with others to achieve a common goal. No longer will you skip that last sprint, or give up on that last set of bench press. You will no longer be on this journey alone; you will now have a fellow companion.
Find a training partner with a goal similar to your own, build your relationship with one another, and just have fun. Push each other to surpass limits that you never thought were possible. Enter that next zone, and never look back.
