The room is steaming, breathing is heavy, and sweat pours off your bodies. Grunts and groans can be heard throughout the house. You’ve never felt so close to your partner. You’ve been at it for almost thirty minutes now and you can barely catch your breath.
Get your head into the game. You’re not having hot sex – you’re exercising together. Same difference.
What? What do I mean same difference? Working out with your significant other is like sex? No way.
Yes way.
In my new book, Jay Walking, Chelsea is dead set on losing her baby weight and meets a great looking guy while out on a walk. Jay is a runner, and his calves prove it. They begin working out together, and their chemistry couldn’t be hotter.
Part of my daily routine is exercise. I know, I know, some of you are tired just thinking about it. What makes my workout great? Part of it is that I workout with my husband.
We don’t always workout together, but sometimes we decide to do a program and it’s fun as a team. In 2009, we completed a round of P90X together, and shortly after we started on Weight Watchers. This year, we tackled P90X3 and completed it in the beginning of July.
Working out with a partner is awesome for so many different reasons. Let me break them down for you.
- The convenience. I’ve exercised with girlfriends before. I remember going to Curves with my cousin Jody and taking a Jazzercise class with my friend Corinne. It didn’t stick though. Why? Partly because we needed to make arrangements to drive to the facility and workout. To put it simply, it wasn’t convenient. Working out with my husband, we have a set time we workout every day (well, night. We work out at about 8 every night), and we are in the same house to hold each other accountable. No excuses.
- The support. If we’re doing a program to lose weight, we weigh in weekly and share the results with each other. We look back at the past week or so of eating and determine what in our daily food intake could have resulted in any gains. Right now my husband is trying to eat cleaner, so we evaluate our food choices together and different alternatives. I should mention, too, he’s the chef in the family, so he makes us tasty, healthy meals! I have yet to get him in just an apron.
- The competition. Since I’m not competitive by nature, I use this term in a broader sense. If we’re in the middle of a workout and I don’t feel I’m doing the best I can, I push myself harder to meet the intensity my husband has. I don’t often succeed, but sometimes I do (like that one time he fell before I did while in Warrior Three!)
- The conversations. Fitness is something we have in common. Our workouts and eating habits have brought on some of the best discussions we’ve ever had! Not to mention my husband is now reading a lot. He’s reading fitness and nutrition books and they get us chatting. We lose track of time during our talks and I love it!
- The view. Sure, some moves aren’t the most attractive, but watching my husband lift weights or own a Pilates move like it’s nobody’s business? Sign me up. The other night he was doing jumping jacks and I couldn’t break my stare. His body covered in perspiration? Sure, it may not smell the best, but it looks great.
- The sex. Yeah, I said it. I mean, come on, I write romance! Working out together is H-O-T, not to mention the energy you get from being in shape! Some workouts can lead right into a good time, and others you need a shower after – but why not jump in that shower together?
Having a fitness friend or partner is so beneficial. Committing to a workout routine is difficult and it can be easy to lose motivation. I love having someone I can joke with (he loves my little comments while we exercise. Don’t let him fool you!). It’s great when my after-baby-bladder demands a new change of underwear after thirty seconds of jumping jacks and he needs to pause the program to get me new ones (no, I’m not afraid to ask him to get me a new pair!). What I love most is the intimacy and commitment. We’ve got each other’s backs.
Check out my new book Jay Walking and see how Chelsea works fitness into her daily routine. Also check out the first book in the series, Caching In, which combines romance and geocaching. Both can be read as stand-alone novels.
**Blog post originally published as a guest post on Books by Banister here.**