I was writing a short blurb on the Simply Health FB page with morning when I realized that it should just be a blog post.

One thing I’ve found is that getting to a fitness goal is a lot easier if I have a buddy to do it with. Most of the time that means I partner up with my wife, but not always. While she is near and dear to me we don’t always have the same ideas, commitment, or schedule to partner up on a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly goal. That’s OK, we know that we both have a support network of friends and families that we rely on to create new buddy group all the time. For example:

I’ve been fasting on a regular basis for several months now but wanted to focus on dialing in a few longer fasts. Since my wife’s schedule this week involved working two overnights in a row it wasn’t going to work out for her to be on the same fasting schedule. The end of her day was going to be 8am when she was going to bed while I was going to be just getting started at the gym.

The buddy group

There is a small group of guys I have in a text group that I can shoot a quick text out to when I start my fast for the day. We often go back and forth a few times with some jokes about being starving (not really but we find it funny) or encouragement about refraining from a poor fueling choice. Having a buddy to text with when you’re feeling like you’re going to cave in is important. Just as important is to have someone you can brag to about a recent fasting win, physique photo, weight goal, or overall winning feeling. It’s important that your buddy is someone you know will stick with you and that you have made the same promise to them as well to not be judgmental or belittle anything said between the two (or more) of you.

My text group is my source of inspiration, source of reality-grounding, and my source of accountability. You have to have a level of trust with your buddy. You have to feel comfortable that your buddy isn’t going to tell everyone your fears or secret food craving because they think it might be funny to embarrass you. A fitness buddy is someone who is trying, just like you are, to get to the next level of their personal journey to healthy living. Some days we win, some days we lose. All days we should have someone there helping us get back up off the floor again to try ‘one more time’.

Do you have a buddy? What do you find helps when picking/deciding on a buddy to set a goal with?