The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Working Out With Your Spouse

My husband, Patrick and I are at the tail end of the Beachbody program, 21 Day Fix. It’s a complete nutrition and workout plan that helps you get in shape and lose weight quickly. Embarking on a quest like this with your spouse is rewarding, frustrating, and insane all at once! So in the spirit of holding nothing back, because I’m basically an open book on this blog, I present to you, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Working Out with Your Spouse.

Starting a workout plan is somewhat easy at first. Most people, including myself, begin with high hopes and a ton of enthusiasm. Somewhere within that first week though, that excitement for getting fit and healthy goes out the window and you want nothing more than to run for the hills!

So how does one stay on track “when the going gets tough”? Two specific things have helped me along ALL my fitness journeys. I emphasize ALL because I kind of suffer from the yo-yo dieting/fitness affect a teeny bit! You can hear all about it here and see how I organize myself for a successful diet and fitness journey.

Back to those two specific things that help me stay on track when I’d rather do anything in the entire world than work out!!

The first thing that keeps me motivated is having some sort of accountability. Whether it’s sending a picture to a friend, joining a fitness or weight loss group, or sending a text to your personal trainer (if you’re lucky to have one!), having someone to answer to always helps me push harder. I have this odd personality trait where I am more worried about letting others down than myself. Pretty crazy, don’t you think?! Having that accountability is definitely the extra push I need to stay focused! P.S. I find this works for all my goals, not just fitness related.

My second secret weapon to having a successful fitness and diet journey is finding a workout buddy. Again, this works perfectly for my personality because I hate letting anyone down! If I don’t show up for a workout with my A game, I’m not only hurting myself but also someone else. I just couldn’t live with myself if I did that so I force myself to push harder. Find a neighbor to walk or run with around your neighborhood or a local park, take a Yoga class with a friend or get a family gym membership.

Or, you can do what we did in our house and enlist your spouse to be your workout buddy! How cute and sweet, right?! I have to admit, it is pretty adorable that we are doing this together. You must be warned though, it doesn’t come without its stressful moments.

Because I’m always looking out for you, I wanted to spill the beans on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Working Out With Your Spouse.

The Good

Living under the same roof as your workout buddy gives you no excuse to not show up for a workout. Some mornings I might be dragging, others Patrick is, but we motivate one another to get up and press play on our workout video every day.

When both of you are on the same diet and workout schedule, it’s way easier to stay on track and not stray from your goals. Let’s be honest, it totally stinks when you’re busting your butt and look over to see your significant other eating Doritos on the couch. When you are dieting and working out as a couple, you both can be miserable together! True love at its finest. 💜

I feel absolutely gross during and after working out. I live by the phrase, “If you still look good after working out, you haven’t worked hard enough!” It’s merely an excuse to make me feel better about my sweaty, frizzy-haired self after working out though. I should probably add stinky to the adjectives in this list if I’m being honest. When your spouse is your workout buddy, they could truly care less about any of the above. They love you regardless. They’ll even pose in ugly photos with you and add them on social media for the world see…

The Bad

Soreness. When working out for the first time in a long time, or even just switching up routines, your body aches in places you never knew could hurt! When you and your spouse are both working out together, you both become useless at the same time. Simple things, like reaching in the cabinet to get a plate, going upstairs to your bedroom, or even getting up from the couch, become a huge production. In that first couple of days, other than getting your workout accomplished, be ready for nothing else to get done!

Tiredness. In addition to being sore, you’re also incredibly tired. Not only are you working harder than you normally do with your workouts, but you’re also eating less so you have little to no energy. I swear for the first full week of our 21 Day Fix, I don’t even remember falling asleep. One minute I’m having a conversation with Patrick and the next our alarm is going off to workout again in the morning. When your head hits the pillow, you’re both pretty much out for the count. Be prepared to have fewer conversations for that first week.

The Ugly

You are sore and tired at this point. If that wasn’t bad enough, you are also starving because of your diet. Add those things all together and you become what is called, Hangry!! It’s the effect of becoming angry because you’re hungry.

Being hangry is by far the ugliest part of working out with your spouse. Why exactly? Because not only are you feeling sore, tired and hangry, but so is your significant other.

Patience, what’s patience?! I tend to think I have a pretty decent amount of patience but you’d never know it if you stopped by our house during week 1 of our 21 Day Fix. Patrick already has no patience so let’s just say this was a recipe for disaster.

I had a meltdown at one point where I used some choice words and basically tried throwing in the towel on the whole darn thing. Patrick retaliated with some more choice words and it quickly became a hot mess! By week two, we were feeling much better, but that first week is definitely not for the faint of heart. You’ve been warned so proceed with caution!

In all seriousness, the good by far outweighs the bad and the ugly when it comes to working out with your spouse. Week one is brutal, but once you get through it you start feeling great and those endorphins really kick in. It feels so awesome to be working towards the same goal, too!

I’m so stinking proud of Patrick. He has lost 13 pounds thus far on our 21 Day Fix. I’ve watched him barely be able to do some moves on our videos, to killing them over the course of this journey. It’s pretty impressive!

I told Patrick I was writing this story and asked if he had anything he wanted to add. All he said was, “You motivate me”. He could be playing it safe (he’s been married for almost 16 years so he’s pretty smart!), but I’m pretty sure he’s telling the truth because I feel the exact same way.

Final Story: Last week, I was struggling really bad with one particular move. I wanted so badly to do it but I was dying. Patrick looked at me and said, “Come on, babe. You’re my motivation. You can do this!”

After that exercise move, he handed me an eight-pound weight and said, “This is what is motivating me right now. I’ve lost this much weight so far.” That was week 2 and he had just weighed himself that morning. I thought that was pretty amazing and I was envious of his mindset. Thanks to Patrick, I got me back on track and was able to make it through the rest of the workout. The best workout buddy, ever!

I’m super grateful for my workout buddy and happy we decided to do this together! Knowing what I know now, all the good, the bad and the ugly of working out with my spouse, I’d do it again in a heartbeat! Looking forward to rewarding ourselves on Sunday with our trip to the Bahamas. Watch out Nassau, cause here we come…

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