4 Ways to get Your Friend to Join Your Workout Without Being a Jerk

While some people love to train alone, there is a large group of individuals who prefer to train with buddies. Training with a friend, or group of friends, has many advantages. Friends can motivate you to train more regularly, they can help you to push yourself harder than you probably would alone, and they can provide you with a more recreational and social exercise experience. As we’ve discussed in previous articles though, getting into a regular training habit isn’t easy, so it can be very challenging to persuade your friend to join you in your exercise endeavours. Have no fear though. Here are four things to keep in mind when asking a friend to train with you.

#1: Recognise that this is a Sales exercise

World renowned Finance and Entrepreneurship Expert, Dave Ramsey wrote, “Ultimately, everyone is in sales.” I didn’t agree with him the first time I read that, but he’s right. No matter what you do in life, you must at some point try to convince someone else to buy into what you’re doing. For example, a waiter is in sales because he needs diners to buy food and drinks from him on a regular basis, a teacher is in sales because she needs to convince a class of children that their homework is worth investing time into, and parents are in sales because they need to convince their children that learning discipline and personal responsibility is worthwhile.

Know that the best salespeople are approachable, good listeners, and try their best to make a sale through gentle persuasion. They don’t lie, manipulate, or guilt-trip people into buying things, so don’t be that guy when it comes to getting your buddy to come to gym with you.

#2: Don’t be Pushy, be Relational

Don’t you hate it when you’re at the shopping mall, minding your own business, and this overly friendly person comes into your space, pretending to be your best friend, brandishing their special skincare product, demanding that you listen to them for two minutes (more like ten minutes) and won’t take no for an answer because “You look like someone who reeeally takes care of themselves?” Yuck…

Please don’t be like this when trying to get your friend to join you in training. It comes across as desperate and is likely uncomfortable for them. Just be yourself and be prepared to take no for an answer. They may change their minds later so in the meantime, ask someone else.

#3: Tell a Story

If I tell you a list of everything on my shopping list, its likely that you’ll forget all of its contents by tomorrow morning, but what if I told you an epic and engaging tale about all the special groceries on my list? you’d probably remember it better, wouldn’t you? You may even be emotionally invested in my shopping, asking me a week from now if I managed to get those delicious avocadoes that were on special.

That’s the beauty of storytelling. Neuroscience tells us that far more of our brains become active when we listen to stories than when we listen to lists of information. We are therefore likely to remember and become much more invested in something presented as a story. The next time you try to get your friend to join you at gym or Body Twenty, don’t just list off your gym’s great features and all the benefits of exercise. Instead, tell them about the amazing experiences you’ve had there and how much you’d love for them to share those experiences with you.

#4: Allow Them to Train on Their Level

This was covered in our series called 4 Ways to Fall in Love with Exercise so be sure to check that out. If you’ve got your friend to join you at the gym or for a free trial at Body 20, this is not your opportunity to show off how strong or fit you’ve become since you joined. This is about you serving their needs so that they can have a great workout. If they’re not as strong or fit as you, train on their level. If its torture for them and they feel insecure because it looks easy for you, chances are that they won’t want to join you a second time. If they have a good time, they’ll probably want to do it again. Simple as that.

Thanks for reading this article on how to get your friend to join your workout. Be sure to look out for our next article next week. In the meantime, let us know what you thought of this article. If you have any suggestions for future articles, drop us an email at moreletavillage@body20.co.za. We’d love to connect with you.

Keep Growing

Dave Roebuck