Get Fit for Valentine's Day With Your Valentine!

By: Jennifer Yurick
Fitness Coach for Amherst Fitness Together

(Please note: the following article was written by an author who is not an employee of the Town of Amherst or the Health Department. We recommend meeting with your doctor or personal trainer prior to initiating any new exercise regimen with which you are unfamiliar.)


I know you have romantic plans for Valentines Day; candle-lit suppers, strolls on the beach, ocean cruises under the stars. It would be horrible if breaking your special plans to your special someone caused a lot of excitement, which in turn caused a 7 on the Richter scale. You want to look your best for your Valentine in that suave suit or that glamorous dress and I know just the thing! Get in shape with your Valentine!

Studies show that exercising with a partner increases your chances of sticking with your program by 90%! Set goals together and then help each other to achieve them even on days when you don’t feel like working out. Stretch together, measure each other and weigh each other. Be the other person’s personal trainer! Choose some adventurous activities and make each workout unique. Take turns directing the workout. Then, at the end of the program, when you have reached your goals, take your beautiful or handsome valentine out for an evening they will never forget!

The best part of training with your Valentine is partner exercises. These are two person exercises that are a lot of fun and very productive. There are hundreds of exercises to choose from, but I will let you in on a few of my favorites.

First, an abdominal thriller. The first person lies on the ground and the second person stands with one foot on each side of the first person’s head. The lying person grabs on to the standing person’s ankles and brings their feet up to their partner’s waist. Now for the fun part! The standing person pushes the lying person’s legs down to the ground and the lying person must bring them back up as fast as they can.

Next, an upper body buster. Remember doing wheelbarrows as a child? One person would hold another’s feet as they moved across the grass walking as fast as they could on their hands. This is a great exercise. Person one puts their hands on the ground and person two picks up person one’s feet. Now person one must walk on their hands without letting their back arch and their stomach drag on the ground while person two follows holding person one’s feet. A challenge: Have person one squeeze their feet around the standing person’s waist and complete the exercise without having the standing person hold on to their feet at all!

Now a grueling leg challenge. Person one lies on their stomach on the floor. Person two sits behind person one’s feet. Person one must bend their knees while person two holds on to person one’s heels and essentially becomes the weight resisting person one’s movement.

Finally, an arm killer. This is a variation of a normal bicep curl that you can do with no weights, just grab a towel. One person holds on to the towel with their hands shoulder width apart leaving about six inches of towel hanging down on each side. Person two kneels in front of person one and holds on to the ends of the towel. Person one does a regular bicep curl bringing the palms to the shoulders while person two pulls down on the ends of the towel providing resistance.

The aforementioned exercises are all weight training exercises. It is equally important to do cardiovascular exercise as well. Cardio is so much fun when you do it with someone. You not only have someone to talk to, but someone to push you. I bet when I say cardio exercise every one of you thought of running, but there are so many more options. Rent a few bikes and pedal into the sunset. Get some good shoes and hike up a mountain where there’s a glorious view. Buy a long jump rope and jump rope together. If you get a long enough one, one person can twirl it around both of you and you can jump at the same time.

Exercise is fun, but exercising with a partner increases the enjoyment. So, grab your sweetheart, get into some sweats, obtain a program, set some goals and hit the ground running, or jumping, or swimming, or skating, or biking…anything! You won’t regret it when you glance up from your candle-lit meal and see the most beautiful or handsome person in the world sitting across from you.