A Workout Partner Program Idea

Rather than writing this in an email as well, I’m just going to share a link with my gym.

Like 95% of the population, I want to get in better shape this year. Cardio is something that can be done on one’s own using only a pair of shoes and the pavement in front of your house. But weights? that’s different.

The key to a well-rounded fitness regimen is strength training. I’m not a personal trainer, doctor or nutritionist, but muscle burns fat. It’s that simple.

So lifting weights is crucial to losing weight and getting in shape. But lifting weights is something I’ve found is best done with a partner. At $70/hour, a personal trainer can get quite expensive.

So in a nod to WordPress’s social network, I present BuddyPress.

I’d like to propose that my gym set up a social network for those who want to do strength training, but don’t have a friend at the gym interested in the same thing.

Here’s how it will work:

For a fee ($150 + $50 incentive) you fill out a short form including your age, sex, weight lifting goals and when you are available to work out. Galter (my gym) will then take those interested in try to match them with a workout buddy. Introductions will be made and a schedule will be agreed upon. The goal being that you are working out with someone with similar strength and goals. That way a weakling like me isn’t paired with someone much stronger with different goals.

Once matched, the teams will meet with a personal trainer who will craft a eight-week weight lifting plan for them complete with a 30-minute tour to show which exercises to perform and how to do them properly.

At the midway point of the eight weeks, the teams will again have a meeting with a personal trainer to reassess and make any changes to the plan if necessary.

The major component is the $50 incentive added to the registration fee. If both team members make at least 75% of the prescribed workouts, the $50 fee is returned to both. If only one team member makes it, the $50 fee is given to the other team member as a reimbursement for their trouble. If neither team member checks in for 75% of the workouts the fee is forfeited and something noble is done with the $100.