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The first time I joined a gym, I was 24 and scrawny. The jacked guy 
at the front desk said all new members received a T-shirt and asked me 
for my size. Small, I said. He threw me a muumuu. 
“This is a large,” he replied. “It’s all we have. Once you start lifting, you’ll fill it out.” 
Hardly. I lasted 8 months. 
But
 then I proposed to Jen, a onetime runner and yoga nut who had largely 
abandoned those pursuits to sit around with me. With our upcoming 
nuptials, the threat of shame finally loomed large: If we didn’t shape 
up and sharpen our softening bodies, we’d be gathering our loved ones 
together for a display of our shortcomings. 
So we made a pact to clear our calendars and hit the gym together—and to lay on the guilt if one of us slouched. 
We
 were on to something: People who work out with a partner they feel 
comfortable with are more energetic and happier than those who work out 
alone, report Santa Clara University scientists. Our trainer, Derek 
Peruo, C.S.C.S., of Peak Performance in Manhattan, sees it all the time:
 “By working out as a couple, you can face the challenge together 
through positive reinforcement.” 
Peruo created a full-body 
program and sent us off to follow it at our local Equinox gym. We had 
the chance to either become a fitter, stronger couple... or not. Here’s 
how we made it work. 
SECRET 1 Do everything together 
Until
 I was on a mat stretching for the first time in years, I’d forgotten 
what I hated most about the gym: other people. I’d always felt them 
snickering at the small pile of iron I hefted, and here they were again,
 the same clubby meathead types, eyes all afire as they attacked their 
workouts with vein-popping intensity. 
Jen and I plowed ahead, 
matching our pace like two synchronized swimmers. It wasn’t long before a
 strange, surprising calm grew within me: When we were both doing a 
move, it looked intentional. It looked correct. 
I scanned the room
 and saw everyone around us differently: They looked at us, yes, but 
also at everything else, their gazes meandering the way people’s 
normally do. 
And many of them appeared exhausted. These weren't 
gym rats. Their faces weren't contorted in lift-to-failure ecstasy. They
 were normal people with healthy resolutions. They were other versions 
of us. 
The only thing that changed was our confidence: When you feel like you belong, you do. 
SECRET 2 Let her lead the way 
Strength
 training feels like a challenge, which keeps me interested. But 
stretching? It's slow and boring and I don’t feel I’m accomplishing 
anything. I wanted to skip it entirely. 
Jen loves stretching, 
though, or at least loves her own version of it. Because we agreed to do
 everything together, this meant I couldn’t just leave her to salute the
 sun while I hit the weights. I had to stick around. 
That very 
well may have saved my butt, says Peruo. A dynamic warmup primes your 
body for action. It improves your range of motion, jumpstarts your 
central nervous system, and boosts bloodflow to your muscles, enhancing 
performance and reducing your risk of injury. 
Of course, the 
benefits are all in your approach. I treated each stretch as a challenge
 because that’s what I enjoyed most about weightlifting. If a stretch 
hurt, I’d take it slowly and see improvements in a matter of days. 
SECRET 3 Give constant feedback 
One
 day Jen looked at me in the middle of a split squat and asked, “Are we 
doing this right?” I shrugged. We’d been doing it that way for weeks—a 
step sideways and then a dip. 
But I looked it up on my smart-phone
 anyway. Sure enough, we’d been doing it totally wrong. The exercise 
begins in a staggered stance from which you lower your body until your 
back leg’s knee nearly touches the floor. 
Peruo had shown us how 
to do this move, and we’d forgotten his instructions almost instantly. 
It was a reminder of the danger of couples’ workouts: You can become an 
echo chamber for each other's mistakes. 
“The best thing about 
working out with a partner is the feedback,” Peruo said. “Verbal 
feedback is great—‘you’re doing good’ or ‘straighten out your back’—but 
give physical feedback too.” 
Even more valuable: Give your partner
 a feedback task. Peruo said I had trouble keeping my knees in place 
when I did lateral squats, so I had Jen watch for it. 
“This is like discount couples’ therapy,” she said. “My goal is to say when you’re wrong!” 
You've never seen a bride-to-be look more pleased. 
SECRET 4 Pace each other 
Peruo
 built rest periods—typically 60 seconds between sets—into our program. 
But like many men, I’m impatient: I wanted to power through each 
exercise and move on to the next. 
Bad idea, says Peruo: “Rest is 
the unsung hero of training. You can make a lot of gains and see a lot 
of good results if you have proper rest periods in place.” 
If you
 skip your rest or cut it short, you can become so fatigued that you 
abandon proper form, setting yourself up for injury. If you make a habit
 of going too hard, you can succumb to overtraining syndrome—otherwise 
known as a plateau, where gains dwindle and exhaustion is chronic. 
Jen was far more responsible, so Peruo suggested I follow her lead. 
“While she does an exercise, you watch,” he said. “Then switch.” 
The
 result was a perfectly timed rest period that kept the workout moving 
forward. I soon found that it came with an unintended benefit: For the 
first time ever, I could watch a woman exercise without leering. Trust 
me, that’ll keep you plenty occupied for 60 seconds. 
 
One 
morning, about a month into our program, I sat shirtless on our bed and 
brushed my teeth as Jen lounged under the covers. We’d planned to be out
 the door and on our way to the gym in 10 minutes. 
“Whoa,” she said, inching a little closer. “You have some muscles!” 
“Really?” I replied, checking out my new guns. 
“I like them.” 
“Thanks!” 
Creator 
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<a href="http://www.menshealth.com/by/Jason-Feifer">By Jason Feifer</a>, April 02, 2015</div>
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http://www.menshealth.com </div>
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Why Working Out With Your Girlfriend Helps You Build Muscle Faster

The first time I joined a gym, I was 24 and scrawny. The jacked guy at the front desk said all new members received a T-shirt and aske...