A couples workout is the best way to spend quality time together and incorporate fitness at the same time. It doesn’t matter if you ultimately have different fitness goals, a couple can still do this workout routine a couple of times a week. Even better, these partner exercises use minimal equipment since, for some, you're using one another as weight (resistance). Additionally, they have some challenges that might be new to you and help build core muscles, improve balance, and challenge strength in different ways. For example, this workout includes plank high fives. Here, you’ll start in a high plank position and hit each other’s right hand and then left hand. Your weight will shift from side to side, engaging the core and shoulder musculature. At the same time, you’ll be doing cardio, laughing, and having fun all at the same time.
All you need to do for this couple workout is a medicine ball (or dumbbell) that you can throw back and forth, 30 minutes, and a partner willing to do this workout with you.
To make this full-body circuit a 30-minute workout, perform each exercise for 12 to 15 reps and repeat the entire circuit 3 to 5 times. When an exercise has two positions, each person should do each position once before moving onto the next exercise.
Grab your partner, make space in your living room or home gym, and get ready to move your body with this fun and challenging couples workout. And, if you happen to be a personal trainer or fitness coach, you can share this article with your clients to do at home together. Or, if you do group training sessions, try out these partner exercises in your groups to offer variety and help participants connect and make new workout friends.
Keep Reading: Benefits of Bodyweight Training: You Can Grow Muscle
We gave a quick rundown of this partner exercise earlier on. Begin in the starting position, which is a high plank position. Your hands should be below your shoulders and feet shoulder-width apart. Before you begin moving, make sure that you are activating your quads, core, and glutes. This will give you a straight and solid line from your head to foot. In this exercise, you’ll be facing one another, so you can give each other a high five with the right hand first and then the left hand. This is one complete repetition. It’s a simple bodyweight exercise, but it’s similar to the crunch passes. Because of the dynamic environment, your core will have to work even harder to maintain stability. Likewise, you’ll be working your shoulder stabilization muscles. Together, this makes a great exercise to put in a partner workout. Just remember, as it starts to get fun, and you laugh, keep your form on point.
This exercise adds to the traditional abdominal crunch that you and your partner are likely familiar with. But, it adds weight and more dynamic movement as you’ll be passing the medicine ball back and forth. To begin, get in the starting position. You both will be lying on your back with your feet together. Both feet will be planted flat on the ground and your legs in knee flexion. One person holds the medicine ball, but you both perform the crunch at the same time. The person with the ball tosses it to the partner after you crunch and sit up. Then you both go back down and repeat the exercise with the other person tossing the weight to the other. Repeat this motion, passing the ball back, to repeat one rep. Because the weight is changing, it will challenge your core muscles with every repetition and also help you with your reaction timing and agility.
Here, your workout buddy will serve as the weight, or resistance. It’s a lower body exercise that only one of you will be performing at a time. This is good because it gives you each a short opportunity to take a rest during the circuit. It challenges the same muscles of the lower body as would a traditional leg press on your back. To begin, one person lies supine, legs in the air and the second person leans on their partner’s feet, arms crossed across the chest, and core tight. The person on the ground lowers the person down until their knees reach the chest, then push back up to start to complete one rep. Keep the repetitions slow and controlled to give the muscles more time under tension and also, so your partner doesn’t lose balance. If you want to make it even harder, have your partner hold a weight or heavy object across their chest. This will also give them a little extra fitness challenge during the exercise.
This exercise gives each person a chance to work the whole body—both of you will take a turn in each position. One person lies on the ground in a crunch position while the other lowers into a squat. The person in a crunch holds the medicine ball or weight and rolls up to pass it to the person squatting. The person squatting continues to hold the squat while the cruncher rolls back down to start, only releasing if needing to rest their legs. That completes one rep.
Get ready to feel the fitness burn with this couples workout exercise. It is as challenging as it is simple—both of you will take a turn in each position. The person on the floor lies supine, hips hinged at 90-degrees, so legs are straight in the air. The person standing holds their core tight, with a slight bend in the knees, and pushes their partner’s feet to the ground; the partner braces their core to stop the feet just above the ground before raising them again. This completes one rep. It’s surprisingly difficult, but you can modify it depending on how strong you each are. By throwing the legs harder, the core muscles have to work even more to prevent them from hitting the ground. Practice caution with this exercise. Both you and your partner should be able to do a simple leg raise exercise correctly before doing this one. Make sure you keep your core tight and hips in a neutral position to prevent your lower back from arching and potentially putting you at risk of injury.
Make pushups and squats a lot more challenging with this partner variation on two foundational exercises. And, both of you will take a turn in each position, so you almost get two exercises in one shot. One person gets into a pushup position, hands below shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart, core braced and quads right. The other reaches down to grab hold of their partner’s feet and then settles into a squat position, back flat, heels on the ground, and chest open. Together, you both lower down and raise back up to complete one rep.
Come together—literally—for the final exercise of this circuit. Get into a side plank position, hand under your shoulder, legs straight out, feet stacked on top of one another. To make it less challenging, you can lower onto your knees. Together, raise your outside arms up into the air and then rotate down to high-five in the middle before returning to the top. This completes one rep.
If you’re going to work out with your partner, have some fun while you do it. The variations in this couples workout not only allow you to get closer to one another but challenge your mind and body in new ways, allowing you to build strength, have fun, and spend time together at the same time.
This is just the beginning to so many other workout programs you can do with a couple. And, it’s just another way to realize you don’t need expensive gym equipment to get your physical activity in. Instead, you just need to know how the body moves and also apply a little creativity. With these two factors, you can design all types of workouts filled with unique and fun exercises.
If you have a passion for fitness and want to learn more about how to build workouts that people will love, you might throw more fuel on the fire with a degree in exercise science. When you pursue a fitness education from Lionel University, you get it all. The courses are all online and asynchronous, which means you can learn at a time that works for you! Not to mention, learning is so much easier when it’s about a topic you love. You won’t just learn about fitness. In fact, you’ll get a deep dive into nutrition, fitness entrepreneurship, exercise psychology and behavior change, and so much more. It will change how you pursue your own healthy lifestyle.
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As you go through your degree program at Lionel, you’ll also earn your personal training certification and Master Trainer certificate in the first few months. This means you can start working as a personal trainer while you finish your program! And, with the help of financial aid, earning your exercise science degree is even more of a possibility.
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