“Choose your words well. They will undeniably go marching down the years in the people you affect”

– Wilfred Anderson (American Author)

One of the hardest tasks is attempting to encourage a training partner, who is losing interest in training.

It’s worse if your partner’s loss of interest occurred as a result of him/her not achieving their desired results. But, you can save the day with the right inspiring words.

Today, we’ll be discussing how to use inspiring words to encourage your training partner. Plus, we’ll be looking at the steps to help re-ignite your partner’s training passion.

But first, let’s see four crucial traits you should possess to be a great training partner.

Three Traits of an Inspiring Training Partner

It always feels good to get encouraged and inspired from your training partner when things aren’t going as planned, especially for your workout plan.

It’s even more effective if the training partner follows up on you beyond the studio. You’ll feel loved and pumped to achieve your training milestones against all odds.

That’s why you need to develop the right attitude of an inspiring training partner. If you haven’t, we listed three vital traits that’ll help you become a better training partner:

The Ability to Make Realistic Commitments

An inspiring partner needs to be reliable. It also means that you’re realistic with appointments and commitments you make with your training partner.

For starters, you have to be upfront about your individual goals. You should be particular about the number of days you want to exercise, and how much time you have.

It’s much easier to figure out if your schedules match up when you’re realistic with your plans. Things might get tricky with your training partner along the line. But, provided both parties are aware of the differences, you could work things out.

For instance, if you have to take care of a sick family member, cancel a workout with an explicit “bailout agreement.” Afterward, You can make up for the lost time. How? Spend extra time in the next session when you both meet. Scheduling a session at the studio outside your regular time to catch up on the sessions missed is another option.

It all depends on what you decide. But, in any case, always ensure you properly communicate with your partner. Get their feedback, and see that your plans are fine with them as well as their time.

The Ability to Build the Relationship Beyond the Studio

Training in the studio lasts for about an hour or more. But what goes down when contenders leave the fitness studio and face their daily responsibilities? Keeping the momentum going could get tricky. As a result, a lot of frustrations, unhealthy cravings, or disappointments set in sometimes, depending on the individual.

But, here’s the deal.

When the going gets rough, we could ALWAYS look for a shoulder to lean on. Thus, extending your hands of friendship outside the studio will help your training partner.

Even if you’re not currently training with your partner, you should still try to motivate and support the person.

Don’t Just Talk—Do

It’s a good idea to yell “you can do this” and amp your partner up. But, it’s even better when you put in real effort toward your own workouts. When you do this, your partner will naturally go harder and longer.

A study showed that our habits could affect others. So, aside from verbal cheerleading, the effort you put in your workout, your work ethic, and attitude motivates your fitness partner.

Four Tips for Inspiring Your Training Partner

What you say to inspire your training partner can make or break them. The best approach is to use the right words for the right results. Here are four tips that work:

Focus On Health and Strength over Appearance

According to research, 203 college women partook in a 16-minute strength and conditioning group session. The participants featured randomly in one of the two classes.

The first class had an instructor that made appearance-focused motivational comments. While the second class had an instructor that made function-focused comments. Aside from this difference, every other condition in the fitness class was the same.

In the end, those in the function-focused class had a significant increase in body satisfaction compared to those in the appearance-focused class. Thus, it’s best to focus more on non-appearance markers of health for the best results.

An excellent example of non-appearance markers of health includes higher energy, more strength in daily tasks, an elevated mood, etc. “It’s exciting to see you bubbling with so much energy today” may have a huge impact compared to “hmm...your arms look muscular.”

Avoid Critiques and Convey Unconditional Support

Researchers decided to experiment with hundreds of active college athletes. They asked them the same question—what’s your worst memory from playing youth sports? Most of their responses revolved around the car ride experience with their parents after a bad game.

The researchers then asked the athletes what their parents said that made them feel good. Most of their answers were, “I love to watch you play.”

Why did those six words make the athletes feel great? Simple! The words didn’t have any ego-inflating feedback. It’s way better than discouraging instructional feedback like “you should have positioned your hips better before swinging.”

Avoiding critiques works well for adults. Why? Because it helps convey unconditional love and support that inspires your training partner to work hard and develop skills.

Think about the best ways to express unequivocal support to your training partner.

You can say, “I admire the fact that you’re pushing yourself while you’re here.” Or “I love that we are doing this together.”

Ditch Winning and Encourage Skill Mastery

Professor Carol Dweck, the psychologist who coined the term "growth mindset" discovered something about children. She found out that praising children for their strategies and effort teaches them one thing: proper planning and hard work brings success. When a child knows this, he or she is inspired to keep working hard.

When you praise children for their intelligence (“you’re super smart”), it may lead to taking shortcuts. The reason is that they may feel desperate to live up to your expectation of being smart.

You can choose to apply this same idea to your training partner. Promote a growth mindset. Or encourage the idea that ability and skill can be nurtured and grown through hard work and practice.

If your training partner questions his or her ability to accomplish a goal, reply with a growth mindset voice.

A growth mindset voice sounds like “don’t worry if you can’t do it now; you’ll learn with more time and practice.” Or use “look for a highly successful person with no failures, and you’ll find none because everyone fails at some point in their life .”

Encourage Optimism and Positivity

Don’t be surprised if you find your fitness buddy struggling with unnecessary emotions or self-pity for whatever reason. Human beings tend to feel helpless when the challenge seems impossible.

How do you resolve the situation? Make your partner realize that when life throws lemons, both of you will make the juiciest and tastiest lemonade. In other words, encourage your partner to choose optimism and positivity.

Comments like “you’re unstoppable” or “you’re great at this” is a good start.

Bottom Line

You don’t have to be bothered anymore about that training partner of yours that’s about giving up. With the righty inspiring words, you can get your training partner back on track.

That’s the fantastic thing about being a part of the Gloveworx tribe. You don’t just rely on someone to support you, but you’re supportive of others.