Couples That Move Together Stay Together
Couples that move together stay together? Sure… Accountability. Support. Motivation. Fun. Competition. Variety. Celebrating the wins together. When you work out with your romantic partner, it’s been proven to boost your mood and improve your relationship satisfaction, including better sex (now that I have the attention of the men in the audience…). Exercising with your partner builds trust, camaraderie and a bond from a shared experience. Swolemate is actually the slang term used in the gym for the person you work out with. Ya learn something new every day…
So with all of these benefits, let’s talk about a few places in the area where you can get a special workout or experience with your “swolemate” during this season of love, and beyond.
First up SHRED by FABFit by LW. FABFit is local trainer, Lauren Witten’s online strength training platform that includes 7 specialized programs. And one of those is SHRED, where Lauren works out with her husband, Dave. SHRED is a program that you can do on your own or with your partner. I recently did a SHRED workout with my husband. While I dreaded it at first (I like to do my own thing in my home gym), we ended up having a lot of laughs. I also had a lot of eye rolls in response to my husband’s “mature”comments. But, I quickly realized that Eddie and I motivated each other through the challenging HIIT class. So yeah, I’ll exercise with him again (even if he does complain at first and makes way too many sexual jokes during the workout).
Lauren came up with SHRED when some of her female clients requested workouts for their husbands. One client said she wanted “the male version of [Lauren]”. So Lauren thought about it for less than a second before she offered up Dave to her FABFit community. It look Lauren’s husband a little convincing to agree to film a 6-week program for FABFit with her. Lauren said she did have to remind him more than once that this wasn’t a comedy show and that he had to keep it clean or else he’d be re-filming. Nice to know that all men are the same! [Insert eye roll again] That's the thing about Lauren and now, Lauren and Dave, together. They are relatable. They may sound like you and your partner. And that’s what keeps Lauren’s clients motivated and engaged throughout the workout. Plus, it’s fun and different and that’s why they come back. Oh, and Lauren adds “you never know what Dave is going to say.” Again, that sounds way too familiar.
If you are interested in checking it out, you can try FABFit for 7 days for free. Thereafter, there are 3 membership options: $25/monthly, $60/quarterly, or $225/yearly. Use code “fitnessfinds” to save 20% on the quarterly membership. As a member, you will get access to all seven online programs, and you can select the program that fits your schedule and personal goals, including SHRED.
Shifting gears a bit to Partner Yoga with local yoga instructor Lucy Butler. I’ve been watching Lucy and her partner, Lyman, post these adorable videos of the two of them bonding over yoga. They inspired this post really. Lucy explains it perfectly. “During partner yoga, we use the tools we already know - breath, movement and meditation but add in components of touch, play and intimacy to create compassion, trust and balance within your partnership. Partner yoga is holding hands. It's balancing. It's trusting. It's cheering each other on. It's laughing. It's falling together and getting back up together. It's doing challenging things… together!”
Lucy explains that couples may practice together for various reasons— they are preparing to get married; they are blending a family; they are grieving together. “It helps to build stronger bonds during life's major transitions. After a session, partners may leave feeling happy, relaxed, confident, supported and so much more in love.” With Lucy’s 6-week program, partner yoga can take the place of the more traditional fix of couples therapy… and in my opinion, it sounds like way more fun!
Lucy’s 6-week, private partner yoga program offers so many benefits: equipping the couple for better communication; cultivating physical and emotional support; creating shared memories; improving self awareness and trust; opening up a “playground for intimacy” as Lucy puts it. You can chose to meet with Lucy in person or online for 1 hour a week, for six weeks, for $1,050.00. While it’s an investment, it is a lot cheaper than six therapy sessions! To book, email Lucy at info@lucycbutler.com or visit lucycbutler.com to learn more. You can also book a free 30-minute call with Lucy to help determine if partner yoga is right for your relationship.
This next one I am dragging my husband to with me this weekend. He doesn’t know it yet, but we are doing a Couples Sound Bath with local Sound Healer Audrey Uchimoto. If I told him the plans for Saturday night, I am not quite sure he would go. But I booked Audrey for us to open his mind to this form of healing. I’ve found the benefits of it and I think he could, too. And with my husband’s rigorous travel schedule back up and running, I am looking forward to spending this time with him doing something different. Audrey says that sound bath offers “an intimate moment to slow down, unwind and immerse yourself in a healing experience.” For both romantic relationships and friendships, couples sound bath provides a stronger human connection while being bathed in “a symphony of relaxing and restorative sounds that raise your vibration to the frequency of love.” And that sounds absolutely divine.
For those that don’t know (my husband, Eddie, included), sound bath uses the “therapeutic application of sound frequencies and vibrations to align individual’s energetic field and brain waves into a state of harmony and peace.” Using both harmonic and binaural tones, sound bath can “access the inner layers of your subconscious through sound vibrations.” I’ve done it a bunch of sessions with Audrey and each time, I experience something completely different. And because Audrey plays by intuition, no two sessions with her ever sound the same.
Audrey says that couples sound bath has the ability to “enhance self love and the couple’s love for each other; harmonize and unify the couple’s collective energy field; and deepen intimacy and connection.” Audrey offers sound bath healing at her home studio in Berwyn, where she has her very extensive (and always growing) collection of healing instruments. Every time I am there, Audrey shows me something new she is incorporating into her sound bath symphony. It’s not just the crystal singing bowls when you are with Audrey. Audrey offers this experience for 1 to 2 hours. The price is $100 for 1 hour, $120 for 90 minutes and $160 for two hours. You can book a couples sound bath here or purchase a gift certificate for your partner here. And be sure to check out my Instagram for a look into my couples sound bath experience from this weekend.
For most of us, Valentine’s Day is just another day of the usual weekly grind- especially when it falls on a Tuesday. And while it may be a Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day is a nice time to stop and appreciate the love in your life, whether it’s with a romantic partner, a friend, your children, a parent or your self. More on self love next week…