Strength Training Without A Training Partner
Sep 16th, 2007 by Mehdi Posted in Strength Training
One readers asks:
“I plan on starting the Beginner Strength Training Program. Is a training partner critical for all of the lifts?
I don’t have a buddy to go lift with. So most of the time it will be just me at the gym. It’s nice to have someone to push you along and to spot but I don’t think I will be able to have that luxury.”
My First Training Partner. Let me start by sharing my experience. I started strength training in 1999 with two friends. They quit one month later. I trained six months alone before meeting my first training partner.
He had 3 years experience. I saw him at the gym regularly. He was strong & muscular. One day I asked him if I could join him sometime. He replied with: “Join me now. I’m training legs”.
Leg Press first. Then Squats. My first time. I went up to 60kg. I puked. My legs hurt for 5 days. But I came back the next day. We trained 3 years together.
He teached me a lot. Exercises, nutrition, but most of all character. Never did he miss one workout. I was there, he was there. We trained 52 weeks a year. We motivated each others. We had results.
Advantages. One of The Law of Success is co-operation. Especially if you’re a beginner into strength training: find a training partner. It has many benefits:
- Motivation. Bad days or not: go to the gym, lift those weights.
- Learning. Technique, nutrition, attitude, etc.
- Safety. You always have someone to spot.
- Competition. Leads to faster results.
Motivation is the most important reason to get a training partner. Something you have to learn is that your mind often says you can’t, while you can. Bad days are only bad days in your mind.
An example I gave yesterday is training after a night drinking. Even if you have a hangover, strength is there. It’s painful, but it can be done. You just have to get yourself over it. Mind over matter. That’s how a training partner helps you.
Disadvantages. The problem with a lifting partner is that it’s hard to find a good one. I trained with several people, but only one person had the same qualities as my first training partner. The rest was always:
- Unreliable. Flakes. Quits.
- Wrong mindset. Relies on steroids rather than training hard.
- Lack of concentration. Isn’t there to train but to talk.
- Sabotages your workouts. Spots badly on purpose.
Finding A Training Partner. Good ones are a minority in my experience. But you can find them if you keep looking.
- Gym.
- Friends.
- Work.
- Clubs.
- Online.
Look, approach, initiate. Never mind asking. People who are serious about their own training will be receptive. Even if you’re weaker or less experienced. What counts is that you have the right mindset: you’re motivated & motivate them.
Training Alone. Sometimes a friend comes over or I train in another gym. But 90% of the time it’s just me & the barbell in my home gym. It has been like that since 4 years.
This was very hard in the beginning. Especially since I always had a training partner. You have to motivate yourself when you train alone. And you don’t have a spotter. But it has benefits:
- Faster. You don’t need to wait, you don’t lose time talking.
- Freedom. How you want, when you want.
- Character. Training alone builds character.
Set goals. Keep a journal. Track your progress. Put a log online that people can comment. Don’t let the fact that you don’t have a training partner stop you.
Safety. Lack of spotting is the main problem of training alone. Some tips.
- Safety Pins. Squat & Bench Press inside the Power Rack.
- Ask Help. Ask someone at your gym to spot. Just ask it.
- Be Ready. Plan your max attempts.
- Progress Slowly. Add weight progressively.
If you just squatted 70kg for 5 reps, you won’t fail with 72,5kg. The more you lift weights, the more you get a sense of what you can & can’t do.
I usually train alone, as well. I have 3 roomates, and about once a week one or more of them will join me at the gym, but for the most part they’d rather do other things. I find that when they do join me, I have a little more freedom to try things I might not try without a spot and I often end up learning more about lifting because I have to think about what I’m doing and why so that I can explain it to them.
But I usually train alone and, like Mehdi said, training alone can be great. You don’t have to modify your routine based on somebody else’s priorities and you build self-discipline by getting your butt to the gym every day, no matter what.
Excellent post!
I’ve been training myself for about 2-2.5 months now. Without a partner. I just feel partners slow me down, but maybe that’s just because everyone that I know that goes to the gym, only go on those pathetic machine’s…
Soon though, I’m gonna train a buddy of mine (yes, even with my inexperience), though I do not think he’ll last long.
Also introduced another friend of mine to the free weights. Had him train with it for a while, while I was watching his technique. Next time I saw him he was back on the machine’s.
All other ‘big dudes’ in the gym only do curls, bench presses and assisted chin-ups/pull-ups. Oh, sometimes, once in a blue moon, I see someone deadlift some pussy weights. And after each set, they talk for like half an hour before attempting their next set. I’ve also never seen anyone squat yet, besides myself..
Why isn’t anyone here a bit serious about their training?
Do you have any tips on motivating people to use free weights instead of those pussy machines?
After going through the flake factor, differing schedules, I am better off training alone. People who want to train with me know where and when to find me in which case, I usually welcome the “teammate/competitor”/ Hell, my girlfriend used to train with me and no longer does and she even lives with me!
We agree Lucas
Robin. The majority will not train optimally. They’ll look at you because you train differently. But they’ll also look at you when several months later, you have results they don’t have.
The best tip to motivate people to use free weights is to tell them to join you. Let them train with you & experience it. They’ll feel it’s harder. If it feels harder, your body needs to adapt harder. More strength/more muscles.
However not everybody will like it. Some prefer the easy way. Machines. Because they know free weights is harder.
Mark. Flaking is indeed very common. It’s hard to find someone with the same mindset. But if you do: it’s worth it.