Training Partners

Not the same thing is bromance

There are a lot of factors that dictate how well a training session can go: how rested you are, how much food has recently been eaten, how much coffee has been consumed, general stress levels, injuries or soreness, atmosphere or environment, attitude, and mood. One very underrated aspect to help improve some of those areas is a good training partner.

A good training partner is someone you get along with well, can help motivate you, critique you, and someone that genuinely cares about your success. The best partners meet all these qualities, and you do the same for them.

My training partner is one of my best friends, Chris. When I met him earlier this year, we got along pretty well right away. We like to joke around a lot in between sets, and this developed the concept that is 70’s Big. When we lifted, we were gettin’ 70’s Big. When we were eating, we were gettin’ 70’s Big.

Chris has gotten pretty damn strong in the time that I’ve known him. He has deadlifted 545 for five, pulled 600 and 625 for singles in the gym, and squatted 500 for a triple last Friday (video of this training session is forthcoming). He loves to deadlift, and whenever he is about to pull, I literally get goosebumps — and I’m only watching. Some of the most fun I’ve had in recent memory happened in the gym with this big galoot (he’s 6’, 265).

Fun is a keyword. Sometimes training can be hard — real fucking hard. So, having a break from the high stress of attempting heavy lifting can be a luxury. Chris and I can go from joking around to psyched up pretty quickly — I have an uncanny (almost stupid) ability to get my adrenaline up (more on this another time). Having a good friend, especially one who is real damn strong, makes training more fun than it already is.

Realistically all this rubbish is an excuse to play the following video. The camera was left on in a candid moment. The training partner topic was the only one that fit to let me post the video, otherwise it would be stuck on the cutting room floor. Note: Unless your name is AC, you may not find this amusing.

Anybody have any stories about good training partners? Bad ones?
How many of you actually have training partners?

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Drew from Alpharetta, GA sent me this picture of him deadlifting. Drew is 5’6″ and 170 lbs., up from 155 three months ago. In the photo he is pulling 380 for a set of five and has since done 400 for a triple. Drew is one of many people who formerly only did CrossFit and now training for general strength and power development.