Benefits of Working Out With Your Spouse

Exercise can be a source of energy and joy in a relationship or one of contention and guilt. If one partner is fit, but the other isn’t, it makes the other feel insecure, overwhelmed, or jealous.

On the other hand, the “healthier” partner may feel like their hard work isn’t appreciated or feel derailed if their partner is pushing poor choices on them. When you decide to exercise with your partner, the mental, physical, and relationship, benefits are multiplied.

After a decade of workouts together, and helping hundreds of couples craft fitness routines, we know these benefits to be true. But you don’t need to take our word for it, because there is strong science and psychology behind couple workouts. 

So, here’s why you should work out with your partner. 

Why Couples Who Sweat Together, Get Results together (And Stay Together)

It all starts with something fairly obvious: our partner has a huge impact on our habits. But just how much of an effect are we talking about?

Diet and exercise in relationships are well-researched topics, and here are a few key takeaways that stood out to us:

According to the ​English Longitudinal Study of Ageing​, when one partner starts exercising, the likelihood of the other partner picking it up increases by about three times compared to couples where no one changes their routine.

And if you kick off a weight-loss journey? Your partner has more than double the chance of shedding some pounds, too. But the benefits don’t stop there.

Research also shows that couples who work out together are more than three times as likely to stick with their fitness routine long-term. And get this: when you’ve got a workout buddy by your side, your exercise intensity can improve by 50%.

There will always be a “waterfall effect,” and it can either flow toward unhealthy habits or healthier ones.

But motivating your partner to join you isn’t always easy, as several people have shared with us within our ​Duo Life Lab membership​. If that’s you, be sure to check out our article titled,’The One Secret to Turning Your Partner Into a Workout Buddy.’

Lack of interest, comfort with what you’re already doing, time or location constraints, and even personality clashes (say, one of you is super competitive) can get in the way.

After working with hundreds of folks one-on-one over the years, Ryan and I came up with a step-by-step guide that we recommend trying when beginning workouts with your partner

Next, we’ll share the science-backed benefits of working out with your partner. We hope these proven benefits give you a motivation boost to make exercise with your partner a long-term habit.

The 5 Key Benefits of Exercise With Your Partner

1. More Accountability

Working out as a couple builds in automatic accountability, and there is no better person to hold you accountable than your spouse.

There are times when one of us won’t want to get out of bed, but that’s when the other takes charge to encourage the other. Often, there are days when we put off our workout when we shouldn’t. The motivation of two people aligned in a shared goal is powerful.

We seldom miss a workout. And, if we do, they are always rescheduled.

Furthermore, another accountability benefit of working out with your spouse is you have to make a schedule. The extra planning needed to fit workouts into both of your schedules makes you much more likely to succeed.

But, don’t take out word for it. In one study comparing married pairs to married singles, only 6.3% of married pairs who quit smoking started back up again, as compared to 43% of the married singles.

The same study showed that married pairs working out together were twice as likely to experience weight loss. What’s more, two years later, 70% of married pairs continued to work out weekly. Their solo counterparts were only 25% as likely.

Clearly, accountability is a major benefit for couples who work out together. So, now that we know about the possible 2X weight loss benefit and 3X long-term consistency benefit of exercising with your partner is there other data to back this up?

2. Better Results

There is more data on the performance benefits of working out with your spouse. And this makes sense to us because just like you wouldn’t watch YouTube videos at your desk while your boss is hovering, nobody wants to look like a weakling in front of their partner.

Exercising with your partner not only makes you more accountable to show up, but it makes you push harder. The conclusion of this study is, “Exercising with a virtually present partner can improve performance on an aerobic exercise task across multiple sessions.”

When you look at the results, they showed that exercising as a couple can 2X your performance. In our experience, whether it’s not wanting to look weak or competition heating up during our workouts, we find this to be 100% true.

And we track out workout data on our Apple Watches every workout. This also helps us do experiments to find the most effective cardio workouts, saving us time, and getting us better results.

Additionally, when we do fitness together as a couple, we find that when one of us is better at a particular exercise (i.e., when Ryan runs with Alex or when Alex does HIIT with Ryan), the other is pushed to increase performance.

This study from Kansas State University shows that this increase in work time and intensity is as much as 200 percent!

The best way to work out as a couple is to take turns picking the workout program. This not only ensures variety, more on that next, but it makes the fitness level disparity two-sided.

Over time, we have found that couple workouts have helped us close any fitness gaps that we had (i.e., Ryan being a bad runner and Alex not knowing how to lift weights).

An additional benefit of working out with your spouse is that you can help each other diagnose the areas where you need to improve. When working out with your partner, it’s easier for the other to help correct form or notice imbalances that you may have missed yourself.

Next, variety is the spice of life… and fitness.

3. Increased Variety

When you are balancing the interests and goals of two people, at first, it might feel like you have to compromise. But really, you are gaining variety that produces more well-rounded and balanced physical fitness.

If your spouse loves running and you hate it, do you think it’s possible you hate it because you’re not good at running? It sounds like an opportunity to learn from her, spend time running with her, and improve your overall fitness.

You’ll thank them later once you’re amazed about what running does for your body and mind.

This variety not only keeps working out more fun, but it also prevents you from plateauing or injuring yourself from over stressing your body with the same movements.

Excuse us for being blunt, but if you don’t like a method of exercise, it’s probably because you’re not good at it. We’re guilty too.

Before we knew how to properly use resistance bands, we hated them and thought they were useless. Now, we’re daily users, and designed a Resistance Band Workout Routine which thousands have completed.

A huge benefit of working out with your spouse is that you’ll be forced to try things you normally wouldn’t.

For example, when we started working out together, Ryan was introduced to running and mixed martial arts, and Alex was introduced to yoga and weight lifting. Alex hated yoga, and so did I. But as they say in China, “One more inch of extension adds ten more years of life.”

We knew we needed yoga to prevent injury and maintain flexibility while increasing strength. So, we started with a simple two-week plan that has evolved into the creation of our own couples yoga program!

For us, the best way to stay consistent and change up our workout program every 2-3 months is by following streamed workouts through BODi.

4. Improved Relationship

When you experience something new together, like a new workout routine or reaching a goal, it strengthens your bond.

Our brains release dopamine, the feel-good chemical, when we try new things. And, when you’re with your partner, it links that great feeling with their presence.

Working out together puts you both in a great mood. In fact, according to this study, couples who do fitness together end up “feeling more satisfied with their relationships and more in love with their partner.”

Exercising as a couple is a form of intimacy. When you are working out together, you’re sweating, breathing heavily, moving quickly, and releasing endorphins.

One study shows that exercise provides physiological arousal, stimulating our brains in a way similar to lovemaking. Therefore, working out as a couple provides an “arousal-attraction effect.”

Additionally, with the digital world expanding into new areas of life every year, we need to be more intentional about human touch. Physical touch should be (hint hint) a significant part of working out as a couple.

Couples who touch each other with high-fives and congratulatory spankings during exercise are happier and stay together longer. If you do decide to try our couple’s yoga poses, your increased physical touch can translate to your sex life.

Lastly, another relationship benefit of working out with your spouse is increased emotional bond through mimicry, which scientists describe as following the same movements together.

One study, comparing mimicking pairs to non-mimicking pairs, drew this conclusion. Who knew that we are boosting our bond while doing high knees together?!

5. More Quality Time

Time is our most precious asset, right.

The most significant benefit of working out with your spouse is you can check off your daily workout and quality time with your partner. We don’t believe there is a better way to spend more quality time together.

Better yet, schedule a hike, 5K, biking trip, or a 10-mile walking tour of your city so that you have a shared goal to work towards.

Did you know the average couple spends 35 minutes a week total having meaningful, non-logistical conversations? You can treat your workout as a date and create some fun memories along the way.

You’re bonding over some hard workouts that you won’t forget any time soon! It’s a great time to catch up, but if you can talk normally, you aren’t working hard enough.

Closing THoughts ON Partner Workout Benefits

Working out with your partner isn’t just about improving physical fitness—it’s about strengthening your relationship, creating accountability, and building a deeper emotional connection.

From shared workouts that improve performance to the joy of trying new exercises together, the benefits and data are undeniable. By committing to exercise as a couple, you’re not only improving your health, but you’re also building a more resilient and happy partnership.

Don’t wait for the perfect moment—grab your partner, set a goal, and get moving. You’ll both be better for it, together.

For more partner workout ideas, check out our partner core exercises, the one and only couples pregnancy workout routine, or download our cheatsheet with the best couples yoga poses to practice together.

For all of our helpful resources for couples who want to engineer their healthiest, happiest life together, head over to our Relationship page.

Written by Alex Davis
CEO and Co-Founder at Ryan and Alex Duo Life