Pair Up To Preserve Participation
We are all inherently social beings. We all want to feel as though we belong. And your clients are no different! Build quality relationships between your clients and you’ll start to see amazing retention in your classes – as they are more likely to come back to catch up with each other just as much as they come back for your amazing workouts.
Below, we’ve compiled a 45 minute workout, designed to help your clients work with and meet as many other group members as possible.
Warm Up
Partner Medicine Ball Toss
Drill Length: 5-10 minutes
Environment: Anywhere
Equipment: Medicine Balls
Original Workout: Strength Circuit Bootcamp
Have clients pair up. Give each pair a medicine ball (MB). Demonstrate the following exercises to the clients.
- MB Toss
- MB Toss w/ MB Squat
- MB Toss w/ MB Squat and a Squat w/out MB
- MB Toss w/ MB Reverse Lunge
- MB Lateral Toss (both sides)
Have clients spend a minute or two on each exercise.
Main Drill
Partner 100s
Drill Length: 30 minutes
Environment: Room for shuttles
Equipment: Mats, Benches
Adapted from: 300 Team Bootcamp Variation
Set out a line of cones 20-30m away from your workout area, for shuttles. Pair clients up – mixed fitness pairs would work best here. Assign either ‘Partner A’ or ‘Partner B’ to each person. Partner A starts on the exercise, doing as many reps as they can, while Partner B does one shuttle run. When Partner B returns, they swap – Partner A runs and Partner B continues the count from where Partner A left off. The first pair to complete 100 reps will finish that round for everyone. Allow for a 1-2 minute break between rounds.
To really assist with camaraderie within your groups, you could change up the partners each time – prompting with questions like, ‘Whichever partner has the next birthday, move along to the next partner,’ or ‘Whichever partner traveled the furthest to be here, move along one spot.’ It will get them talking, allow them to get to know each other a bit better and help build the relationships in your group.
The Exercises
Complete 100 reps between each pair:
- Push Ups
- Squat Jumps
- Knees Up Crunches
- Sideline 1-Arm Push Ups (each side)
- Squats
- Plank w/ Twist (each side)
- Bench Dips
- Forward Lunges
- Stir The Tot
- Partner Low 5 Push Ups
Finisher
Hurricane
Drill Length: 5 minutes
Environment: Room for sprints
Equipment: Nil
Original Workout: Disaster Survival Bootcamp
If a hurricane hits, you need to be able to move to a bathroom or to shelter really fast from wherever you are!
This drill is a really simple one. Have your clients pair up with someone of similar running speed. Have one client lie on the ground with their partner standing a few metres behind them.
When the standing partner yells, ‘Go!’ both clients start running with the aim of the partner who was lying down to catch the partner who started off standing up.
This workout was created with BootCraft. Create your own.
Theresa Prior has a mission to bring Mums and women together in a safe and supportive environment that just so happens to have fun fitness sessions at it’s core. She has been running her own personal training business since 2013. Theresa helps her clients understand that all aspects of their health are equally important.
Nice workout plan, but what on earth is a sideline 1-arm push-up? Is this a typo and are you referring to a side lying 1 arm triceps push?
Thank you for your feedback Terry. Yes, the exercise is one and the same – just different names for the same exercise. Let us know if you use this workout plan.
Hi Kyle, I notice (and love) lots of your workouts include partner or teams. What do you suggest for this workouts if you have uneven numbers (say someone drops out right before class) other than doing it? I don’t mind, but I don’t give campers the same energy or attention when I do!
Usually I’ll make one group of 3 of the newest or least fit clients. This way they’ll get more rest throughout the workout.
Or for the above workout, I would simply have 2 clients of a similar level act as one person. So they would do all their reps together and rest together. Does that make sense? I might need to make a video.