Better Together: the Impact of Exercising with a Romantic Partner

Many people have goals to increase their physical activity levels through engaging in exercise, but have difficulty establishing and maintaining an exercise routine. Research shows that people are more successful at exercising if they do so together with their romantic partner. In this study, we examined how exercising with a romantic partner may influence the experience of exercise itself, as well as people’s daily experiences. Specifically, we examined how joint exercise influences daily and exercise affect, daily relationship satisfaction, and amount of daily exercise. Young adults who were currently involved in a romantic relationship (N = 95) completed intake questionnaires and 14 daily reports of their exercise behavior, exercise and daily affect, and daily relationship satisfaction. Multilevel models showed that on days when people exercised with their romantic partner, they experienced higher positive affect during exercise, higher daily positive affect, and were more satisfied with their relationship compared to days when they exercised without their partner. No effects were found on daily and exercise negative affect, or amount of exercise. This study illustrates how exercising with a romantic partner may improve people’s experience of both exercising and their daily experiences, and may help provide a reason why people might be more successful at maintaining their exercise routine when they exercise together with their romantic partner.