The Painless Way to Get Fit

There's a way to make your workout feel easy, and it's not to slow down or avoid the hills (or skip it altogether!). Simply ask someone to join you -- a buddy or buddy-to-be -- next time; you might not even notice that you're going strong but feeling it less.

A study of university crew team members showed that when they did indoor rowing workouts in synchrony, their pain thresholds were higher than when they did a similarly tough workout alone. The theory is that synchronized activity somehow makes you produce more of the feel-good chemicals (endorphins) responsible for letting you do more with less perceived exhaustion. These same chemicals may also give you a “heightened sense of social bonding,” according to the researchers. (It may be a reason why social bonding of any sort is healthy, so consider that when planning a date for any reason.)

Want to get active but can't find anyone who's available? At least take your iPod with you. When researchers stacked up music and silence, they found that people who worked out to music worked 11% longer without feeling like they were working harder. We also know that we can work harder on machines when watching a program we like (The Doctor Oz Show, for instance!).

But we still say the best buddies aren't electronic. When your buddy can't hit the sidewalk, gym, trail (or rowers) with you, be sure to call her afterward and tell her what she missed. She'll do the same for you, and no MP3 player can give you quite the motivation (or support) your buddies can.