Exercise can be a team effort

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I don't drink very often, but I don't attend wakes at Irish bars very often either, so when the phone rang early one recent morning, I was not exactly feeling chipper. It was my workout buddy, Jerry.

"Hey, are you going to work out today or what?" he asked.

"What, definitely what," I replied, and slammed down the phone.

No, that's not true; I just wasn't that quick and witty that morning. I begged off, explaining that because of my over-familiarity with a few Black and Tans the previous evening, I wasn't feeling up to it.

"You know," he said, "I hear working out is good for that."

Now Jerry is a nice Mormon boy and so he has no intimate experience with the effects of demon liquor -- or beer in this case.

I know he has no way of knowing about any hangover cures firsthand, any more than he knows why you have to turn certain magazines sideways when you get to the middle.

But at this point in the conversation, I could tell I'd already succumbed to his little Jedi mind trick, and I dragged myself off to the land of sweat and free weights.

If you're serious about maintaining a consistent workout routine, having a good workout buddy is highly recommended.

For most people, it helps to have company to push each other along and provide encouragement. Mostly, though, it keeps you on track.

There are days -- OK, weeks -- when I don't particularly feel like hauling myself out of a perfectly good dream to see if I can drop a dumbbell on my groin. Again. My inclination on those days is to roll back over and promise myself I'll do it later. But I know I won't.

Surely there are people out there disciplined and independent enough that they can work their regular routine without being hectored by a workout buddy, but I'm pretty sure those people are also thwarting evil-doers in Gotham City.

For my part, having my own personal Jiminy Cricket has kept me on the steadiest workout program I've ever had. Plus, having someone around to point out when your form is getting sloppy or to pull the barbell off your neck is invaluable.

A workout partner doesn't need to have the same workout goals as you. My workout partner is trying to build up muscle and sculpt his form. I haven't asked him why.

For me, with a family history of high blood pressure and heart disease, coupled with a lot of jobs that involve sitting, I'm simply trying to keep myself alive long enough to enjoy some of the milestones in my children's lives.

Well, that and I have a long-term goal of telling my grandchildren embarrassing stories about their parents, but that's more of an icing-on-the-cake kind of thing.

For the record, the morning I worked out with a hangover, I did feel remarkably better afterward. Of course, I didn't disclose that to my workout buddy. There's nothing more annoying than a smug Jedi cricket.

F. Andrew Taylor is a Las Vegas freelance writer. His column appears twice monthly. Contact him at fandrewt@cox.net.