We all know the feeling...
When someone's yelling at us and pumping us up almost as much as the weight itself - we tend to perform more reps.
There's no surprises here, external motivation in the form of other people does wonders for us!
Compare this to some of those lonely days/nights in the gym where you're not feeling it, and there's no one there to motivate you. Your performance never quite feels the same.
One of the great bodybuilding moments was when Australian IFBB bodybuilder Scott Goble began smashing out reps on the leg press.
Then out of nowhere - who turned up other than bodybuilding legend Tom Platz, the man they call "The Quadfather", to encourage Mr Goble to smash out more reps.
Before we get to the research here, check out this amazing piece of anecdotal evidence of Scott Goble being encouraged by Tom Platz - it's fair to say Mr Goble got more out of that set with Mr Platz there:
Inspiring stuff huh?
The Research - Training With A Gym Buddy For More Gains
Research has found physical training to be LESS painful if you do it with others in comparison to doing it alone (1).
Using 12 male rowers from the University of Oxford Boat Club, these researchers had a blood pressure cuff put on the upper arm of the rowers and inflated it until they were in pain.
On a seperate occasion the rowers trained intensively for 45 minutes on an ergometer, before the researchers again inflated the blood pressure cuff before the rowers couldn't take it anymore.
So what did they find?
Well to start with - it's well established that intense physical exercise releases endorphins (2), and that was seen again here.
Endorphins have been described as natural painkillers, which also bring about feeling of euphoria.
You know the feeling...particularly when the workout is over:
And this was obviously how the researchers could inflate the blood pressure cuff much more DURING the rowers workout than at first when they weren't rowing at all.
Then, came the next part of the research - getting the rowers to perform their workout under two different conditions:
1. Individually
2. Together
Each rowers had to ride alone twice, and together twice.
The black sector of the graph below is when they were together, the white is when they were alone:
So the findings are obvious - training together meant a higher pain threshold - the same as what Scott Goble would had to have experienced with Tom Platz in his ear!
Whilst Tom wasn't training WITH Scott, he was still there with him though, making the conditions somewhat similiar - but the end result the same.
The researchers conclude:
"We show that synchronized training in a college rowing crew creates a heightened endorphin surge compared with a similar training regime carried out alone. This heightened effect from synchronized activity may explain the sense of euphoria experienced during other social activities (such as laughter, music-making and dancing) that are involved in social bonding in humans and possibly other vertebrates."
So having a gym buddy with you either pumping out a set at the same time, or encouraging you in the form that Tom Platz did, may increase your pain threshold which could result in more reps, and thus more progress.
Whilst results will definitely vary - it's safe to say it's a better bet than training all alone!
"Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!"
References
(1) Cohen EE, Ejsmond-Frey R, Knight N, Dunbar RI. Rowers' high: behavioural synchrony is correlated with elevated pain thresholds. Biol Lett. 2010 Feb 23;6(1):106-8. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0670. Epub 2009 Sep 15.
(2) Harber VJ, Sutton JR. Endorphins and exercise. Sports Med. 1984 Mar-Apr;1(2):154-71.
Author
Dayne Hudson