Exercise is easier when you have a good support system made up of family and friends. It’s even better if some of those support system members have similar fitness or weight loss goals you’re trying to achieve. It makes sense that you’d meet people interested in fitness at your gym. With a little effort, those faces you see each day can become friends.
Step 1
Go to the gym on a regular schedule. If you go around the same time each day, you’ll start to see some of the same faces over and over. This naturally occurring familiarity may make it easier to strike up conversations.
Step 2
Join a fitness class and attend it like clockwork. If you work out each week with the same core group of people in a specific class, you’re bound to bond with at least one other member as the instructor pushes you both toward your limits. The regularity of your schedule makes it easy to chit-chat with other regulars before class.
Step 3
Sign up for a class that meets around mealtime. After the workout, ask the class if anyone would like to join you for a smoothie or healthy lunch somewhere nearby. Extend the invite to a few select people if you’re not comfortable addressing the entire class.
Step 4
Talk with your gym’s staff about starting a contest or buddy program. Members who sign up can be put into teams by random draw and work together to get in the most fitness minutes, walk the longest distance or lose the most weight. Buddies can offer encouragement and support without a formal contest.
Step 5
Make small talk with other moms at the gym’s daycare center. You might find another mom with a similar schedule as yours, and even children the same age. Use your child to break the ice if you’re uncomfortable. Point out that your kids get along great and suggest a play date. As the kids bond, so can the moms.
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