Hermes

Here is an article from the New York Times (behind a paywall but may be visible even to non subscribers) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/w...r-trainer.html. Some may enjoy this article.

" Accountability is the key to a sustainable workout habit...When you need an extra nudge, tie your exercise routine to someone or something."

And

"Find a buddy who's more committed than you are..."

My entire athletic life for 6 decades has centered around that idea. For me, sometimes it is a buddy, team, group, coach or whatever. And I like to train with people who are better than me.

Iride01 

I rode more back when my son had more time to ride. When he'd call and ask if I wanted to ride, I couldn't refuse. Likewise if I ask him he couldn't or wouldn't refuse. Since he's gotten busier with work, he now has little time to ride. So now I can make little excuses to not ride. Too cold, too dreary looking, might rain and etc. I find that my riding miles are suffering badly.

So I'll agree with you.

MoAlpha

When I was an age group runner, I had a young child, an international academic career, clinical responsibilities, and a training buddy who got me out on the road or the track at 5 am on weekdays. I didn’t even like the guy that much, but it worked.

MinnMan

Interestingly, Strava can be a motivation aid. Showing your community of Strava followers that you got out and did your ride, that you are putting in the miles (or putting out the watts, or....) may not be the most enlightened motivation, but yet, it influences people to do more and more regularly.

Doesn't work for everybody

Turnin_Wrenches

I wasn't able to access the article due to the paywall, but based on the two quotes referenced in the original post I came away with mixed feelings about the advice given.

On the positive side, I totally agree that coaches and/or local teams / clubs can be great resources to increase motivation and advance your training. When you hire a coach, join a team or a local club, there is a pretty clear understanding of accountability and who sets the rules. When you train with a buddy things get muddy. Rules, roles, and responsibilities are less clear. And when rules, roles, and responsibilities get blurred, feathers can (and do) get ruffled. My advice is to do your more committed buddies a favor by finding other ways to increase your motivation and advance your training.

Carbonfiberboy 

I don't rely on others for accountability in all the various corners of my life. In cycling, I ride instrumented, power and HR or just HR. I post every ride, walk, workout, hike, ski, etc., etc., on TrainingPeaks. It gives me a training stress score and keeps track of my accumulated training stress. I get a number. I try to keep that number increasing from October to August when I back off and let that number drop way off. During my long training period, if that number doesn't keep slowly going up, I'm not happy. I like to be happy, so I mostly stay with the program.

If you want riding partners who will make it more fun, you simply lead the ride. If they don't like your choices, find partners who will. I've found that most folks would rather shuck off responsibility onto someone else, so riding partners are not really that hard to find. You just have to be the responsible one and communicate with them, not that difficult. Having riding buddies who depend on you rather stiffens your spine.

To put it a little differently, I instrument myself in order to create a mechanism for accountability. If I weren't actually training, but just riding around, I wouldn't bother with the instruments. Many people prefer that, but I find that I stay healthier if I am accountable to myself and have a mechanism for that.

My wife and I both go to the gym and workout together, mostly twice a week for about an hour. There the accountability comes from our method: we lift to exhaustion, i.e. we know we couldn't do another rep. We keep those numbers increasing. Gym twice a week, they'll increase. Once a week and they'll just stay about the same, which is fine during the riding high season. It also helps that the gym is full of people just like us, so the positive atmosphere is helpful.

kinnessa60

Great article! I completely agree that accountability is key for building sustainable workout habits. It's so easy to make excuses to ourselves, but when we have someone else depending on us, it motivates us to show up even when we'd rather skip a workout.I've found that finding the right workout buddy is key. Some people thrive on competition, others prefer a more supportive friend. It's worth trying out a few different options to see what works best for you.

work4bike

Go to Walmart and see all the overweight people with canes/walkers/e-scooters and that's plenty of motivation for me.

Also, when I see other people my age (hitting the big Six-0 this year) and how much less mobile they are than me, that's icing on the motivation cake