Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
COUPLES’ FITNESS BRINGS ABOUT REWARDS WORTH SHARING
When Susie Hawkins and her boyfriend, Chris Hibbs, graduated from Villanova University, where they met, they enjoyed going on day hikes when he would pay her visits at the campground where she worked.
As they increasingly spent more time together over the course of the past three years they’ve been dating, they have found many other opportunities to incorporate physical fitness into their relationship and have reaped many benefits in the process.
“One of the first workouts we started doing together was going out on mile runs,” said Hawkins, a library program coordinator at the Chester Springs Library who is working on her graduate degree in library science.
Last summer, Hawkins and Hibbs, both 24, got bikes, which opened up another avenue to enjoy the outdoors together. They ride on the Schuylkill River Trail and will often tie in a stop for a leisurely lunch.
“I love people watching and nature and animals too,” she said, highlighting some perks of their rides. “It’s fun seeing other people out being active and doing your little ‘hello’ as you pass them.”
Improving ourselves
Hawkins, who played tennis and volleyball in high school, said she feels that their time spent biking, running and working out together is much more rewarding than sitting on a couch and watching a movie together. She also appreciates that it’s a shared experience in which they can both partake.
“It feels like we are both improving ourselves together and it’s way more fun than working out by myself,” she said.
Hibbs, an accountant from Delaware County who played soccer and ran track in high school, also appreciates the rewards they reap through shared fitness.
“We feel like we’re accomplishing a goal together and it’s a good morale booster since we both work long days,” he said.
Hawkins misses the built-in workouts that go along with being on a high school team, so finds they have to make a more concerted effort to factor their workouts in around work. Last spring they joined an intramural adult co-ed kickball league.
“It’s a lot of fun and we got to play with our friends and met some new people,” she said, adding they might look into a softball league next. “It’s kind of fun to see your partner in a different context.”
Other shared physical fitness outings have included ax throwing on a recent trip to the Poconos, walking Hawkin’s roommates’ dogs, playing basketball and skiing.
“I’m less experienced and he was giving me pointers,” she said, of skiing.
Workout dice
For Christmas, Hawkins gave Hibbs some workout dice as a gift.
“This came about because in colder months I’m getting home at 7 p.m. and it’s already dark, so we can’t go outside to bike and run,” Hawkins said. “I thought the dice would be fun for a week and we would forget about them, but we continued doing it — it’s really fun.”
They use the dice once a week for a workout where one dice tells them what exercise to do and the other tells them how many reps or the length of time depending on the type of exercise. Exercises include crunches, sprinting in place, jumping jacks, plank, pushups, lunges and burpees.
Hibbs, who enjoys doing core workouts and jump roping on his own time, likes the variety the dice offer during their shared workouts with his favorite exercise being the plank and his least favorite being push-ups.
“I like the randomness of exercises that can be picked because it changes things up each time,” he said.
Hawkins said her least favorite exercise is a burpee.
“They are so hard and if you roll 30 reps, 30 burpees — it’s exhausting,” she said.
Hawkins is also not a fan of jump squats, but regardless, they are both committed to doing whatever exercise they roll.
They usually aim to do six to 10 different exercises per workout.
“We are strict about what we both have to do,” she said. “One night I kept getting pushups and we ended up doing about 90 push-ups.”
Personal relationship with fitness
Hawkins truthfully summed up her personal relationship
with fitness.
“I always feel better whenever I do it, but I’m not someone who needs to work out every day to feel OK,” she said.
For Hibbs, working out is a central aspect of his life.
“It’s very important to me,” he said. “I was a former athlete in high school, but now that I don’t have a set routine or sport to play, I still feel a need to get out and exercise as much as I can to stay in shape.”
Due to working long hours as an accountant during this time of year, Hibbs has experienced many benefits to being physically active.
“It clears my head after work,” he said, “It helps me to keep my energy and morale up and keeps me focused.”