Better Health & Living
Friends + Fitness = Fun
These 3 women have tapped into a scientific secret: Exercise with a buddy, and you're more likely to stick with it.
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Ask Paulette Hefflinger why having exercise buddies is so important, and she’ll tell you the story of her 30th wedding anniversary in 2004. Hefflinger, who’s 55, was on her regular morning walk when she noticed a long-stemmed rose lying by the side of the road. “I looked up and could see more roses on the road up ahead. I knew it must have been my husband’s doing,” she says. “There was a little note attached to each stem, but I’d left my reading glasses at home. Thank goodness the ‘girls’ were there to help me.”
The “girls,” Carol Hamilton and Nancy Ek, now 56 and 57 respectively, helped Hefflinger pick up all 30 roses on their five-mile route. “They read each mushy love note to me,” she says with a laugh.
The three women from Mulino, Oregon, call themselves the Walkie Talkies. They’re a walking group that’s been trekking all over the United States and their rural neighborhood, racking up about 26,500 miles over the past 17 years, including the 15 marathons and five half-marathons they’ve walked.
The trio met in the late 1980s when their children attended the same elementary school. “At first, we just enjoyed socializing together, but a few years into our friendship, we decided to combine our walking with our talking—hence the name,” says Ek. “We’d put the kids on the bus each morning and then walk the neighborhood.” Over the first few years, the women worked up to walking five miles, five days a week.
In 1994, they decided to walk a 10K for multiple sclerosis and enjoyed it so much that they trained for and walked the 1996 Portland Marathon. “We’ve been hooked ever since,” says Hefflinger.
Why Buddies Boost Benefits
Turning exercise sessions into social events almost guarantees that you’ll do them day after day. Researchers from the University of Southern California found that having workout buddies was the best predictor of which people would stick to exercise and enjoy it. Another study, at Indiana University, followed 46 couples and found that of those who signed up for a gym membership together, only 6 percent quit, compared to a 43 percent dropout rate among married folks who joined solo.
“Together, people accomplish things they’d never do on their own,” says personal trainer and walking coach Lee Scott of Ontario, Canada. “It can be as simple as encouraging each other to walk despite crummy weather or as challenging as the discipline needed to train for a marathon.” Ek admits that she’s the excuse-maker of the group. “I’m the least athletic and the one who will occasionally try to dodge an exercise session; but I look forward to walking because I know it’s also my social time with Paulette and Carol,” she says. “It doesn’t hurt that they know where I live, either.”
Friends can help one another in other practical ways, too. “Even though I knew I’d walk faster with my arms bent at 90 degrees, it made me feel silly, but not when it was the three of us walking together,” says Ek. “Paulette always shares what she knows about better ways to walk, and when I’m feeling down, Carol knows just what to say.”
Being accountable to a group also helps, points out walking coach Tyler Burgess, of Eugene, Oregon. “People register for my classes because they want to get fit or lose weight; but they keep coming back because they feel responsible to the others,” says Burgess, who also notes that walking lends itself to making friends because you can talk while doing it. “It’s hard to find time to connect nowadays. Walking together gives us the opportunity to create connections.”
As the Walkie Talkies have learned, there are other benefits:
Maintaining good health. The women have staved off weight gain, serious health problems, and injuries. Their friends, family, and doctors rave about their youthful energy.
Having fun. Every Halloween, the group dresses up and takes treats to the elementary school. (They did it when their children attended; now their grandchildren are there.)
Helping neighbors. They’ve rounded up loose horses and llamas after storms.
Weathering tough times. The Walkie Talkies have worked through it all: parenting toddlers and teens, affording college and weddings, arranging parties and funerals, and even PMS and menopause. “But what we talk about on our walks stays on our walks!” explains Hamilton. “They’re our sanctuary.”
Going the Distance
The Walkie Talkies don’t deny that they’re special, but they say that anyone can and should find workout buddies. “The hard part is making it last,” says Hefflinger. To keep motivation and interest strong, they suggest the following tips.
Find a purpose. The Walkie Talkies adopted a portion of the road they regularly walk and clean it up at least four times a year, they walk the Portland Marathon every year, and the elementary school expects their visits at Halloween.
Learn new techniques. Take a walking class together. “We took a four-week class that taught racewalking techniques,” says Hefflinger. “Even though we’re not athletes, we learned some tips, such as standing up straight, wiggling our hips, and breathing techniques that we still use today.”
Round up cheerleaders. Include husbands, kids, grandkids, and friends who don’t walk. Hefflinger’s husband cooks the three women breakfast the morning of a race. All three husbands station themselves along the route and hand out bananas and water.
Stick together. “Friends first” is another motto that the Walkie Talkies live by. “We cross every finish line holding hands,” says Ek. “There was one time I definitely would not have finished. I begged them to leave me behind, but they wouldn’t hear of it.”
California-based freelance writer Marianne McGinnis completed the Portland, Oregon, marathon herself last year.
Find Your Solemates
Unsure about how to find workout buddies? Try these suggestions.
Find a formal group. Ask at your local YMCA, community college, community center, or a sporting goods store about walking or other exercise groups. You can find local groups training for half or full marathons at www.teamintraining.org.
Connect online. Make virtual exercise dates if you can’t arrange real ones. Round up a few e-mail pals and agree to touch base and cheer each other on throughout the week. You can find free online support at sites like www.walking.about.com and www.prevention.com/walking.
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