During one of our youth classes this week, I caught one kid calling out his buddy for not working fast enough to get to one of his more difficult exercises.
The friend, in return, pointed out that he too did not get to a drill he didn't like.
Within that simple back and forth there is a powerful message for athletes who want to train with their friends.
The two key ingredients that create a great workout session are focus and pushing your limits.
Friends can influence both, for better or worse.
On the focus side, friends or teammates typically only interfere with focus. It is hard to separate the social side from the extreme focus necessary to learn, to develop the mental representations that allow you to build on your successes for the next session.
Friends make it more fun to train, but only those who are great workout partners know to keep the focus on the task at hand during key times in the session.
Where others can have a hugely positive influence on your training is in helping you push your limits.
A healthy combination of encouragement and challenging each other provides a boost that even your coaches can't provide.
When peers set an expectation of each other that needs to be reached day in and day out, they create a culture of excellence.
And a culture of excellence is where truly great results come from.
The balance between pushing your friends in training while not being a distraction is incredibly hard for most middle or high school kids to achieve.
It is why most team training sessions operate at a lower level than when individuals train on their own.
Unless, that is, those teammates push each other but then give space to dial in and develop better lifting or running technique.
The opportunity to learn and internalize coaching while staying intense is how you maximize the benefit of a session.
Friends and teammates who double as great workout partners, like the two kids I witnessed here this week, operate at a level higher than even the best of those who train without one.
