Gamify Your Fitness - 3 Partner Exercises

Fitness gamification boosts your motivation and makes working out fun. Sticking with this month's theme, gamification, we want to share three ways you can turn your workouts into a fun game using Myzone.

The three games described below require a partner and focus on heart rate recovery, an important concept we recently discussed here.

Peaks & Valleys Game

Select two exercises, one that will get your heart rate to spike (i.e. burpees, push press, squat jump) and one that's focused on muscular endurance (i.e. plank, wall sit). One partner will perform Exercise A, the heart rate exercise, while the other performs Exercise B for muscular endurance.

The goal of Exercise A is to increase your heart rate up to 85% of your estimated maximum heart rate. Once you reach 85% of your maximum heart rate, stop exercising and recover down to 75% as fast as possible. While the exerciser doing Exercise A brings their heart rate up and recovers down, the exerciser doing Exercise B will perform their muscular endurance exercise without stopping. You better hope your partner has a fast heart rate recovery!

Once the exerciser doing Exercise A has recovered to 75%, switch exercises with your partner. Repeat this game for 3-4 rounds.

Drop It Low Game

Pick an exercise that will boost your heart rate over the course of several sets. You and your partner will determine your heart rate goal for the exercise - we recommend somewhere between 85% - 90% of your estimated maximum heart rate.

Begin the exercise together, aiming to get your heart rate up to the target percentage you agreed upon. Sounds easy enough, right? Here’s the catch - you have to stay in sync with your partner so you both hit your target at the same time. That means if one partner’s heart rate increases faster than the other, that person will need to decrease their speed or resistance and cheer on their partner to get their heart rate up!

Once you both reach your target heart rate, stop exercising and recover for 60 seconds. The goal of this game is to see which partner recovers more within the minute following the exercise. Whoever has the greatest recovery for the majority of sets wins!

Tip: Try using different exercises for each set, but be sure to do an odd number of sets so you don’t end in a tie. 

Recovery Relay Game

Pick an exercise that will boost your heart rate over the course of several sets. You and your partner will determine your heart rate goal for the exercise – we recommend somewhere between 85% - 90% of your estimated maximum heart rate. You will also set a duration for this game – we recommend anywhere from 4-8 minutes.

You and your partner will begin the exercise at the same time, aiming to get your heart rate up to the target percentage you set. Unlike the game Drop It Low, you and your partner will not keep your heart rate in sync. Rather, you'll aim to get your heart rate to your target zone, then recover as quickly as possible to 75% or lower before moving onto the next set.

The goal of this game is to see which partner is able to complete the most rounds within the period of time you pre-determined. While exercisers who have a higher level cardiorespiratory fitness will likely recover faster, they will also take longer to get their heart rate up, making this anyone’s game!

Keep moving forward!

We encourage you to try these games and let us know how you like them! Remember to use the hashtags #myzonemoves and #effortrewarded when you post to social media so we can like your effort!

For more tips on how to use the Myzone® heart rate monitor and App, follow us during Fitness Fridays on Facebook Live (subscribe on Myzone’s Facebook Page) – 8 am PT, 11 am ET, and check out our Myzone® Moves Podcast on iTunes or Google Play.