The Perfect Workout Partner: Why Couples Who Sweat Together Stay Together

Making a date with a workout buddy can help you get out of bed when the alarm goes off, can help you burn more calories if you think they're fitter than you and even, simply, make you perform better.

But what if that "date" is just that -- a date! Working out with your special someone won't just make you both fitter, you'll fit better together. “When a couple works out together, the actual exercise itself can physically and emotionally have a positive impact,” marriage and relationship psychotherapist Dr. Jane Greer told YouBeauty. "Both partners come away with feelings of synchronicity, cooperative spirit and shared passion. Then you throw in some spicy endorphins and it can be a real power trip for the relationship."

That time you would spend at the gym suddenly becomes "us" time, and that otherwise-boring walk you were planning to take after dinner becomes more fun with good company. Not to mention that if you're walking with weight loss in mind, you're more likely to meet your goals with social support.

Plus, you'll share some of the added benefits of working out, like less stress, better sleep and a sharper brain, all of which can only help you as you navigate the years together. And regular exercise has been linked to a better time in the bedroom, too: Exercise not only seems to protect against erectile dysfunction, it also improves blood flow in a way that can help you more easily get in the mood.

It might not always be easy. Maybe your fitness routines diverge -- one of you loves yoga and one of you can't stomach a Downward Dog. But trying something new and different together can bring you closer.

So, in honor of Valentine's Day, we asked our readers to show us their favorite photos of their sweaty sweethearts -- whether after a hike, at the finish line of a 5K or mid-Pilates. Send your photos to healthyliving@huffingtonpost.com.

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"My fiance and I just ran our first marathon together, stride for stride." --Meaghan Calnan

"Me and my boyfriend, Ben, hiking at Mohican State Park in Ohio." --Katie Troyer

"My husband and I did a 10K together in the fall of 2012." --Maggie Savage

"Hiking in the Dolomites near Misurina" --@titeyogarunner

"PK Kalentzis (husband) and I finished our first half marathon in Houston on 1/13/13!" --Denise Kalentzis

"At Tough Mudder." --Michelle Orlina

"My husband is a marathoner, but I am not ... at all. This was our first post-baby race together in Denver, Colorado." --Sarah Neumann

"The love of my life and ultra runner, Brian Gutierrez, trained me for my first marathon in October 2012. He kept me motivated and in high spirits when I felt like walking -- and cursing the gods at moments! We ran it together on my birthday and grew closer every step of the way!" --Haleyrae

"Here is a picture of my husband and I before my first 10K ever!" --Joanne Leonardis

"My boyfriend and I mountain bike in Minnesota!" --Holly Solberg

"My husband ran the marathon, and I my first half-marathon, in Munich last fall. Here we are after the finish! This year we'll run together in Budapest and Prague." --Adri Bruckner

"My husband and I after the Atlanta Color Run 2012!" --Emma Paige

"My fiance Greg James and I at a Christmas Carol run in Denver last December." --Lisa Rutledge

"My wife and I took a trip last week to Bryson, North Carolina and specifically to the Smoky Mountain National Park. We did about 30 miles of hiking in total. We are from Michigan and enjoyed the 'warm' weather (high 30s and mid-40s). We also took our two dogs and hiked with them outside of the National Park. Good times." --Jason Shinn

"32nd birthday 5K!" --Sherrill Zubrin

"Chris and I have been dating nearly four months now. We both decided that we'd like to try new things, and when the Color in Motion 5K around the Reliant Arena popped up in one of our Groupon feeds, well, we thought we'd give it a shot. We loved it! We cannot wait to do our next one, and attempt a better time." --Liana Jensen

"My husband and I always incorporate hiking into our vacations. Here are some photos of our recent jungle hike from Mismaloya to El Eden, just south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Unfortunately, there are no photos of us together. We didn't see any fellow hikers who could snap a photo! It was awesome." --Janelle Davis and Jim Mosby

"This is my boyfriend Ed and me after finishing New York Road Runner's Queens 10K last July. We are both die-hard New Yorkers so last year, we ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon, the Queens 10K and the Bronx 10-Mile together. This year we will be running the NYC Half Marathon next month and the ING NYC Marathon in November." --Bernadette Chan

"At Charlestown state park in Charlestown, Ind., taking a hike on a trail that goes along the Ohio river." --Jonathan Bischof

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Blogging with Jokes is a Perfect Recipe for Success

Blogging with jokes, huh. You might be thinking that it is something new or something idiotic but let me correct you it is not as idiotic as you might think.

Whenever you start writing a post, what do you do at the very beginning ? The first thing you will do is research the topic you are going to blog about. After getting all the required material, you start writing a post and complete it. But do you include one thing in your post that each and every person likes?

Here I am talking about adding some jokes. By jokes, I don’t mean you add Santa-Banta jokes; I mean that adding a little humor in your post will make it more worthwhile and your readers will find it more enjoyable to read.

But the biggest question here is what’s the need of adding humor in the blog post? Why is it necessary to add a comic sarcasm to your post?

Successful bloggers always emphasize how important it is for us to connect with our readers. And I agree, this is one of the most important things a blogger should take care of.

What better way to connect with your audience than to make them smile?

If you are blogging with jokes, then your readers will love reading your posts. They will feel that the post is written for humans not for search engines and by human not a robot.

Don’t just write a post, but really get into it and let it flow out of you. Forget about SEO or search engines, just let your fingers work on the keyboard and everything will be taken care of.

This is one of those things that can eliminate the human feeling from your blog. While you’re writing a post, if you constantly keep worrying about the SEOPressor score, your writing might not sound natural. So how can you make your writing sound more natural – more human?

For a while, forget about optimizing your blog posts and write the way you talk. Add a joke or two to lighten the mood, add a sarcastic note, or some interesting quotes etc. and you’ll begin to see the magic.

This is one another great benefit when you are blogging with jokes. If you are not happy with a service and while writing a review about it, you feel like taking out all the frustration, then you can do that without even hurting the other party.

If you point out some weakness of their’s in a joking manner, then that will be taken as a positive response and the owners of the  service might work to improve on it. Similar is the case with other bloggers. Blogging is such a world where you must help out others but it’s not devoid of some iconic personalities who think they know everything.

So it is natural that you might get bored when they interfere in your work. When taking a dig at such bloggers, you can serve your frustration with proper presentation so that he doesn’t feel bad but understands your meaning at the same time.

That’s the power of blogging with jokes.

Whenever you are writing a negative review about some service or some blogger, you present it in a funny way to avoid future collisions. But that can even help you if the other party doesn’t take it lightly.

Maybe he too can start criticizing you among others, try to bring down your reputation, blah blah blah. But that can prove beneficial because the people or bloggers that know you will always stand by your side no matter what.

The true bloggers will always support you because they love the way you are blogging with jokes. Your readers will never stop visiting your blog because they love your honest reviews. They will love your sarcastic tones and they might even appreciate your snarky point of view.

I bet you’ll get more comments that will motivate you to keep the jokes coming and give your blog a well balanced personality.

Do you think that blogging with jokes helps us convey our feelings better without any risk of hurting anyone’s feelings? Do you think that every blogger should add humor to his posts to add a human feeling? Do let me know of what you think about it.

Tagged as: blogging with jokes, Writing Tips

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