Trading workouts

I'm not sure what it was about the 1980s, but there were a surfeit of movies made that involved switching lifestyles -- or entire bodies -- with other people. Trading Places, with Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd; Like Father Like Son, starring Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore; and Vice-Versa, with Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold are just three films that immediately come to mind.

By this point I should probably mention that there is a health and fitness angle to all of this, I promise. Typically, the characters in each of these films found out during their switch that the other people's lives aren't usually much like they seem. The same may also hold true with regard to a person's workout, which is why you may want to try swapping fitness routines with a buddy for a week.

Considering that our bodies tend to become adjusted to a workout after about four to six weeks, you're due for change at that point anyway. So, to make things fun, simply ask a friend to write down their weekly workout for you, and you do the same for them. Then, providing you are at a similar fitness level, do your best to follow their workout as closely as possible for a week, just as they will do the same with yours. After the week is up, reconnect with one another and talk about your respective experiences. This information could prove vital in what makes the cut and what doesn't for future workouts.