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ANA Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation® Blog: Stepping Out Together

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5 reasons to get your steps with a buddy

Moving your body is critical for every aspect of your health, and walking is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to exercise. But you don’t have to pound the pavement alone.

In fact, walking with a partner or group may be the smarter choice.

In this Step Challenge, we outlined the health benefits of walking. But walking with others may boost those benefits and keep you motivated to take that daily stroll.

Check out these 5 reasons to start group walking:

Boosts Your Motivation

When it comes to making healthy lifestyle changes, motivation is the fuel that ignites your fire. But the type of motivation that moves you is also a key factor in determining whether you’ll stick with your exercise program long-term.

There are 2 kinds of motivation:

Extrinsic (external) motivation focuses on a reward you hope to receive after you exercise. In this case, extrinsic rewards could be losing weight, reducing stress, or getting recognition from others.
Intrinsic (internal) motivation is the desire to complete a task because you find performing the activity interesting or enjoyable.

While both types of motivation can get you going, intrinsic motivation can be more effective for exercise because it strongly influences your:

Readiness to change
Intentions
Actual engagement in physical activity

Walking with a group or partner tends to increase your enjoyment — and therefore, your intrinsic motivation. Additionally, simply being around people who enjoy walking can influence your perception of it. Hang out with them and you may start to view walking, and exercise in general, as a more desirable way to spend your time.

Helps You Form a Habit

Habits form when you do something consistently. However, it’s easier to form habits when there’s a cue and some accountability. Walking with someone can provide both. Having a partner text a reminder that you promised to walk at lunchtime serves as a useful cue. Not wanting to let that person down helps hold you accountable.

Increasing your intrinsic motivation by walking with a friend can also help you form a habit. Research shows that adults who successfully adopt and maintain regular physical activity have more intrinsic and extrinsic motivations than those who don’t. But the ones who make it a habit and exercise regularly for a decade or more, credit the motivation that comes from within (intrinsic motivation).

Improves Your Mental Health

It’s well-known that all exercise and physical activity are beneficial for your mental and emotional health. But working out with a group may increase that benefit.

A study of medical students compared people participating regularly in group fitness to those either exercising on their own or not exercising consistently. Compared to other participants, the people exercising with a group noticed significantly lower amounts of perceived stress after 12 weeks. They also experienced greater improvements in physical, mental, and emotional health.

Keeps You Safe

Whether walking alone in a park or training in a gym, exercising with a partner can be a smart choice for safety. It may be more obvious how having a spotter while lifting weights can help you avoid injury, but a walking partner can keep you safe, too.

Walking in a group provides:

Additional eyes looking out for tripping hazards
Assistance if you have a health emergency while walking
Better visibility to passing cars
Deterrence for strangers while walking in an isolated area

Pushes You to Work Harder

Competition can increase intrinsic motivation for some people. But even if you don’t consider yourself to be overly competitive, it’s human nature to not want to be the weakest link in a group. As a result, when you exercise with others, you naturally push yourself to work harder and longer.

Working out with other people can also increase your perceived feelings of energy during the workout. So, walking alone, you might be inclined to head home after walking a mile, but walking with a friend could provide the energy for 2 or 3 miles.

Tips For Finding a Walking Partner or Group
If you don’t have a group to walk with, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends you:

Enlist coworkers: Ask around or put signs in common areas to see if anyone wants to join you for walks before, during, or after work hours.
Join a club: Look for an established walking group in your area or start one of your own. Local resources that can help include your town’s recreation department or community center.
Start a walking club: AARP outlines everything you need to know to start your own walking group.
Walk for a cause: Meet new friends, set a goal, and raise money for a good cause by training for and participating in a scheduled walk, such as an AHA Heart Walk.

If your walking group needs motivation, create or join a step challenge. Search online to find one or participate in the AHA Heart Walk Step Challenge. It’s a 30-day step challenge that will encourage you to move more and raises money for a good cause.

Remember, it doesn’t matter whether you prefer walking in a gym, with a friend, as part of 5K training, or with your dog. Just keep moving.

Do you exercise with a partner or group? Share with us in our discussion below.

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Blog Physical Activity 03/05/2025 8:50am CST

Added by Holly E Carpenter, RN, BSN