Are You Body Doubling For Weight Loss?

February 19, 2023 Ashley 0 Comments

So, I learned a fun new word that I’ve been waiting to come along for over a decade..

It’s called… body doubling.

And even though body doubling sounds like the exact opposite of weight loss, it’s not.

This practice is when you enlist someone – either knowingly or unknowingly – to help you be more productive. There are different ways to do it, mind you. Maybe it’s a mutual agreement and you guys help each other out on purpose. Or maybe they don’t realize they’re helping you; they’re just in the same vicinity, unknowingly aiding you with their mere silent presence. Then again, maybe neither of you realize what you’re doing; you just both know it works. A great example of this is something I’ve done for years. (Hence the reason I was hoping a trendy word would come along to describe the phenomenon.) In college, my friend and I would study together – without saying a single word for hours. We’d just sit next to each other in a cafe, reading, sipping lattes until the sun set. Then, we’d leave when we were done. A decade later, I’d be doing the same thing in another cafe – with a bunch of strangers. Presumably, most of us had wi-fi and could do this at home, right? So, why were we here, on our laptops, clacking away and hanging out (without actually hanging out with) a bunch of randos? Fast forward another five or six years and I’d get my answer.

We were helping eachother – by body doubling.

See, body doubling helps keep us on task for a number of reasons. And the same thing happens when we’re working toward our weight loss goals. Many of us rely on the gym not for just the equipment – but for the people. (Whether we like to admit it or not.) Working out in a group setting, much like working in a group setting, changes our mentality on what we’re doing to make us more productive. How? For one, having others in our proximity reminds us that people exist outside our little internal world – the same kind of people who may have motivated our initial resolution to start on our weight loss or wellness path. The second way this helps is called mirroring. About 25% of the neurons in our brain are called mirror neurons. They’re the “monkey see, monkey do” set of wires that help us mimic what we watch. Being in a setting where everyone’s pumping blood and iron makes us want to fall in line and stay on task. The piggyback to that is motivation. We get motivated watching that dude whose calves we wanna have or that chick whose abs we’re suddenly willing to work for. Likewise, we might get motivated because we want to impress either one of those two humans. Many gym-goers don’t want to admit that they’re there to find a mate; and, to be fair, maybe they’re not. However, the possibility of validation from a flirtatious interaction or even a non-sexual compliment might just play a subconscious part in their reason for being there.

Whatever the interaction is, it can level up our game.

Or maybe we’re not there for pickups but to pick up tips, unknowingly.

When I’m training with a partner, I often find that that mirroring is about more than just staying motivated to move. I’m also picking up subconscious techniques and visual reminders. For MMA, I find that I punch quicker and with better form if I’m with a partner who’s quite skilled. Similarly, being around people doing your workout of choice with mechanics somewhat superior to yours can potentially level up your game. In the same respect, seeing form you know is terribly off makes you more aware of your technique and fine tuning it. All of this collectively goes into the “judgment” category. While we’re working out in public, we get to see both ends of the spectrum to help us decide what to avoid, what to work toward, and – most of all – to stay on task so that we can accomplish it. (Versus scrolling through our phone on our bedroom floor while we should be hitting the Bulgarian split squats we’re avoiding.) The adjoining thought to this is – we may feel like dumb and drooling zombies (because we’ve seen how other people look) if we’re caught with flexed necks staring at IG reels from the bench. Not to mention that people need that bench to, ya know, lift weights and stuff. In that respect, it forces us to stay on task for several reasons.

So, if your solo workouts aren’t cutting it, maybe double down on your efforts to cut weight in half.

Try a body double!