10 partner exercises that make sweating your butt off a little more fun

6. Ball battle

Get ready for a laugh. This balance exercise can get a bit unruly, especially if you and your partner are competitive. Grab two stability balls to battle it out for a full five minutes in the middle of your workout.

1. Stand facing your partner, each of you holding a stability ball between your hands in front of your torsos. The balls should be almost touching.
2. Both of you shift your weight to your right legs, and lift your left feet from the floor. The goal is to remain balanced on your right foot as long as possible.
3. On the count of three, begin battling it out, pushing your stability ball against your partner’s stability ball. Feel free to use varying force and angles to try to throw your partner off balance. If you’re feeling really competitive, swing the ball around, and hop on your supporting foot to change positions during the battle.
4. The first partner to touch her lifted foot to the floor loses the round, but that doesn’t mean the battle is over. Switch supporting legs (balancing on your left feet, lifting your right), and continue. Keep at it for the full five minutes, and tally who racks up the most wins.

7. Twisted wall sit and pushup

Another well-balanced movement, one partner actively works through a pushup while balancing on a BOSU ball while the other partner fires up his legs in a wall squat while simultaneously targeting his obliques with a medicine ball twist.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you: These really are next-level moves.

1. After your partner lowers into a wall squat, holding a medicine ball in his hands, line up perpendicular to your partner’s thighs, facing away, and set up in a high plank position with your hands gripping the edges of a BOSU ball under your chest (flat side up). Place your shins across your partner’s thighs, and tighten your core so your body forms a straight line from heels to head.
2. When you’re ready, bend your elbows, and lower your chest toward the BOSU ball, keeping your core tight. Press yourself back to the starting position, and continue, performing 10 to 15 pushups.
3. As you’re performing your pushups, your partner maintains a wall squat but continuously rotates his torso from the right to the left and back again while touching the medicine ball to the wall as he twists.
4. When you finish your set of pushups, switch positions with your partner.

8. Bodyweight chest press

Who needs dumbbells when you have a buddy? And I have to say, the positioning of this move certainly gets you up close and personal — the perfect prequel to tonight’s bedtime festivities, perhaps?

1. Your partner lies on her back, feet hip-distance apart, hands at her sides.
2. Plank directly over your partner, your hands to either side of your partner’s shins, the balls of your feet planted just under or over your partner’s shoulders depending on height. Maintain your plank position, and tighten your core. One at a time, grip your partner’s shins with your same-side hand so you’re using her legs to support your plank.
3. Once you’re positioned, your partner will grasp each of your ankles and press your legs up toward the ceiling as if they were dumbbells. At the top of the movement, check your plank form to ensure your hips don’t sag.
4. From this position, your partner lowers your feet toward her chest, using your body as resistance. After she performs 10 to 15 repetitions, switch roles.

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9. Situp and pike

It might take some practice (and some serious core strength) to get this move down, but once you do, you’ll want to show it off to all your friends.

1. Start in the same position as you did for the body-weight chest press. You’ll plank over your partner’s legs, and he’ll press your legs up so your bodies form parallel lines.
2. As a unit, your partner, keeping his upper body straight, will sit up tall, reaching his shoulders over his head until he’s in an L position, your legs directly over his head. At the same time, you’ll pike your hips up toward the ceiling, allowing your arms to extend over your head until your torso and hips form a 90-degree angle and your upper body is in an assisted handstand. Your two bodies together should form a square shape.
3. Again as a unit, keeping your core strong, steadily reverse the movement, and return to the starting position.

10. Double boat

To wrap up a killer workout, you’ll stare into your partner’s eyes while enjoying a nice stretch through the hamstrings, glutes and low back.

1. Sit on the ground facing your partner with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground so your toes are almost touching.
2. At the same time, both of you lean back slightly, placing your palms on the ground behind your hips for support, your arms straight. Tighten your core.
3. Lift your feet from the ground, and place your feet sole-to-sole with your partner.
4. When your feet are positioned and you feel steady, both of you extend your knees, keeping your feet together until your legs are straight.

Hold the position for five slow breaths, release, then repeat another four to five times.

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