Finding a friend is way more important than a fancy contraption. By Harry Alverson from Shanghai, China, via Wikimedia Commons

Happy New Year. It’s 2014 and you’re trying to lose some weight, get in shape and turn your life around. If you are trying to exercise more in 2014, I have one piece of advice for you — get a friend.

Find someone who has a similar schedule and who likes to do the same activities as you — basketball, cycling, mountain biking, running, whatever. The last ingredient in this friend is that they are a little less lazy than you and possibly in a little better shape than you already.

I suppose you could call them your “exercise mentor.”

Before 2013 ended, I was down in my exercise. A new baby and lots of bad eating had my weight up about 10 pounds and I wasn’t happy about it. I wasn’t riding my road bike. I wasn’t playing basketball. I was turning more and more sedentary. As luck would have it, a friend gave me his old mountain bike and his father, who lives locally, started inviting me out on rides. My mountain bike buddy is 25 years older than me and has better stamina and skills. Most importantly, he’s had the kindness to show me new trails and parts of my hometown I’ve never seen before.

For the past two months, I’ve been furiously pedaling up the hill behind him — almost every weekend. Have you ever seen the view from the top of Irish Hills or the trails near Turri Road between Los Osos and Morro Bay. I assure you they are worth the walk/ride.

All this weekend mountain biking has caused me to be more motivated to work out during the week as well. You see, when you know that you’ll be chasing someone on Saturday, exercising on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday becomes much less of an option and more of a necessity. Motivation becomes easier to come by. If I know I’m riding on Saturday, my meal on Friday night usually is pretty healthy, and not too heavy.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve started marking exercise on my calendar and, interestingly, I’m doing SOMETHING at least every other day, on average. This was unthinkable just a few months ago, when the lack of sleep from the newborn was a built-in excuse to not moving.

Communities can be very successful. For me, even a very small community of people I like riding and being with makes a huge difference. Though I am not, many of my friends are “Crossfitters,” and if I had to point to one thing that has caused Crossfit to enjoy a meteoric rise over the past two years, I would point to the sense of community that is clearly evident in that world. Both real social interaction at each “Box” and online virtual interaction with a community of people with similar goals can help a person achieve something remarkable there. Compare that to the weights and weight bench that have been gathering a sad, lonely layer of dust in my garage for most of this year, and the point is made.

Balancing a 5 month-old with the rigors of work AND exercise can be challenging. But, if I had one piece of advice this resolution season, it’s to spend some serious time and energy finding someone who you like and who enjoys the same type of exercise you do. It can make a world of difference.