Part of the fun of boot camp is building bonds with your fellow campers as you toil and sweat together. And now a new study at Michigan State is proving what we've known all along -- that having a workout partner (even a virtual one) can help with problems of motivation!
Unfortunately, mismatched workout partners can also have the opposite effect. "Individuals can become discouraged if they believe they can never keep up with their partner, or on the other hand, become bored if their partner is always slower," says Deborah Feltz, the head of MSU's kinesiology department. Which is why the Michigan team will use the Eye Toy camera and a PlayStation 2 to measure what characteristics in a virtual partner motivate people to exercise harder, longer or more frequently. {Read the rest}