Exercise can cause problems between you and your partner. According to Karen Gail Lewis, a family therapist, she is seeing more couples who are in discord because of extreme exercise routines. It is usually in couples where one is an endurance athlete or runner. Some comments from “exercise widows” are that the training replaces time spent with family and the partner was always gone exercising, training or competing.
One wife will be alone, on Mother’s Day, because her husband will be competing. It isn’t his full time job, it’s his hobby. Couples who stay together through these types of rigorous training find their happy medium. They set boundaries with each other: dinner with the family a certain number of days, encourage their partner’s routines, work out on their own. It can be hard to accept that you never see your spouse because they are spending most of their free time on their hobby.
My husband is a fighter, it is his hobby. When he is training for a fight, he works anywhere from 50-60 hours a week and then trains at least four nights a week. We rarely see each other and when we do it is rushed and hectic. His eating habits are different and his focus is on getting ready for his fight. I’ve learned to accept it and I support it. I enjoy watching him fight and even though I don’t participate in such an extreme training, I am glad he enjoys what he does.
Do you or your partner have extreme exercise routines that could come in between your marriage or do cause problems in your relationship?
