My wife and I have been sick for 10 days now, so this month’s quick tip list has been hit hard. I really wanted to include some photos to better help you, but you’ll have to live with text for now. My apologies.

The Increase The Tension Method

One great idea to ensure that your wife is getting a good workout is to monitor the tension she has on the machine she is working out on – bike, elliptical, treadmill, etc. For this method to work you need to jump on the machine next to her. (BONUS: To make this even better, get to the machines first and pull 2 of them close together.)

Begin the workout and keep your eye on the resistance/speed your wife starts with. NOTE: My research shows that your wife may start extra low knowing that the resistance will be increased periodically, so don’t be fooled. As you work out, your job is to somehow increase the tension/speed on your wife’s machine. The first thing you can try is to drop a magazine or water bottle onto the floor. Ask your wife to retrieve the item. While she is picking it up, lean over and turn up the dial/increase resistance. Casually return to your machine as if nothing happened. Your wife will get back on, and as long as you didn’t turn it up to high, she will continue her workout.

You can also use the “Hey, who is that?” trick to divert your wife’s attention. Finally, you can get off your machine to get a drink and accidentally bump into her machine. As you are falling onto the machine, slip your hand onto the dial/electronic board and increase the resistance. I have tried all of these methods with varying degrees of success and would love to hear other ideas you have.

The Sneak A Peek Method

You can find out how hard your wife is working out by the number of breaks she is taking. Obviously you can’t sit there for the entire hour while she is in her aerobics class, so you have to sample her exercise habits through a few drive-by checks.

Things look business as usual here:

But take a closer look: I am just checking in to see how my wife’s workout is going.

Fortunately, at my gym the water fountain is very close to the group fitness room where my wife takes classes. Casually get a drink and be sure to check to see if your wife is taking a break.

I try to check in about 6 times an hour. If I catch her taking a break 2 out of the 6 times, then I can assume that 1/3 of the workout was wasted.

I imagine my wife and I are not the only ones who have included workout/weight loss goals in our New Year’s Resolutions this year. Several people have sent me emails over the months asking how they can motivate their wives to exercise. This is an interesting topic, however, it was one man’s request that inspired this month’s quick tip list. He asked how he can ensure that his wife is getting a good workout at the gym. They bought her a membership and she works out several times a week, but his wife just doesn’t seem to be improving as fast as he would like.

I can relate with this because my wife attends the gym quite often, but she complains that she doesn’t see results. I have been observing my wife over the past few weeks to see if there is a problem with her workout routine. After several weeks of field analysis, I am ready to present some of my findings. I will offer tips to discover what type of workout your wife might be having.

The Pat On The Back Method.

As I observed my wife, I noticed that some days her face was flush, she was breathing heavily, and her hair looked a bit ratty. On one occasion, I noticed that she had a particularly good cardio workout. After exercising, I walked over to congratulate her and I patted her on the back. I noticed that her shirt was quite damp as if she had perspired quite a bit. A few days later I patted her on the back as we walked out and noticed that her shirt was quite dry. I asked how her workout went, and she said she got kind of lazy. I didn’t mention that I noticed a dry shirt, but I did take a damp-shirt-read for the next few days and was able to determine what type of workout she had based on how wet her shirt was.Besides the wet shirt, check to see some of the things I mentioned earlier: red face, shortness of breath, messy hair. If you are clever, you might also try to check her pulse. You could either give her a congratulatory 10-15 second handshake to check her pulse or maybe you could rest your head on her neck to get a pulse check.