The Valentine’s Day couples workout to get your heart pumping

Forget chocolate for Valentine’s Day! Instead, enjoy a challenging workout while having fun with your partner. This three-exercise circuit is designed to strengthen and stabilize every muscle and joint in your body and get your endorphins racing.

Wheelbarrow hand-walking

This targets the shoulder, arms and core, and may remind you of the wheelbarrow races performed as a child school.

- partner A gets in a push-up position on the ground
- partner B holds A’s feet and lifts their legs off the ground
- A should keep fingers spread open to relieve pressure on the wrists, and walk as far as possible before the shoulders, arms or core fatigue
- B should fully engage the core, only walk forward when A moves, and not push A to walk faster
- complete the entire circuit before swapping positions in round two

Partner-assisted straight-leg bridging

Targets the legs, core and glutes

- partner A should lie down on the back, and partner B should hold A’s ankles and brace their own body in a half squat for support
- A should squeeze the glutes and lift the entire body up into a bridge, with only the head and shoulders remaining on the ground
- A holds this position for a few seconds, then slowly lowers down to the ground
- A repeats the exercise by immediately pushing the body back up into a straight line by squeezing the glutes together and driving up into a hip extension
- B remains still in the squat position
- complete the entire circuit before swapping positions in round two

Over-under

Targets shoulders, core and legs

- both partners stand one foot apart, facing away from each other and placing their feet wider than shoulder-width apart
- partner A holds a 2-3 kg dumbbell or medicine ball with both hands
- both squat so they are butt to butt
- keeping the core engaged, A leans forward and passes the weight between the legs to B
- B takes the weight between the legs and both stand up
- B passes the weight back to A by straightening the arms above the head

This completes one round. Repeat 10-15 more rounds. This circuit is to be completed by doing all three exercises in a row, then resting for two to three minutes before swapping to complete two to three more sets each.

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Vahdaneh Vahid was raised in the UK most of her life, but moved to Dubai during 2012 to persue her 10-year fitness career even further. As an Integrated Movement Practitioner, she has an unconventional style to training. Her approach to exercise is not typically found in the fitness industry today. Vahdaneh’s holistic method is more geared towards behaviors that create deficiencies in our bodies. Her mission, therefore, is to steer and empower you towards taking charge of your own health, not only by improving your physical fitness, but also, your entire quality of life. Just as she has accomplished with hers. She can be found on Twitter: @vvfitness