Today’s Grooms Want To Get In Shape For The Wedding Just As Much As Brides

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You always hear about a bride on a diet. A bride with a strict gym regiment. A bride whose intense discipline for doing whatever it’ll take to rock the heck out of her dress borders on the insane. But you rarely hear about a groom so much as switching from regular to light beer in order to slide a little more easily into that custom tux.

That, according to the personal trainers, nutritionists, and wedding planners cited in this Times article, seems to be changing. Whether grooms are giving into their own vanity, want their brides to be proud of them, are using the wedding as motivation to get fit, or are just afraid of standing up on the altar looking less than studly next to their bride who has been hitting the gym for two-a-days for six months and drinking kale out of a straw, it seems more and more men are circling their wedding date on a calendar, setting fitness and weight loss goals, and working hard to meet them.

Roger Dickerman, a personal trainer, physical transformation coach, and owner of Relentless Fitness in Philadelphia, says he has definitely been seeing both brides and their grooms coming in to get themselves fit for their Big Day. “Especially if the wife-to-be is really into it,” he says, “then the guys are usually along for the ride and more prone to get fit.” (For grooms looking to peel themselves off the couch and into the gym in the months leading up to the wedding, Dickerman recommends starting with one or two strength workouts a week, and then adding in some cardio intervals. Check out the Relentless website for info about training sessions, or the Transformation, Dickerman’s eight-week health- and body-changing program.)

Of course, most of the health professionals share a similar sentiment when it comes to  couples using their wedding as a reason to get healthy. “A wedding is a really amazing motivator, and I hate to think that people stop once their wedding passes,” says Dickerman. “Use that motivation as a springboard for lifelong fitness.”

Has your groom joined you in your determination to be super fit and healthy for the wedding? Have you encouraged him, or is does he seem to be motivated himself?

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