It takes more than a year to truly get into exercising:Study

[Weak Willed]

It takes more than a year to truly get into exercising: Study

In the health industry's fight to prove there's no such thing as a quick fix, a just-released Canadian study adds grist to the treadmill.

Even after six months of adhering to a fitness routine, new exercisers still look nothing like regular exercisers in terms of motivation, according to researchers from the University of Alberta and University of Western Ontario.

Though these initiate exercisers or new exercisers, experience a positive shift in mindset within the first eight weeks, their attitude toward exercise after half a year was still a far cry from that of fitness "lifers" — a finding that helps explain the dizzying dropout rate at gyms.

"You're still in motivational transition, I would argue, for more than a year," says lead author Wendy Rodgers, a professor in the faculty of physical education at the U of A.

"I always say that I'm kind of a de-motivational speaker because people come in with all these great hopes that, 'I'm going to be in shape in four weeks,' and I say, 'No, no you're not.' "

In simplest terms, she says people's motives fall along a spectrum that at one end includes such drivers as guilt, shame, and a desire for outward rewards, and at the other end includes more internally compelling elements, such as valuing exercise for its own sake and seeing it as part of one's identity.

New exercisers (people who, for at least the previous six months, had only exercised a maximum of once per week) and long-term regular exercisers (people who had exercised four sessions a week for an average 8.76 years) both experienced motives across the spectrum. But the new exercisers remained primarily driven by external forces after six months, whereas the lifers were primarily driven by internal forces, which are the ones most likely to result in long-term commitment.

"We have an industry out there that supports the myth that after six months, you'll reach what they call the maintenance stage, where everything will be in order and you don't have to pay any special attention to what you're doing," says Rodgers, whose findings appear in the September issue of the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise. "It's pretty misguided."

According to the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, fully half of the population is considered sedentary, while only a quarter of adults are classified as active on a regular basis.

The study findings suggest part of the problem may be that people are expecting too much too soon, and throw in the gym towel when, after months of dedication, they still don't "love" exercise.

"Our industry is completely corrupted with quick fixes that cause people to relapse," says Brody Thorne, personal training divisional manager for GoodLife Fitness.

Though he says his clubs are upfront about the "significant" amount of time it takes to ingrain lifelong fitness habits, he notes the number of people that actually put in the work is dismal.

"With the full gym population, you're looking at approximately 20 per cent of people exercising with some frequency," says Thorne, who lives in Toronto. "And when it comes to members without a personal trainer, you're looking at single digits."

The good news, according to one physical education expert, is that external motives among new exercisers don't necessarily portend failure, just as internal motives aren't a cure-all for body insecurities.

"There isn't one type of motive, or class of motives, that's somehow utopian and will do all these magnificent things," says Philip M. Wilson, associate professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.

"And the fact that, at the end of six months, (new exercisers) aren't at the same level as people who've exercised regularly for a long time doesn't mean they won't get there."

mharrispostmedia.com

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

[getfit]

I tend to agree with this. Even though I was hooked on running after my first Learn to Run clinic, there was still a part of me that thought running took too much effort and time. In those early days I'd make any excuse to get out of a run, especially mid-week runs by myself. Now, 7 years later I think of myself as a runner and I rarely make excuses. It's just a part of who I am. Even when sidelined with an injury, I still think of myself as an injured runner. If God forbid I could nolonger run I'm pretty sure I'd pick up some other kind of exercise because I'm now commited to a healthy lifestyle.

[Weak Willed]

Our own experience appears to corroborate the findings of the study.
That being the case.
When do you tell the new exerciser the bad news? When they start? After a year, or do you wait until they ask you why they don’t seem to be getting hooked on exercise as quickly as they were led to believe they would?

[MichaelMc]

Totally agree with the general thrust.

In this "quick fix" society it'd be a disaster if it became widely known how long it takes to REALLY get into great shape (and transform a lifestyle): almost no one would start. To me the source of success for the RR franchise is that it makes running a SOCIAL activity rather than a "fitness" activity. Willpower can be really strong, but is ultimately short lived: make it fun or it won't last.

[Avis]

As I wrote in the beginner's forum, I have been learning to run for about 10 months. I agree with this study, and it explains, somewhat, why I've hung in there, and also why I still don' feel like a "runner". I didn't start running to be a runner, I started running to get moving. Also, I didn't know anything at the time about walk-run training programs, I was just trying to intensify the walking that I had previously done. Truely, I thought I had invented the idea of walking and running combined. I didn't have any external yardsticks: I was just getting healthy.
After several weeks, reality set in. I had read a couple of books about running. I read about a plan that was supposed to take you from nothing to a 5k in 10 weeks! (yeah, right!) Then I wondered what was wrong with me??
Now I'm more realistic about what I can and cannot make my body do. If I am faithful in my efforts, I'll get to that 5k. If I try to force it, I only injure myself and feel exhausted.
On the other hand, I still don't feel like "runner" is a part of my identity. I feel like I have to prove myself every time I go out the door to run. Some days, I find a can run for minutes at a time without thinking about my breathing, how tired I am, how much longer before I'm done, etc. I run for those clear, easy times, rare though they may be, when I don't feel my feet touch the ground, and my breathing is light and steady.