The Psychology of Exercise Adherence: Factors that Influence Consistency in Fitness
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I started working out in secondary school. I used to work out at home doing push-ups and sit-ups only. I would work out for three weeks because I saw somewhere at the time that it takes three weeks to form a habit, so I formed a habit of quitting after three weeks.
I continued to work out at home until after one holiday, my cousin, whom I went to school with, came back all hypertrophied (swollen muscles and all). He introduced me to the life of local gyms, and it was exciting at first, but I would quit after some time because of the distance.
I decided to make a 15kg dumbbell/barbell (a convertible) that I used throughout my holidays, and I managed to equalize some of that growth difference between me and my cousin.
Moving to the university and having different local gyms close by was also awesome, but it also made me realize all the limitations my gym equipment had. So I started trying to build a habit around going to the local gym around my area, but one thing that really hindered me was the fact that most people were doing random exercises.
One day they would be benching their hearts out, and then on the same day, they would try to do military presses with an already weakened triceps.
Or there is the other alternative; you absolutely wreck one muscle like the chest so badly that it becomes useless for the next 48 hours.
As a newbie to those exercises, I wouldn't even be able to pick up the barbell after benching my chest out because you need to separate chest exercises from shoulders, and you need to separate those from arms, or else you won't see good results on some muscle groups.
You also can't wreck your muscles and expect them to grow. It is like having an accident and thinking your muscles will grow afterward... no, that's not how muscles work.
So I struggled with exercise adherence because I didn't know what I was doing at the gym.
Adherence
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One topic that overlaps in medicine, fitness, and psychology is adherence. People get prescribed medication for cancer and skip doses. As a healthcare professional, it's very frustrating knowing that the survival rate for some conditions is so low, and people put themselves on the losing end of the graph.
But knowing why the patient is not compliant is powerful knowledge that can help the doctor make them better.
The same goes for fitness. Every high school-educated individual (maybe even primary school) knows that exercise is protective, but from data gathered from different studies, only about 52% of individuals can be classified as physically active persons in Nigeria
, meaning they get up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise weekly. Physically active individuals are much less in rural settlements also and in western countries, they only make up 20% of the population.
Benefits
Adherence in fitness is the degree to which an individual will stick with an exercise program the way it was prescribed over a period of time. It also includes following the intensity of the workout plan, the duration, and the frequency of the exercise.
Exercise adherence is probably one of the most important factors in fitness. How can you know if fitness works when you don’t follow the plan?
Besides reaching a particular specific weight loss or weight gain goals, there is the added benefit of being generally fit, stronger, persevering, and healthy. Those who exercise the right way over time also prevent different injuries that would have taken place in their regular day-to-day activities from taking place.
Poor Predictors
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The Frontiers publication on the determinants of patient adherence tried to group some factors that could lead to poor adherence. They grouped them into socio-economic factors, healthcare team and system-related factors, condition-related factors, therapy factors, and patient-related factors. If these conditions are not optimized, adherence becomes very difficult.
In fitness, the factors that negatively influence a person's adherence include lack of social support, lack of facilities, poor motivation (indiscipline), and viewing exercise as a punishment. It is important to consider these factors when building a workout plan for yourself or a client.
Right now, I have been very attentive to my fitness because I am at a point in my life where I know it works, and I see the results (which I like). I also live in close proximity to the gym, have a well-detailed plan, and can make time for it.
If you read my last post, where I wrote about belief, I talked about how we feel a strong discomfort when our beliefs and actions do not align and how doing what you believe is right helps you to continue down the path of doing what is right.
You can apply that logic to fitness too.
Conclusion
In conclusion, adherence plays a vital role in both medicine and fitness. Adherence in fitness refers to the degree to which an individual follows an exercise program as prescribed over time. Poor adherence to a workout plan can negatively impact a person's fitness goals and lead to injuries.
Factors that negatively influence adherence in fitness include lack of social support, lack of facilities, poor motivation, and viewing exercise as a punishment. It is crucial to consider these factors when creating a workout plan. Adherence is essential in achieving fitness and health goals.
Do you you want to stay adherent to your fitness goal? Do you want to build a fitness plan? Send us a DM on any of our socials and stay tuned to Informed Decision.
The Psychology of Exercise Adherence: Factors that Influence Consistency in Fitness is a property of Dr Kigigha Ebingo Lovet.