Show, don’t Tell
With all the attention given to the obesity epidemic and lack of physical activity in America it would be safe to say most people know that exercise is important component in the maintenance and improvement of health. This being said, sedentary living and rates of obesity and overweight have reached all-time highs. The collateral effects include national health care issues. Researchers at the University of Missouri found that healthy adults who received interventions focused on behavior-changing strategies significantly increased their physical activity levels, whereas the use of cognitive based interventions did not. The government and private sectors spend millions of dollars on awareness and education (Let’s Move, Play 60, etc..) to try to change knowledge and attitudes about the importance of physical activity, yet according to researchers these methods may not improve physical activity.
According to Vicki Conn, associate dean for research and Potter-Brinton professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, “The focus needs to shift from increasing knowledge about the benefits of exercise to discussing strategies to change behaviors and increase activity levels. The common approach is to try and change people’s attitudes or beliefs about exercise and why it’s important, but that information isn’t motivating. We can’t ‘think’ ourselves into being more active.”
This should not come as a surprise as it is consistent with many other aspects of society. Take saving for retirement for example; everyone knows they need to plan for financing old age yet most people are not prepared and struggle later in life. We know we are supposed to – we just either do not know how, do not have an easy way to start, feel a barrier of some sort to the whole process (no time) or a combination of all of the above. Therefore people need help in the process. According to investigators the behavior strategies that work include providing feedback, goal setting, self-monitoring, use of a formal exercise prescription and stimulus or cues to engagement. According to Conn, self-monitoring, where a participant records and tracks their activity over time can significantly increase awareness and provide motivation for improvement. Of equal relevance the researchers suggested behavioral strategies were “most effective in increasing physical activity among healthy adults and successful interventions were delivered face-to-face instead of mediated (i.e. via telephone, mail, etc.) and targeted individuals instead of communities.”
Personal trainers are at the front line to help. Consistent with appropriate personal training activities, professionals should oversee their client’s physical activity and exercise habits and define and help them set specific, manageable goals. For instance, personal trainers may set 100 kcal activities each day to help ensure enough weekly physical activity performed outside the gym. Likewise, employing pedometers, accelerometers or SenseWear’s BodyBug to organize quantifiable tasks and track progress helps to keep people on task and accountable. In addition, selecting a competitive event with an outcome and including rewards for accomplishing goals has demonstrated effectiveness as well. The key to any program is to have a start and a quantifiable finish with metrics targeted along the way to demonstrate compliance, actual progress and effective program components.
In personal training this makes sense and is easily implemented. But what about the rest of America that has not committed to structured training or does not have the means to hire a certified personal trainer? Authors suggest health care providers need to participate in this process and physical education teachers should address the youth population…but who is going to provide them with the training and resources to succeed? Based on the findings from incorporated data from 358 reports and 99,011 participants, published in American Journal of Public Health maybe it’s time to spend more on “doing” and less on “talking about doing.”
