Helen Vanderburg

For the Calgary Herald

Exercise adherence is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to fitness. In fact, sticking with an exercise program is more challenging than starting. Think of your own experience . . . how many times have you started?

Good intentions and plans often get ambushed by life.

To begin to change your success rate with exercise adherence, begin by shifting how you see your fitness program.

Fitness needs to be part of your life instead of something you do. In making this mental shift you take on a new approach to living an active lifestyle, so “life� no longer gets in the way of your fitness program. It is part of your life.

Research in exercise adherence shows that people who consider exercise non-negotiable have a much higher success rate in maintaining their fitness program. Fitness is no longer seen as something that is optional but rather something that happens in your daily routine, similar to the way you have formed a regular habit of brushing your teeth.

Making fitness a part of your life requires a bit of organization and dedication to follow through. Lack of a planning and commitment is why people often fall off the fitness wagon.

Social environment, self-control and positive reinforcement play critical roles in exercise adherence and data provides interesting insight that can be used to increase your likelihood of following through.

Based on extensive research in the psychology of exercise, James Gavin — in an article published in the IDEA Fitness magazine — found that people need people, regardless of age. There is a significant relationship between exercise adherence and the social environment.

According to Bert Carron, a professor of kinesiology focusing on sport psychology at the University of Western Ontario, “Human beings are wired to be in groups, and exercising alone doesn’t work for the majority of people.�

Carron was co-author of a 2006 analysis on the effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity. It looked at 44 studies, containing 4,578 participants, that lasted anywhere from less than three months to more than a year. In the analysis, which was published in the journal Sport Exercise Psychology Review, Carron and colleagues examined the effect a variety of exercise scenarios had on adherence.

“Those who exercised alone at home had the lowest adherence rates by far. Comparatively, those in a group had much higher adherence.�

Numerous other studies have also shown exercise adherence increases when people exercise in groups. This may mean working out with friends or family or joining a group fitness class or organized team or club.

The involvement of other people in your fitness program increases the likelihood you will stay for numerous reasons.

Training with someone else adds an element of accountability. For many of us, making a commitment to someone else adds a level of obligation. It is much easier to get too busy to fulfil the commitment you have made to yourself than with someone else. This extra inspiration may be all you need to stick with it.