The effect of choice of exercise mode on psychological responses

Abstract

Objectives: Choice has been linked to both motivation and psychological responses to exercise. This paper investigates participants’ psychological responses when they completed an exercise session where there was a high-preference exercise mode as opposed to a low-preference exercise mode. High- and low-preference were established by participants indicating their preferred choice of exercise from three standard modes used for aerobic work.

Method: Participants were 20 low-active adults who exercised for 20 min on each mode of exercise (high-preference versus low-preference). Affect, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate (HR) were recorded every 5 min during exercise, and affect and HR were assessed pre-exercise and 5 min post-exercise.

Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed condition and time main effects for affect sub-scales and RPE and a time main effect for HR. Affect sub-scales, RPE and HR generally increased over time. RPE, Fatigue and Psychological Distress were higher in the low-preference condition and positive well-being was higher in the high-preference condition.

Conclusions: Affect and RPE were influenced by the preferred choice manipulation. Affect was more positive, and RPE lower, in the high-preference versus low-preference condition while work rate remained constant across conditions.

Introduction

More than 20 reviews have been published in the last decade concerned with the relationship between physical activity and psychological responses. Research generally supports that physical activity can have an acute, as well as a chronic, effect on these responses (e.g. Landers and Arent, 2001, Petruzzello, Landers, Hatfield, Kubitz and Salazar, 1991). However, variables such as exercise intensity, fitness of participants, past experience, environment, goal orientation and preference may all influence these responses. For example, high intensity exercise can be associated with decrements in affective state post-exercise especially in low fit or sedentary individuals (Steptoe and Bolton, 1988, Tuson, Sinyor and Pelletier, 1995) while moderate exercise intensity has not been associated with decrements in affective state regardless of the activity level of individuals (Parfitt, Markland and Holmes, 1994, Steptoe and Bolton, 1988, Van Landuyt, Ekkekakis, Hall and Petruzzello, 2000). Environments perceived to foster a task climate have been associated with less negative affect and more positive affect compared to an ego climate (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999a), while task goal orientations have been shown to produce more positive affective responses (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999b).

A number of authors have recognised that perference may be an important moderator in the relationship between exercise intensity and psychological response (Ekkekakis and Petruzzello, 1999, Morgan, 1997, Rudolph and Kim, 1996), although few studies have experimentally explored such a relationship. Previous research that has considered the effects of preferred exercise intensity on psychological affect (Dishman, Farquhar and Cureton, 1994, Eston, Parfitt and Tucker, 1998, Parfitt, Rose and Markland, 2000) generally supports a more positive outcome following the preferred intensity condition in individuals who are active. For example, state anxiety decreased in high-active participants compared to low-active participants (Dishman et al., 1994), affect assessed using the Feeling Scale (Rejeski, Best, Griffith, & Kenney, 1987) improved post-exercise in both high- and low-active participants (Eston et al., 1998), and even when participants chose to work physiologically harder, their affect remained high and positive and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were low and stable (Parfitt et al., 2000). One explanation for these positive outcomes can be discussed in relation to Deci and Ryan’s (1985) theory of self-determination. Choice over one’s actions will encourage an internal locus of causality which should enhance intrinsic motivation for the behaviour (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Both Vallerand (1997) and Deci and Ryan (1985) suggest that the most positive affective, cognitive and behavioural consequences result from being intrinsically motivated or having more self-determined forms of behavioural regulation.

An alternative explanation for such positive outcomes could be associated with flow theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). In the process of making a choice, participants are likely to match their personal competencies with the challenge of the task and as such maximise the potential for positive outcomes. Given these two explanations, it is surprising that empirical studies have not investigated the impact of choice of exercise mode upon psychological responses. Indeed Biddle (2000, p. 82) indicated that “people will ‘feel good’ after exercise they prefer, and feel ‘less good’ after exercise that is not to their liking”.

From a health promotion perspective, if we are able to identify factors within the exercise environment that foster more positive affect, we may be able to improve exercise participation. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to compare psychological states after 20 min on a ‘high-preference’ mode of exercise versus 20 min on a ‘low-preference’ mode of exercise. It was hypothesised that participants would report more positive psychological states during and following exercise in the high-preference mode than the low-preference mode.