By Justin Kompf | Reading Time: 10 minutes |

In my career I was lucky enough to work at a University right out of college. At the same time, I was working as a personal trainer and a strength coach. Being in the University setting made me rigorous in my critique of my own professional practice and has also piqued an interest in why people do what they do.

• For example: Knowing all the health benefits of exercise why are most of us failing to meet the recommendations? In the face of evidence that says exercise makes us live longer and higher quality lives why aren’t we putting aside some time to take care of ourselves?

According to the most recent CDC data just over 30% of us are meeting the resistance training guidelines of two times per week^[1]NHSR. (2018): State Variation in Meeting the 2008 Federal Guidelines for Both Aerobic and Muscle-strengthening Activities Through Leisure-time Physical Activity Among Adults Aged 18–64: United States, 2010–2015. CDC. URL: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr112.pdf..

The same things that cause behavior are also the reason why people don’t engage in certain behaviors. Let’s take for example, value. If someone sees high value in resistance training, then they are going to be more likely to engage in resistance training.

Conversely, if someone sees low or no value in resistance training then they won’t do resistance training. It’s the same construct, value, where it’s presence of absence contributes to behavior.

Why Do People Engage in Resistance Training and How Can I Get Started?

Why Would Someone Do Resistance Training?

Determinants are what cause and influence behavior. If I wanted to go out on a run this morning but it is down-pouring then the weather influences my behavior:

• Am I going to go out in the rain to run? No probably not.
• But what if I had a race in a month that I really wanted to challenge myself for? Would I be more likely to do it even if it was raining? Yes.
• What if I made a plan that if it was raining, I would hop on the treadmill? Here is another behavioral determinant called self-regulation. In this case we have intra-personal determinants (the stuff going on in my head) interacting with environmental determinants (the weather).

We all know the old saying: “He, who wants something bad enough, finds ways. He, who does not want something bad enough, finds excuses.” When it comes to adapting to a certain (e.g. regular training), it is important to become aware of what you can gain from it – i.e. what you want to achieve – and to develop appropriate plans to help you regulate yourself. (Image Source: Fotolia / rangizzz)

Another way to think about this is that behavior is the interaction between a person’s capabilities (we don’t do what we don’t think we can do), motivation or intention, and opportunity (we can’t do what we don’t have access too). Motivation is also driven by our capabilities and opportunities for action. Lastly, if action is to take place people need to make plans to act on their intentions.

Resistance training is a form of exercise that requires the coordination of several resources for participation, so it is unlikely that people will do resistance training without a plan in place. So, let us consider motivation and self-regulation (i.e. planning, goal setting, and self-monitoring) to be crucially important for adoption and adherence to resistance training.

Motivation is an important factor for successful self-regulation

Motivation is crucial for successful self-regulation. Baumeister and Vohs define motivation as a general drive or inclination to do something.^[2]Baumeister, R. / Vohs, K. (2007): Self-regulation, ego depletion, and motivation. Soc Personal Psychol Comp. URL: http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/90559.pdf.

COM-B model: The variables capability, motivation and opportunity are related to behaviour. (Graphic Source: Michie et al., 2011)

Similarly, Michie et al. (2011) considers motivation to be the brain processes that energize and direct behavior.^[3]Michie, S. / van Stralen, MM. / West, R. (2011). The behavior change wheel: A new method for characterizing and designing behavior change interventions. In: Impl Sci. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3096582/. Features of self-regulation which, include standards, self-monitoring, and willpower are not enough if someone doesn’t care about reaching a goal or does not have incentive to reach the goal.^[4]Baumeister, R. / Vohs, K. (2007): Self-regulation, ego depletion, and motivation. Soc Personal Psychol Comp. URL: http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/90559.pdf.. Strong motivation can overcome the effects of lapses in self-regulation by incentivizing people to expend more energy.^[5]Baumeister, R. / Vohs, K. (2007): Self-regulation, ego depletion, and motivation. Soc Personal Psychol Comp. URL: http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/90559.pdf.

Motivation is determined by many things and self-regulatory behaviors are numerous. Therefore, it is necessary to understand specifically which determinants contribute to resistance training behavior.

In 2017 a systematic review Rhodes and colleagues looked at the determinants of resistance training^[6]Rhodes, RE., et al. (2017): Factors associated with participation in resistance training: A systematic review. In: Br J Sport Med. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28404558.. If we just looked at the intra-personal determinants, we would see that…

• outcome expectations
• perceived behavioral control
• self-efficacy
• intentions
• attitudes
• and self-regulation

… all contribute to behavior.

What factors determine whether someone is doing weight training regularly? (Graphic Source: Rhodes et al, 2017)

The Health Action Process (HAPA) approach

These determinants do not act in isolation. This is why we have theoretical frameworks to explain behavior. Based on what we know about resistance training determinants, the Health Action Process Approach is a theory that could be useful in explaining behavior.

The Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) is a sequential mediator model that aims to explain the causal mechanisms of behavior. In the HAPA there are pre-intentional, intentional, and post-intentional phases. Therefore, people may be classified as

• not having an intention
• having intentions
• or acting on those intentions.

Task self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and risk perception are all considered important variables in building up behavioral intentions. Intentions are then translated into action with the use of self-regulatory strategies including action planning and coping planning.^[7]4

Broadly speaking, a person needs to build up motivation to have a behavioral intention. Based on the Rhodes et al. (2017) systematic review,^[8]Rhodes, RE., et al. (2017): Factors associated with participation in resistance training: A systematic review. In: Br J Sport Med. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28404558. the determinants of outcome expectancies (what do we think we will get out of it), behavioral regulation (why are we doing the behavior), and confidence (can we do the behavior) would help a person determine if they want to do a behavior.

The hypothesis in this case is as follows:

• Hypothesis 1: People that value the outcome of resistance training and are confident in their abilities will engage in more resistance training.
• Hypothesis 2: The people that have behavioral intentions, make plans, and are confident they can work around barriers will engage in more resistance training.

The Study

I took several questions from the literature that asked people about the following variables:

1. Outcome expectations: What benefits do people think they will gain from resistance training
2. Behavioral regulation: Do people engage in resistance training because they find it fun, because it is confident with their values, or do they value the health benefits of it?
3. Self-efficacy: Are people confident in their skills to do resistance training? Are they confident that they can actually show up and do resistance training?
4. Intention: Do people intend to do resistance training? (specifically, within the next week)
5. Coping self-efficacy: Are people confident that they can overcome barriers
6. Recovery self-efficacy: If people miss a session or two are they confident that they can bound back?
7. Coping planning: To what extent do people plan to work around barriers
8. Action planning: To what extent do people plan when and where they will do resistance training?
9. Perceptions of health: As a whole, how healthy do you feel? (scale of 1-10)

I waited a week and then followed up and asked them:

10. Days: Actual days (in the last seven days that they engaged in resistance training)

Stats

In brief, we want to see how the variables were related to each other. To do this we run a correlation.

Next, we want to see what predicts what, specifically what predicts intention and behavior and if behavior predicts perceptions of health as well. To do this we use what is called structural equation modeling.

Results

In total, 79 people filled out the first survey and 59 completed the follow up. Therefore, we have a relatively small sample size.

All the variables were related to days of resistance training with the exception of controlled motivation. Controlled motivation was also not related to intentions. Intention and self-efficacy had the strongest correlations with behavior. Self-efficacy and autonomous motivation had the strongest correlations with intention.

If we look at the first model (with the 59 people who finished the study) we see that controlled regulation (i.e people exercising because they feel bad if they don’t do it) was negatively and significantly related to intentions. A person’s confidence in their ability to do resistance training was positively related to intentions.

Finally, if resistance training was a part of a person’s identity, if they thought it was fun, or if they valued the health benefits then these traits were significantly related to the intention to do resistance training. Seven days later participants were asked how many days in the last week they engaged in resistance training.

On average people did 3.22 days of resistance training with a standard deviation of 1.8 days. Now we are interested in why they did resistance training.

For this we had to do what is called structural equation modeling. This is a statistical technique where you test mediator variables (i.e. intention) and outcome variables (i.e. days of resistance training) at the same time.

This was not a perfect fitting model but for the small sample size I had it wasn’t bad.  Here is what the model looks like.

One of the most important findings is that the more days of resistance training a person does, the greater they perceive their health to be. In this model we still see that autonomous regulation and self-efficacy predicts intentions. However, we now see that there are two variables that predict the amount of days and the amount of time that a person does resistance training. The two variables are intention and recovery self-efficacy. Interestingly, recovery self-efficacy was predicted by autonomous motivation.

This model is interesting for several reasons

First, we see that self-efficacy and autonomous regulation are key predictors of intention, one of the constructs that predicts behavior. Autonomous regulation predicts recovery self-efficacy and intentions. Then both recovery self-efficacy and intention predict days and total minutes of weekly resistance training.

The total minutes of resistance training does not influence perceived health but the number of days a person does do resistance training influences perceptions of health. We can then see that all the variables in this model are important if we want behavior to occur.

So, what is next?

Maybe we want to know if there are differences between people who do more resistance training. Does more days of resistance training lead to improved perceptions of health?

Interestingly it does. As whole, people rated themselves as being pretty healthy (on average an 8 out of 10 with a 1.2 standard deviation). When take days of resistance training as a predictor of health we see the results are significant. For every extra day a person does resistance training their perception of their health goes up slightly. Because as a whole people thought they were healthy maybe we want to make two groups:

• The people who think they are SUPER healthy (i.e. 8’s, 9’s and 10’s) versus
• the people who think they are pretty healthy.

We can do this too. Turns out for every day increase in resistance training your odds of falling into the super healthy category increase by almost 60%!

We also might want to classify people into different categories such as those who do three or more days of resistance training compared to those who do less to see if they consider themselves super healthy or just regular healthy. The people who were doing resistance training 3 times per week or more were 330% more likely to consider themselves to be super healthy!

What Do We Do Now?

You didn’t need my small study to tell you this but people who do resistance training are healthier. So, the question is why do people do resistance training?

People who have autonomous motivation, have higher confidence, and have greater intentions and recovery self-efficacy are more likely to meet the guidelines. Action planning and coping planning were related to resistance training but were not significant predictors. Still, it feels wrong to neglect them since they are probably important.

The question is then, how we can enhance these constructs.

Confidence, or self-efficacy in general is going to be enhanced with experience. So, the best option is for beginners is to start with only a moderately challenging resistance training routine. Home based or machine-based resistance training routines may be perfect for people with lower confidence. Having a few sessions with a trainer is another way to improve technique and enhance confidence.

At first, the gym can be very intimidating, especially when you are surrounded by people who work out extremely hard and are solidly built. But this is not a permanent condition! The more often you go to the gym, the more regularly you train and the more progress you see, the easier it will be for you to continue with strength training – as a desired habit. (Image Source: Fotolia / Photocreo Bednarek)

To improve autonomous motivation, people should find a gym that caters to their personality. Finding a gym that provides community support and is fun for the individual is importance for improving autonomous motivation. Next, encourage clients or beginners to make the mental link between enhanced health and something that they already love to do. How will their improved health make a difference in what they love doing?

1. Once a person has enough motivation or has made an intention to do resistance training, they should make action plans which describe when an where they will do resistance training.
2. People should also make coping plans which describe what they will do if barriers arise.
3. Recovery self-efficacy was a significant predictor of behavior.
4. Having a plan to make up missed sessions and to stay on track is associated with adherence. In the beginning stages having a plan and staying diligent will be important.

Title Image Source: Fotolia / Flamingo Images