Module 6:  Overcoming Barriers to Exercise

Sometimes you just get stuck

Given the health benefits of regular physical activity, we might wonder why Americans are not active at recommended levels. Understanding common barriers to physical activity and creating strategies to overcome them may help you make physical activity part of your daily life.

Barriers to physical activity are features that a person views as obstacles to physical activity. They can be classified into internal and external barriers. Internal barriers relate to personal factors such as attitudes and preferences, while external barriers refer to the environment, such as infrastructure.

As you start thinking about ways to become more active, these obstacles might seem hard to overcome. The goal of this module is to help you learn how to develop specific plans that overcome some of these obstacles. By troubleshooting and developing tactics in advance, you’ll have better success overcoming them.

Strategies

Implementing Strategies for Overcoming Barriers to Exercise

Exercising long-term is a cycle. Some weeks are good and some weeks are bad. Even elite athletes don’t meet their goals or get in their exercise every week. The key is to figure out what stops you from exercising and work around it.

Ask yourself:

• Am I closer to meeting my long-term goal?
• What has helped me meet my goals?
• What were some obstacles to my exercise program, and how did I overcome them?

Got stress? Exercising is one of the best ways to beat stress. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins which triggers positive feelings!

Common Barriers to Exercise

The obstacles that you encounter are commonly referred to as barriers to exercise and encompass social and physical obstacles that you have to overcome to exercise regularly.

Common barriers to exercise include:

• Limited or lack of access to exercise facilities
• Lack of time
• Don’t know how to exercise
• Cannot afford to join a gym
• Are too busy
• Lack of motivation
• Don’t have anyone to exercise with
• Academic pressure
• Social pressure
• Too tired
• Too insecure to exercise in front of others
• Do not believe that you can exercise

An easy method to identify your barriers to exercise is to look back over your exercise log and identify days, times or situations that made it difficult for you to meet your goals.

Have a plan:  Anticipate the barriers in your week ahead and have a plan in place before those barriers happen. It will keep you on track to reaching your goals!

Overcoming Barriers Process

Disruptions in your exercise program will occur; however, the impact of these disruptions is up to you. Follow the three steps below to limit the impact of your disruptions.

1. Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. Barriers can pop up during key transitions, such as transitioning from high school to college or from college to the “real world”; or during a disruption to your routine (spring break, finals, etc.). If you can identify your barriers to exercise, then you can anticipate their occurrence.
2. Plan of action. If you can anticipate barriers, then you can implement a plan
   of action to overcome them. Be sure to have a plan in place before they occur.
   For example, if you like to run outside, what are you going to do if it is too hot, cold or raining? Recognize disruptions as temporary. If you have a rough week, or even two, think of it as temporary and jump back on that “exercise horse” as soon as you can.
3. Believe in yourself. It is very common to feel insecure when starting something new, such as a yoga class. If you tell yourself that you can’t do it, then you won’t. You have to believe that you can do it and have confidence in yourself that you can accomplish the task. To the right are some examples of how to build your confidence to exercise:

Practice positive self-talk. Use phrases such as: “I know I can,” “I am going to try this today,” “I am improving every day.”

Start slow. Instead of trying to jog three miles, start with a half-mile and work your way up.

Focus on your past accomplishments. Look over your exercise log and see how far you have come.

Be realistic. Understand that exercise is a process and it will take time to meet your goals. “Getting physically fit is not a sprint, but a marathon.”

Learn from others. If you are having trouble with something, ask your instructor to demonstrate the skill or movement for you.

Pay attention to your body. If you are feeling pain or don’t feel good a certain day, don’t push yourself too hard. Be sure to take care of yourself.

What to Expect from Exercise

What to Expect from Exercise Objective

For this section you will learn what you can expect to achieve from a regular exercise program.

What to expect from Exercise Outcome

From this section you will understand the common myths of exercise and how to develop proper expectations.

Implementing Realistic Expectations

When we start an exercise program, we make grand plans: “I am going to work out every day. I am going to be in the best shape ever. I am going to lose 20 pounds.” However, many of these expectations are unrealistic. It is important that we realize what exercise can do for us and what exercise cannot do for us.

Exercise can:

• Help you control stress
• Help you sleep better
• Reduce risk for diseases
• Reduce depression
• Help control weight
• Provide social interaction

Exercise doesn’t:

• Have to cause pain
• Have to hurt to be effective
• Have to be unenjoyable
• Have to be done as hard or fast as you can
• Change your appearance quickly
• Improve the appearance of certain body parts

The Process of Setting Expectations

Follow the simple steps below to develop realistic expectations about exercise.

• Set realistic short and long-term goals (see Setting Goals)
• Monitor your exercise so you can see changes (see Self-monitoring)
• Understand the FITT principle and how each one will change your exercise outcomes (see What is the FITT Principle?).
• Understand what exercise will and will not do for you. By debunking the myths of exercise we can establish clear expectations for exercise.

Common Exercise Myths

Myth 1: No pain, no gain

One of the most common misconceptions about exercise is that “it doesn’t work unless it hurts.” This is not true. Exercise should not cause pain. If you are exercising and you start to feel pain, you should slow down or reduce the amount of weight you are lifting. Exercise is a slow process. Build gradually and slowly to get the most benefits.

Myth 2: Results of exercise occur quickly

Results of exercise, especially weight loss, take time. It might be six weeks before you notice changes in your body. This is normal. A healthy weight loss per week is 1-2 pounds. Therefore, if you are 20 pounds above your normal body weight, then it should take you 10-20 weeks to lose that weight.

Myth 3: Exercise has to be done vigorously to be effective

Many believe that if you are not running as fast as you can for as long as you can, you are not gaining any benefit from exercise, but that is not true. Health benefits from exercise can be gained with moderate-intensity exercise. Also, a walk around the block may clear your mind and make you feel better. That is clearly worth your time.

Myth 4: Spot training

Contrary to what many infomercials try to sell us, spot reduction in any region of the body does not work. Abdominal crunches are a great way to increase muscular endurance of the abdomen, but they will not flatten your stomach when done alone. In order to flatten your stomach, you must lose fat in the abdominal region. This is accomplished through a combination of cardiorespiratory endurance training, strength training, proper nutrition and sleep.

Myth 5: Women who strength train will get big and bulky

The women you see in the muscle magazines usually have had some help from steroids or supplements and have been training for years. Women naturally have lower levels of testosterone and smaller muscles than men, making it more difficult to build large, bulky muscles. Women who engage in strength training become stronger, firmer, build a higher metabolism and increase bone density, which may help prevent osteoporosis later in life.

Myth 6: Thin equals healthy

Being thin is not related to fitness levels or health. Each person has a different physiological make-up including bone, muscle mass, structure and body fat. Some people are thin by their genetic makeup and have not exercised a day in their lives. Focus on your health instead of your weight.

Myth 7: Muscle will turn into fat or vice versa

Many people believe that if they stop working out, their muscle will turn into fat. Muscle and fat are two distinct tissues and can never be converted from one to the other. If you stop exercising, muscle tissue will become smaller and you may feel flabbier. Also, when muscles get smaller, they do not need as many calories, so your metabolism slows. With a slower metabolism, if you eat the same amount of calories, you may gain body fat.

Myth 8: You will burn more fat at lower exercise intensities

It is true that lower levels of exercise take a higher percentage of our fuel from our fat stores.  However, at higher levels of exercise the total caloric output is higher, meaning you burn more calories for the same amount of time.  For example, if you run a mile you will burn about 100 calories and it may take you 8-10 minutes. If you walk a mile you will burn about 100 calories and it may take you 15 minutes. The “fat burning zone” was meant to allow exercisers to work out for longer periods of time at a low intensity, but if you only have a short amount of time to exercise, you are better off increasing your intensity to a level you can sustain.  Also, if you are a regular exerciser and your body is conditioned to a moderate intensity workout, slowing down to a light intensity will not help you burn more fat. In fact, slowing down will decondition the body that you worked so hard to condition.

Strategy — How to do it

• Incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Take the stairs instead of the elevator; walk to lunch instead of driving.
• Identify a support person. Find a workout partner.
• Have realistic expectations about exercise. Realize exercise takes time to work effectively.
• Make exercise a priority. Don’t let other activities interfere with your exercise routine.
• Stay positive about exercise. Use positive thoughts “Exercise is fun”; “I am making progress”; “I am doing better each day”.
• Set short- and long-term exercise goals. Use the “SMART” principle to help you write down your goals.
• Anticipate and overcome obstacles to exercise. If you plan to run outside, have an alternative for a “rainy day.”
• Write down your exercise routine daily. At the beginning of the week make “exercise appointments” in your phone or planner.
• Have Fun. Choose an exercise activity that you enjoy.
• Believe you can exercise. While you are exercising keep repeating “I know I can do this.”

Summary

Understanding what exercise will and will not do for your body will prepare you for realistic results.

The goal of this module was to introduce you to strategies that would help you be active for a lifetime. Utilizing these strategies will help you maintain your exercise behavior long-term. The table below summarizes some of these strategies and practical methods to implement them.

Good luck and keep moving!

References

Buckworth, J and Nigg, C. (2004). Physical Activity, Exercise and Sedentary Behavior in College Students. Journal of American College Health, 53(1), 28-34.

Gell, N. M., & Wadsworth, D. D. (2015). The use of text messaging to promote physical activity in working women: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 12(6), 756-763.

You have reached the end of Module 6. Please complete the Assessment.

Then, if you feel ready to learn about preparing for exercise, you can move on to Module 7.