Habit Study
This study compares the effectiveness of multiple exercise habit-forming strategies, including goal setting, intrinsic motivation, preparation habit formation and instigation habit formation. The findings show education on forming a preparation habit was the most effective, while any combination of the strategies resulted in significantly greater results than no strategy at all.
INTRODUCTION
Behavior change, including exercise, is notoriously difficult, and long-term maintenance is even more so. Interventions that promote factors to improve maintenance could help individuals initiate and maintain new exercise behaviors.
HYPOTHESIS
We hypothesized that providing education components (goal setting, motivational, exercise preparation habit, exercise instigation habit) will have a positive on exercise participation, over 12 months.
METHOD
751 individuals who were new to exercise signed up for the LES MILLS+ online workout app. They each received education toolkits focused on various combinations of goal setting (education on the importance of setting specific behavioral goals), intrinsic motivation (education focusing on intrinsic rewards and choosing exercise that feels good internally), preparation habit formation (education on creating actions that ensure participants have everything they need to execute their new exercise habit) and instigation habit formation (partnering their new exercise habit with an existing habit). These individuals had their activity on LES MILLS+ tracked for one year.
RESULTS
Individuals who received education on establishing a preparation habit showed a significant overall effect on the outcomes. The intervention groups (participants who received any of the intervention components in addition to the control/goal-setting intervention) had greater rates of exercise participation when compared to LES MILLS+ users who didn’t receive any education components.
CONCLUSION
Promoting a preparation habit can help instigate and maintain exercise behavior over a 12-month period. A combination of habit formation strategies results in greater attendance than those who don’t receive this type of support.
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