No abstract

Restrictions due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted the ability of faculty and students in exercise science to work in lab settings with human participants. The purpose of this study was to determine how exercise science faculty were impacted by COVID-19 restrictions with respect to access and use of exercise science lab and research facilities. Of the 100 surveyed participants categorized as requiring access to people and lab spaces (lab-based faculty), 61% (n = 61) reported decreased research productivity with 87% (n = 53) of those faculty in one or more of the following subdisciplines: exercise physiology, clinical exercise physiology, or biomechanics. Of all lab-based faculty, 40% (n = 40) participants reported having access to students and lab spaces and 55% (n = 55) indicated they were allowed to conduct in-person research. Of tenure-track lab-based faculty, 80% (n = 20) reported a decrease in research productivity, of which 60.0% (n = 12) identified as female. Among faculty with five or less years of teaching experience (n = 23), 69.6% (n = 16) reported a decrease in productivity, with 68.8% (n = 11) of those being female. All exercise science faculty surveyed reported issues with safety and social distancing, modified lab and research procedures, faculty workload, and research productivity. This information can be leveraged to create better infrastructure to support faculty, and develop and implement strategies to reduce workload inequities.

Introduction/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how and why physical activity (PA) changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, from early March to June 2020 in the United States. Methods: A survey was distributed on social media. US adult residents were asked about their PA habits before and during the spring shutdown, such as average days of exercise, minutes per session and session intensity, and likelihood of maintaining pandemic PA habits for 1 yr. Results: A total of 873 individuals completed the survey. The sample was 85.3% female (n = 745) with an average age of 38.7 ± 12.9 yr. More than half (89.3%) of the participants were non-Hispanic White, 89.9% reported an income greater than $45,000, and 87.6% earned a bachelor's degree or higher. The proportion of participants who reported meeting or exceeding the guidelines of 150 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA per week was 52.7%. The proportion of participants not meeting the PA guidelines decreased by 7.8% during the shutdown. The proportion of participants exceeding the PA guidelines increased by 11.3%. PA days per week significantly increased during the shutdown (3.75 ± 1.9 to 4.27 ± 2.1 d, P < 0.001), whereas minutes per session remained consistent (1.87 ± 0.95 to 1.93 ± 0.98 min, P = 0.10; 1, 1-30 min; 2, 31-60 min). Average intensity of exercise sessions significantly decreased (2.81 ± 1.16 to 2.62 ± 1.14, P = 0.001). Participants reported decreased fitness center access and more outdoor walking. Overall, 73.4% of the participants indicated they were likely to maintain shutdown PA habits for 1 yr. Almost all (93.8%) of those who increased their PA during the shutdown reported they were likely to maintain their habit for 1 yr. Participants who did not change were more likely to report they would maintain PA levels for 1 yr compared with those who decreased PA levels during the shutdown. Conclusions: Generally, US adults increased PA during the COVID-19 shutdown. This study provides insight into how routine disruption may affect PA habits.