Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Improves Exercise Tolerance in Sedentary Women

Abstract

An acute ACT intervention increased high-intensity ETT and postexercise enjoyment and reduced perceived effort in low-active women. Further investigations of ACT as an effective intervention for enhancing the established health benefits of high-intensity exercise need to be provided.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Implementation Intentions Increase Exercise Enjoyment and Long-Term Exercise Behavior Among Low-Active Women

“…Furthermore, our team (Ivanova et al 2015) demonstrated that ACT increased exercise enjoyment following a session of high-intensity cycle ergometer exercise. Specifically, Ivanova et al (2015) provided empirical evidence for the efficacy of ACT in reducing perceived effort, increasing exercise enjoyment, and improving exercise tolerance for low-active women randomized to the ACT group, as compared to the implementation intentions group.…”

“…Provided that implementation intentions address only one factor (i.e., planning) of physical activity adoption and maintenance, other barriers to exercise-related maintenance may be better addressed by alternative interventions. Particularly, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a form of cognitivebehavioral psychotherapy (Hayes et al 1999), is receiving increasing support in the literature as an effective intervention for improving acute exercise tolerance (Ivanova et al 2015), as well as short-term (i.e., 5-weeks) physical activity adherence (e.g., Butryn et al 2011). A core assumption of ACT is that negative and unpleasant feelings and experiences are neither good nor bad, but rather a facet of human life (Hayes et al 1999).…”

“…Specifically, Ivanova et al (2015) provided empirical evidence for the efficacy of ACT in reducing perceived effort, increasing exercise enjoyment, and improving exercise tolerance for low-active women randomized to the ACT group, as compared to the implementation intentions group. The finding that ACT increased exercise enjoyment and reduced perceived effort is especially relevant to exercise behavior because exercising can be highly exerting and/or unpleasant (e.g., Annesi 2004;Pedersen 2012;Welch et al 2007).…”

“…Implementation intentions and ACT may provide complementary intervention efforts, whereby the former is important for planning and the latter for providing additional resources (e.g., increased enjoyment; Ivanova et al (2015)) to cope with barriers associated with the exercise-experience itself (e.g., boredom, perceptions of effort). Despite the important role of implementation intentions and ACT in predicting physical activity behavior, research to date has not compared their effectiveness in promoting long-term physical activity adherence.…”

“…The present study, therefore, represents a logical extension of our previous work by providing preliminary data on comparing exercise adherence, from baseline to 6-month follow-up, among novice exercisers who completed a one-time implementation intentions with those who completed an ACT intervention. Ivanova et al (2015) present the baseline data for 1) physical activity frequency, and 2) exercise enjoyment between the two training conditions outlined in the present study, specifically ACT and implementation intentions.…”