The Effect of Variety on Physical Activity

Abstract

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that increasing the variety of available food and purchasing options reliably increases eating and consumer spending behavior, respectively. However, the potential probehavioral effect of increasing the variety of exercise equipment options on the amount of exercise individuals perform is very limited. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the amount, enjoyment (liking), and effort perception of resistance training exercise vs. sedentary alternatives during a high-variety (HV) resistance-exercise equipment condition (10 choices) vs. a low-variety (LV) equipment condition (2 choices). During each condition (HV) and (LV), children (8-12 years), young adults (18-26 years), and older adults (≥60 years) had free-choice access to both resistance-exercise equipment and sedentary activities for a total of 20 minutes. The amount of time allocated to resistance exercise, the total number of repetitions performed, and session liking were measured during each condition. The participants significantly (p ≤ 0.05 for all) increased: repetitions performed (126.4 ± 71.7 vs. 88.0 ± 48.8), the amount of time allocated for exercise (14.3 ± 6.3 vs. 12.1 ± 6.5 minutes) and liking (8.1 ± 1.5 vs. 7.1 ± 2.1 cm) during the HV condition relative to the LV condition. The rating of perceived exertion was not significantly (p = 0.13) different from HV (4.2 ± 2.4) to LV (3.8 ± 2.3). Increasing the variety of exercise equipment available to children, young and older adults increased their exercise participation and enjoyment of that exercise without altering their perceived exertion. The practical application from this research is that increasing the variety of exercise equipment available to one's clients may increase their exercise adherence.

Is Variety a Spice of (an Active) Life?: Perceived Variety, Exercise Behavior, and the Mediating Role of Autonomous Motivation

“…The results regarding perceived variety in exercise are consistent with past work that has found exerciserelated variety support to predict exercise behavior (Glaros & Janelle, 2001;Juvancic-Heltzel et al, 2013). These results are also consistent with those of Dimmock et al (2013) who reported that expectations of variety in exercise were related to autonomous (i.e., internalized) motivation.…”

“…Based on previous research (e.g., Dimmock et al, 2013;Glaros & Janelle, 2001;Juvancic-Heltzel et al, 2013;Sylvester et al, 2014) and SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2002), we expected that perceived variety in exercise (along with satisfaction of the needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy) would explain unique variance in autonomous motivation and exercise behavior over a 6-week period, and that variance in exercise behavior would be explained (i.e., mediated) by autonomous motivation. In a test of discriminant validity, we expected that in the context of exercise, perceived variety (along with satisfaction of the needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy) would have a negative or nonsignificant effect on controlled motivation and that controlled motivation would have a negative or nonsignificant effect on exercise behavior (Ryan & Deci, 2002;Teixeira et al, 2012; see Figure 1 for the path diagram of the relationships examined).…”

“…One factor that has recently garnered attention for understanding individuals' exercise behavior is variety (e.g., Juvancic-Heltzel, Glickman, & Barkley, 2013). The experience of variety (i.e., felt variety) refers to a person's perception of whether they have experienced (or currently experience) variety, and is characterized by feeling as though one pursues and experiences diverse (i.e., novel or alternating among familiar) activities, behaviors, and opportunities in their social environment (cf.…”

“…In the context of exercise, researchers have found that when people experience variety, this prospectively predicts their subsequent behavior (Glaros & Janelle, 2001;Juvancic-Heltzel et al, 2013). For example, in Glaros and Janelle's (2001) study, when people varied the type of aerobic exercise that they engaged in every 2 weeks, they had greater adherence to their exercise sessions than people who did the same aerobic exercise each session.…”

Perceived variety, psychological needs satisfaction and exercise-related well-being

“…Netz, Wu, Becker, & Tenenbaum, 2005;Penedo & Dahn, 2005). Experiencing variety may be particularly salient in exercise contexts as the provision of variety has been found to be related to increased enjoyment of exercise (Dimmock, Jackson, Podlong, & Magaraggia, 2013;Glaros & Janelle, 2001;Juvancic-Heltzel, Glickman, & Psychology & Health 1045Barkley, 2013. For example, Dimmock et al (2013) found that participants who received messages that emphasised the variety of experiences they could expect in the two halves of their upcoming exercise session (i.e.…”