Tone it Down: How Fitness Instructors’ Motivational Comments Shape Women’s Body Satisfaction

Abstract

Two-hundred and three college women participated in a 16-minute strength and conditioning group fitness class. Participants were randomly assigned to a class that featured either appearance-focused motivational comments by the instructor (e.g., “Blast that cellulite!”) or function-focused comments (e.g., “Think of how strong you are getting!”). Body satisfaction from pre-test to post-test increased overall, but those in the function-focused (as opposed to appearance-focused) condition experienced a significantly greater increase in body satisfaction. A similar pattern was observed for positive affect. Additionally, those in the function-focused condition described the class in more positive terms and reported experiencing less body surveillance during the class. These findings are consistent with research suggesting that exercise can improve mood and body satisfaction, but also suggest that a more function-focused class can lead to even greater improvements. The motivational comments fitness instructors use may have a notable impact on women’s mood, body satisfaction, and body surveillance.

Behavioral reinforcement of pathological exercise in anorexia nervosa

“…Indeed, evidence suggests that avoiding aversive outcomes altogether (i.e., not just escaping aversive stimuli) is itself reinforcing (Kim et al, 2006). Fat phobia is highly concentrated in gyms and fitness centers, where receiving appearance-related feedback/comments from fitness instructors, rather than statements about function of participants' bodies, is associated with lower body satisfaction (Engeln, Shavlik, & Daly, 2018) and where thin fitness instructors are overwhelmingly preferred by gym-goers (Evans, Cotter, & Roy, 2005). While AN is not caused by exercise engagement or fat phobia, of course, individuals with AN may experience abnormal responses to exercise, purging, and energy deficit (Giel et al, 2013;Kaye, Wierenga, Bailer, Simmons, & Bischoff-Grethe, 2013).…”

Brains over beauty: A preregistered test of the effects of objectification on women’s cognitive performance

“…In its original form, the scale contains eight items about the extent to which a woman agrees with statements about monitoring her outward appearance; the response scale ranges from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree). For the current study, questions were adapted as in Engeln et al [ 15 ], except with reference to the “math task” instead of “fitness class.” For example, “During the fitness class, I rarely thought about how I looked,” was changed to “During the math task, I rarely thought about how I looked.” Additionally, we omitted items three and eight from the original measure as they were not appropriate for the context of this study (leaving a total of six items). McKinley and Hyde [ 51 ] reported alphas for the original body surveillance subscale between .76 and .89 for samples of undergraduate and middle-aged women.…”

“…The OBCS includes three subscales: body surveillance, body shame, and appearance control. Consistent with previous work in this area [15,[52][53][54], we used scores on the body surveillance subscale as an indicator of state selfobjectification, such that higher mean body surveillance scores indicated greater experiences of state self-objectification. The original authors of the scale describe scores on this subscale as assessing "the amount of time a woman spends watching her body as an outside observer" ( [51],p.…”

“…In its original form, the scale contains eight items about the extent to which a woman agrees with statements about monitoring her outward appearance; the response scale ranges from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree). For the current study, questions were adapted as in Engeln et al [15], except with reference to the "math task" instead of "fitness class." For example, "During the fitness class, I rarely thought about how I looked," was changed to "During the math task, I rarely thought about how I looked."…”

“…Though women’s tendency to self-objectify can be conceptualized as a relatively stable, trait-like variable [ 9 ], women can also experience temporarily heightened self-objectification (i.e., state self-objectification) in response to environmental cues or experimental manipulations. A number of experimental manipulations can increase women’s self-objectification, including trying on a bathing suit [ 2 ], the presence of mirrors, scales, and fashion magazines [ 14 ], and appearance-focused motivational comments by fitness instructors [ 15 ]. State self-objectification often manifests as increased body monitoring, known as body surveillance [ 4 ].…”