Adherence and Regulation

Adherence Increases with:

• Perceived social support
• Those who see high value in physical health
• Those who associate pleasure with an exercise session
• Those who exercise frequently rather than spasmodically.
• Group cohesiveness results in significantly higher adherence rates, especially in older women.

The majority of research confirms:

SELF EFFICACY beliefs are critical to the initial adoption of an exercise routine but

PLEASURE and SATISFACTION are more important for sustaining that behaviour

Regulatory Skills

Certain self-regulatory skills appear to benefit adherence:

• Goal setting
• Monitoring progress
• Self-reinforcement – intrinsic motivation.
• Prompting by session organisers is also important especially in initial stages of regular exercise – emails, texts, telephone counselling.

Simple prompts are more effective than lengthy educational sessions.