Zachary Zenko

Can You Have Your Vigorous Exercise and Enjoy It Too? Ramping Intensity Down Increases Postexercise, Remembered, and Forecasted Pleasure.

There is a paucity of methods for improving the affective experience of exercise. We tested a novel method based on discoveries about the relation between exercise intensity and pleasure, and lessons from behavioral economics. We examined the effect of reversing the slope of pleasure during exercise from negative to positive on pleasure and enjoyment, remembered pleasure, and forecasted pleasure. Forty-six adults were randomly assigned to a 15-min bout of recumbent cycling of either increasing intensity (0-120% of watts corresponding to the ventilatory threshold) or decreasing intensity (120-0%). Ramping intensity down, thereby eliciting a positive slope of pleasure during exercise, improved postexercise pleasure and enjoyment, remembered pleasure, and forecasted pleasure. The slope of pleasure accounted for 35-46% of the variance in remembered and forecasted pleasure from 15 min to 7 days postexercise. Ramping intensity down makes it possible to combine exposure to vigorous and moderate intensities with a pleasant affective experience.

Escape From Cognitivism: Exercise as Hedonic Experience

Cognitivism has been the dominant paradigmatic perspective within exercise psychology since its inception in the 1960s. The fundamental tenet of cognitivism is that behavioral decisions result from the rational evaluation of information. Applied to exercise behavior, cognitivist theorizing proposes that the likelihood of engaging in exercise should increase if individuals are provided with compelling information (eg, about the health benefits associated with exercise). Cognitivism, therefore, overlooks or rejects the contribution of nonrational processes to decision making. After half a century of research based on cognitivist theories and no progress in raising the rates of physical activity and exercise at the population level, it is reasonable to propose that exercise psychology needs a new, broader paradigmatic perspective. Postcognitivist theorizing will likely reflect a “dual-process” conceptualization, combining “Type 1” (implicit, inflexible, automatic, evolutionarily primitive, affect-centric), and “Type 2” (explicit, reflective, rational) processes. A model is proposed, whereby the decision to refrain from exercise results from a conflict between “Type 1” and “Type 2” processes, such that, while most adults recognize the health benefits of exercise, they have associated exercise with displeasure.

Knowledge of Exercise Prescription Guidelines Among Certified Exercise Professionals

Abstract Zenko, Z and Ekkekakis, P. Knowledge of exercise prescription guidelines among certified exercise professionals. J Strength Cond Res 29(5): 1422–1432, 2015—This survey assessed the knowledge of the “Guidance for prescribing exercise” issued by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in 2011 among certified exercise professionals. A sample of 1,808 certified exercise professionals (66.70% women, mean (±SD) age = 38.28 ± 12.56 years) responded to electronic invitations. The 11-question online questionnaire assessed knowledge of the recommended frequency, duration, and intensity ranges in terms of heart rate, metabolic equivalents, and ratings of perceived exertion. Respondents had 7.45 ± 8.07 years of work experience and represented all 50 U.S. states. On average, participants answered 42.87 ± 1.69% of the questions correctly. Gender, age, and years of professional experience were not associated with overall knowledge of the guidelines. Likewise, having 1, 2, or 3+ certifications made no difference in overall knowledge. However, there were significant differences between levels of education (F = 7.12, p < 0.001), from 38.72 ± 1.62% for “some college” to 47.01 ± 1.71% for “doctorate.” There were also significant differences by primary job role (F = 3.45, p < 0.001) but no category exceeded 49% (e.g., personal trainers: 40.59 ± 1.66%; clinical exercise physiologists: 44.18 ± 1.70%). The respondents rated their knowledge of the exercise prescription guidelines as 7.01 ± 1.69 of 10 but rated the level of knowledge necessary to practice safely and effectively as 8.32 ± 1.64 (t = 28.60, p < 0.001). This survey, the first at this scale to investigate the knowledge of exercise prescription guidelines among certified exercise professionals, showed that there is room for improvement, considering that the average score was below 50%.

Naïve models of dietary splurges: Beliefs about caloric compensation and weight change following non-habitual overconsumption

The mechanisms that lead to overeating and the consumption of tempting, unhealthy foods have been studied extensively, but the compensatory actions taken afterwards have not. Here we describe the naïve models individuals hold around dietary splurges (single bouts of overeating) and associated weight changes. Across six online experiments, we found that, following a hypothetical dietary splurge, participants did not plan to adequately adjust calorie consumption to account for the additional calories consumed (Studies 1 and 2), and this pattern was worse following hypothetical splurges characterized by a large amount of food consumed in a single bout (Study 3). Participants expected weight changes to happen faster than they do in reality (Study 4) and they expected that weight gained from a dietary splurge would disappear on its own without explicit compensation attempts through diet or exercise (Study 5). Similarly, participants expected that when compensation attempts were made through calorie restriction, the rate of weight loss would be faster following a dietary splurge compared to normal eating (Study 6). This research contributes novel data demonstrating an important mechanism that likely contributes to weight gain and failed weight loss attempts.

Comparison of affect-regulated, self-regulated, and heart-rate regulated exercise prescriptions: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT Recent evidence has highlighted the potential benefits of affect‐ and self‐regulated exercise prescriptions for the promotion of physical activity and exercise behavior (Baldwin et al., 2016; Williams et al., 2015, 2016). However, questions remain about which characteristics of the exercise prescriptions make them more effective. Objectives: This study will compare exercise prescriptions with and without choice, and with and without an emphasis on affective valence, to determine which method of intensity regulation is most effective for increasing walking behavior. Design: Parallel‐groups randomized controlled trial. Methods: Insufficiently active (less than 90 min per week of moderate‐intensity activity) adults will be recruited to participate in a six‐week study consisting of a two‐week baseline period and four‐week intervention. Walking behavior will be measured objectively using consumer‐based activity monitors, and based on self‐reported data. Other outcome measures will include affective attitudes, variables related to intrinsic motivation, self‐reported compliance, resting heart rate, and weight. Participants will be randomized to one of four walking programs that either regulate intensity based on the choice of the intensity or based on heart rate, and either have or lack an emphasis on the affective valence of exercise. Conclusions: Recruitment and onboarding has begun. Results of this randomized controlled trial are expected to be available by the middle of 2018. HIGHLIGHTSA protocol for a randomized controlled trial is introduced.This study is designed to compare four different types of exercise prescriptions.Affect‐, self‐, and heart rate‐regulated intensities will be compared.Results are expected by the middle of 2018.

Knowledge of Exercise Prescription Guidelines Across One 4-Year Kinesiology Curriculum

Purpose: Knowledge of evidence-based exercise prescription guidelines is considered a cornerstone of responsible professional practice. While many academics insist that a university degree in kinesiology or a related field should be required for all exercise professionals, the learning of exercise prescription guidelines that takes place during the course of a university degree program has not been investigated. Method: An 11-question knowledge quiz about the frequency, duration, and intensity of cardiovascular exercise recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine (Garber et al., 2011) was administered to 683 undergraduate students majoring in kinesiology and 89 certified exercise professionals. Results: Knowledge scores improved significantly, F(4, 764) = 16.69, p < .001, η2 = .08, from the freshmen, who scored 24.30%, to the seniors, who scored 36.25%. Seniors did not differ significantly from the professionals, who scored 40.65%, despite the fact that 58.14% of professionals had graduate degrees and 44.95% had multiple certifications. However, 82.77% of seniors perceived that their knowledge of the guidelines (rated 5.48 out of 10) was lower than that required “to be able to function as an exercise professional safely and effectively” (rated 8.17). Conclusion: These data suggest that although significant learning of the guidelines occurs in a typical kinesiology curriculum, there is considerable room for improvement.

Measurement of Affective Responses to Exercise: From “Affectless Arousal” to “The Most Well-Characterized” Relationship Between the Body and Affect

Abstract Affective responses to exercise received considerable coverage in 19th-century texts that formed the foundation of psychology. Luminaries such as Alexander Bain, Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin, and James Mark Baldwin believed that linking a subjective experience to a physical act like the movement of the body would protect the nascent field of psychology against criticisms that it dealt with abstract metaphysical phenomena. After decades of neglect during the reign of behaviorism, interest in the relationship between exercise and affect reemerged in the 1970s. However, problematic measurement led to inaccurate conclusions. Within psychology, the popularity of the notion of “excitation transfer” led many researchers to believe that exercise produces “affectless arousal,” devoid of any pleasant or unpleasant affective content. In exercise science, the desire to respond to the Pitts–McClure hypothesis about the alleged causal role of lactate in anxiety attacks led to the assertion that the only effect of exercise is to “make people feel good.” This assertion was based on studies using popular measures such as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Profile of Mood States, and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. This chapter reviews ways in which these measures were misapplied and their results misinterpreted. We then propose and illustrate a three-step approach to selecting a measure of core affect, emotion, or mood. The steps include (1) deciding whether one wishes to study core affect, emotion, or mood, (2) selecting the theoretical framework for the chosen construct that is most appropriate for a given study, and (3) choosing the psychometrically strongest measure among those based on the selected theoretical framework. We suggest that adoption of this three-step process can accelerate progress not only within the line of research examining responses to exercise but also in other areas of applied psychological research focusing on affective phenomena.