Physical activity has become such a task for so many people that just getting in the gym requires making your way through dozens of barriers.
Physical activity is barely seen as activity anymore, but more-so as a job with a reward that is worth the trouble.
Exercisers can expect to go through many barriers when attempting to stay consistent with their routine.
For instance, there is the time barrier, a barrier that affects all without discrimination, and stops exercisers from exercising through time constraints.
There is the exercise efficacy barrier, in which people do not believe in themselves enough to complete exercise.
There is the general self-efficacy barrier, in which people don't have enough confidence in themselves to exercise.
I could go on explaining the many different barriers that exercisers go through, but you understand, there are more reasons to stop exercising than there are to start, although the rewards might be better.
Because there are so many barriers, not too long ago, I decided to start heavily researching what motivates people to exercise and more importantly, what keeps people coming back to the gym and continuing in their routines.
I say that the latter is more important because there are many people who start exercising, but there are few who continue it for a couple years, and even fewer who do it over a lifetime.
One of the most common reasons I saw people returning to the gym was because of partner or group training. Workout classes tended to result in groups forming in which there was a social reward for going and a physical reward for going.
The groups established a system of support in which each member of the group motivated the others to not only continue coming back, but to also work harder within the workouts.
The groups, within themselves, helped bring people back to the gym, regardless of the barrier or excuse given.
Additionally, the group workout classes seemed to actually be fun for many of the exercisers. Like I said above, exercise is seen as a task; in this case, it seemed that exercise was more of an active hangout.
Although it may not be seen on paper, I also believe that the groups established a form of competitiveness that was not destructive, but rather constructive.
The members of the groups participated in the same exercise, so it wasn't uncommon to see some cyclers attempt to cycle faster than the next person. I say that this is constructive because the competitors are still receiving physical activity, the primary goal, regardless of whether or not they were faster than their fellow group member.
The point here is that if you are having trouble with adherence to workout plans or routines, look into group training. It's not as difficult or as uncomfortable as it may seem, and for many, it's what has kept them working out for years.
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