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stick with your exercise
program
dont drop out-persist. self-efficacy is the key
What's the most important thing about an exercise
program? Burning fat? Gaining strength? Staving off heart disease?
Toning muscles? The answers are many, and as varied as the
individuals who get out there and puff, pump, and climb. The single basic
factor necessary to achieve these goals is sticking tp your program.
Jeff Schlicht, M.S., Jeff Godin, M.S.
and David C. Camaione, Ph.D., propose that a person's perception
gets in the way of success at staying with an exercise program. "One
of the greatest barriers to exercise is the perception that it takes
special skill, ability or knowledge to have a successful
experience," says Schlicht. "And we know that the most important
thing a personal trainer or exercise leader can do is help people
overcome that misinformation."
Half of all
persons who get to the point where exercise is a regular part of
their lives quit within six months. Even after contemplation,
preparation, payment and action, they still drop out, and the
authors suggest that self-efficacy is a powerful way to turn around
this dismal statistic. They point out four important methods of
establishing self-efficacy, and explain what to work on in those
crucial six months.
Self-efficacy
combines with outcome expectation to predict success or failure,
which is another way to say that if you think you can't, you can't.
The four ways to build exercise self-efficacy and therefore increase
likelihood of success are:
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1) Learn the
techniques and principles of exercise, then practice for mastery.
Watch a fitness professional demonstrate the technique or machine,
then work on it while he/she watches you and comments on body
alignment, breathing, and other principles. Self-efficacy will build
as you practice performing the exercise correctly.
2) Observe
other regular exercise enthusiasts who have become successful and
stuck with their program for a while; find someone in your age group
if possible, or someone who has been in the same condition you are
in now.
3) Expect
positive verbal feedback from the exercise leader or fitness
professional you are paying; this encouragement is important and
should be specific. Focus on how lively and energetic you feel.
Later, fitness tests that assess physical improvement will work to
reinforce positive expectations, but the improvement won't be
dramatic until that six-month hurdle has been passed.
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4) Learn
about the disease risk of sedentary practices. Nothing so galvanizes
self-efficacy as knowing that exercise modifies the health risks
associated with inactivity.
The self-efficacy of special skill, physical ability, and knowledge are
available, say the authors. Select an exercise you enjoy. Be aware
that changing from a structured exercise program to working out on
your own can present a challenge to continuing. But if you learn to
do the exercises correctly, watch individuals who have been in the
same physical condition as you do them correctly, get encouragement
and praise for doing them correctly and staying with it, and
internalize the positive reasons for continuing, your success will
lead you naturally to continue your exercise program. After that,
you'll serve as the example to someone else coming along who wants
to establish an exercise program but just can't seem to stick with
it.
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As our bodies change and age, our exercise regimen and outlook must
change as well. Athletes need to
hone their workouts for what they can do now – not what
they were once capable of.
More recently, scientists have found that
lifestyle change, sometimes
combined with drug therapy, can also reverse arterial damage, even
in people with advanced heart disease.
Many people will testify that
regular exercise improves their ability to
fall asleep and to sleep more soundly. Exercise helps decrease muscle
tension and improve sleep quality.
The objective for a health and
fitness professional is to complete a practical and reliable
body composition assessment
that facilitates any recommended lifestyle modifications in exercise and
dietary habits.
The trick to finding a
scholarship is to take a good look at yourself -- then see if
there’s a scholarship that fits what’s uniquely you. Start with a good
scholarship search book, program, or Web site.
What exercise is best for promoting a good night's sleep? This
varies from person to person. Experiment to find what works best for
you. Both timing and type of workout are important.
Athletes need to learn to
regulate their exercise and workout
intensity using subjective sensations of how hard an exercise feels.
Bevill State Community
College offers grants, scholarships and work-study programs to
assist students with their cost of education.
Game Day By
Alexis Gilmore. The noise from people cheering faded out by the
thoughts in my own head. As I’m dribbling down the court, I watch my
opponent and check for an open player on the court.
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