Who Else Knows Weight Training Increases Exercise Motivation?

Who Else Knows Weight Training Increases Exercise Motivation?

Committing and sticking to a strength training program increases your motivation to do it.

Who knew?

A study coming out of the University of Jyväskylä (good luck training to pronounce that!), Finland finds that “nine months of regular resistance training increased the intrinsic motivation for both training and physical activity in general: the subjects started to enjoy exercising." And that’s not all.

The same study discovered these insights:

• Exercise planning for participants increased, showing that they began thinking about “how to start and maintain a physically active lifestyle.”
• After completing the study, 46% of the participants continued strength training of their own accord.
• Of the participants who continued their strength training, around 50% of them trained once-a-week on average and the other half twice-a-week over the following year.

The key insight tells us that the “intrinsic motivation for exercise and increasing confidence” is vital for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and continuing it independently.

The study examined 104 healthy adults ranging in age from their 60s to 70s. This makes the last finding even more powerful. People in the later stages of life produced intrinsic motivation to strength train based on the self-belief of achieving their goals.

TL;DR: Strength training spurs more exercise planning, helps you enjoy the activity more and will boost your dedication to it in the long term.

About Habit Formation

An interesting issue underlies exercise motivation, and that’s how long it takes to form a habit. Many of us have heard the supposed maxim that it takes 21 days to form a habit. This is internet folk wisdom and doesn’t hold up to data.

The truth is that forming a habit can take anywhere from 21 to 254 days, which falls into line with the methodology and findings of the Finnish study. If you want to drink a glass of water every morning, 21 days might work for that habit. But for other more challenging habits, more time is required.

To learn more about habit formation, and the time that’s required, read this article from Brain Pickings. I’ve read Brain Pickings for years, and highly recommend it for all of your intellectual cravings and curiosities.

If after reading this blog, you’ve decided that strength training is the thing to do, learn more about the subject, here and here.

If you’ve found that strength training has increased your motivation, or provided you with similar results found in the Finnish study, by all means, please tell us in the comments. We’d love to hear your story.

Thanks for reading Fringe Nation. Stay awesome and gift life a lift!