Attitudes of overweight and normal weight adults regarding exercise at a health club.
OBJECTIVE
To compare attitudes of overweight (OW) and normal weight (NW) adults regarding health club exercise.


METHODS
A 46-item survey (23 pairs of attitude/value statements) measured attitudes toward exercising at a health club 30 minutes, twice a week, for a month.


METHODS
Survey posted on surveymonkey.com. Respondents (men = 730, women = 822).


METHODS
Attitudes toward exercise, exercise intent.


METHODS
t tests, Mann-Whitney rank sum, 2-way analysis of variance, Pearson rank correlations. Significance set at P < .05.


RESULTS
More than NW, OW believe exercise improves appearance (P < .001) and self image (P < .03). OW feel more embarrassed and intimidated about exercising, exercising around young people, exercising around fit people, and about health club salespeople than NW (P < .001). OW and NW feel the same about exercising with the opposite sex, complicated exercise equipment, exercise boredom, and intention to exercise. Age rather than weight affects exercise intent. OW Caucasians (C) have less exercise intent than OW non-C. OW women are more embarrassed about exercising than NW women and OW men. The heavier the subject's weight, the lower his or her perception of health (r = -0.53, P < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing the OW person's positive beliefs while decreasing negative beliefs about health club exercise will improve his or her intent to exercise at a health club.
Miller
Wayne C
WC
Department of Exercise Science, The George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA. wmiller@gwu.edu
Miller
Todd A
TA
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D020446:Fitness Centers; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States