The real amount of activity undertaken is significantly less than is reported by individuals


worrying consideration. When they tested actual activity levels (using accelerometers) against self-reported levels, the real amount of activity undertaken was signifi cantly less than had been reported by the individuals. This suggests that the scale of the inactivity problem is much greater than we currently believe.


attitudes towards physical activity For the first time, HAFOS asked some standardised questions relating to attitudes towards physical activity, and specifically around the current recommendations of ‘5 x 30 minutes’ of moderate activity. Among respondents, 60 per cent strongly agreed that moderate activity is good for you, while


61 per cent strongly agreed that you should keep it up for 30 minutes. However only 42 per cent strongly agreed that it needs to “get you out of breath” and only 16 per cent strongly agreed that you can achieve these levels of physical activity without doing sport or exercise (see Figure 2, p66). The responses to these questions


show that there is still some education to be done in terms of getting people to understand clearly what they need to be doing, how often and for how long, in order to gain maximum health benefi t.


motivation for change When asked why they wanted to be


more active, respondents’ views have changed very little since last year: most people (63 per cent) said they wanted


Figure 1 Would you like to do more physical activity/exercise? 75+


65-74 55-64 45-54 35-44 25-34 15-24


Hafos11 23% 39%


52% 53%


62% 69% 65% 56% 44% 77% 61%


48% 47%


38% 31% 35% YES NO


32 per cent of female respondents said they wanted to increase their activity in order to lose weight


to “improve their general health”, while 26 per cent said it was more about either improving their body shape and tone and/or maintaining or losing weight. Improving self-esteem, socialising and exercising for specific health issues were among the other reasons quoted. However, it’s important that


operators realise not just why people want to be more active, but also how motivating factors differ between different sub-groups of the population – age and gender, for example, have a signifi cant infl uence on these fi gures. This understanding should inform not just marketing and sales, but also retention strategies. Older people tend to take a more


holistic approach to physical activity – 81 per cent of 65- to 74-year-olds said they wanted to be more active to improve or maintain their health, compared with only 61 per cent of 35- to 44-year-olds. Meanwhile the research found that


women focused more on body shape and appearance as a factor – 32 per cent of female respondents said they wanted to increase their activity levels to lose weight and shape up, compared with only 21 per cent of male respondents.


january 2010 © cybertrek 2010 Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 65


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