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The Effects of Two Self-Regulation Interventions to Increase Self-Efficacy and Group Exercise Behavior in Fitness Clubs

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Studies on the adoption and maintenance of group exercise behavior are scarce. The objective of this study is to test two self-efficacy based interventions to increase barrier self-efficacy and group exercise behavior. In total 122 participants (Mage 42.02 yr.; SD 12.29; 67% females) were recruited and randomly assigned to one control and two experimental groups. The con-trol group was limited to participate in one virtual group exer-cise program only (group 1). The first experimental group was able to self-set their activities and participate in multiple group exercise programs (group 2). The second experimental group received an additional monthly coaching protocol to manage self-set goals (group 3). A validated scale for barrier self-efficacy was used, group exercise sessions were measured and drop-out rates were registered. An ANOVA indicated that mean amount of sessions of group 1 and 3, and 2 and 3 differed signif-icantly (p < 0.05) in 12 weeks. Descriptive statistics demonstrate mean group exercise sessions over the total of 12 weeks of 2.74 (SD 4.65) in the control group; 4.75 (SD 6.08) in the first exper-imental group, and 12.25 (SD 9.07) for the second experimental group. Regression analysis indicated that self-efficacy at 8-weeks explained the highest variance in overall group exercise sessions (R2 = 0.18; p < 0.05). Overall drop-out rates were 88% in group 1, 78% in group 2 and 48% in group 3. The results showed that group exercise behavior can significantly be im-proved by a coaching protocol on self-set goals. Future research should address the effectiveness of self-set activities and self-set goals for a longer period of time and in other types of exercise programs.