‘other guys’…and what might motivate them

While doing a review for a new wellness textbook by McGraw-Hill, a thought struck me about how hard it is to motivate college students to maintain their physical health through regular exercise and appropriate eating habits. I’ve studied motivation for several years, and my master’s thesis is actually on the subject of exercise adherence … yet, the drive (or lack thereof) of the typical college student to be physically healthy is a conundrum to me. I mean, I understand the motivation on athletes and those who adhere to exercise … but what about the other guys (and gals)? What’s holding them back? I decided to consult one of my most trusted students, Todd Fiedler, and get his opinion on the subject. What follows is mostly his commentary on my idea. I think it’s rather insightful, and I hope it will generate some good discussion in the blogosphere.

A Fiedler original

(First, to set the tone, a little background on Todd and me: He just finished his third year at Huntington University in my Applied Exercise Science program. He is an excellent athlete, a top-notch student, and a budding scholar. Last January he co-taught an off-campus course with me and another student leader, Molly [read a little about her, and a short mention about him, here], which was a resounding success. Todd and I presented some original research at a conference in June of this year about the wellness habits of a particular professional organization. He is a runner and thrower on our intercollegiate track & field team, teaches fitness classes for the University’s Recreation Sports program, and just completed a great internship in strength and conditioning in Arizona. He is also a talented artist; I’ve provided a sample of his work – this logo was designed for a wellness fair, F.I.T.T. Fest, that my senior students put on every spring. I count him as a friend and someone whom I can bounce professional ideas off of. He’s one of those rare individuals who doesn’t need Facebook or Twitter to feel significant, and if you’re really interested in learning more about him, you can follow his blog, My Quest Towards Personal Excellence and/or YouTube feed.)

My initial thought for Todd:
In wellness, it’s not unusual to try to motivate people to be more healthy by emphasizing the problems with inactivity and disease. It’s basically a motivation by fear. I wonder what would be a better motivator: fear or the opportunity for success. We could simply ask people in a series of questions something like: Of the two, which is more motivating for you: a) heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, or b) individuals with
 a high VO2max are capable of doing countless activities without tiring or fatiguing. (Something like that.)

Todd’s response:
I think any time you can appeal to both logic and emotion, the impact is going to be much greater, in this case, positive. I’m a big fan of not re-inventing the wheel, so when I read your e-mail, a few companies/ advertisements popped into my head:

1. There is one commercial about diabetes with a black lady on an exercise bike. You’ve probably seen it. She’s working hard and sweating, suddenly she stops and has a daydream about what her family’s life  would be like without her. She pictures her kids at her grave stone. I think the slogan is… ‘Diabetes doesn’t wait for tomorrow’. After this she is motived to keep exercising, so she smiles and starts biking even harder this time.
2. Other commercials include ones for like arthritis where people can’t do anything and then they take certain medication which allows them to exercise and play with their grandkids and pets.

With positive motivation being both logic and emotional, we need to think about men (mostly motivated by logic) and women (mostly motivated by emotion). That’s why I think incorporating both is very important. The things I listed above are pretty much on the emotional side of things, and although compelling, I’m not extremely motivated by them. Could be because I’m already fit, or maybe because I’m a man.

Also, I think we need to take into account that there are some students in wellness and life that just don’t really care to be fit or don’t want to travel, hike, or be always active. For us it’s easy…we want to be in great shape, athletic, always going going going, and healthy. Some…a lot of students…don’t care about sports or exercising a lot. They might not even consider a pick up game of basketball entertaining. But, I think we athletic crowd meet the others at ‘healthy’. I think everyone wants to be healthy in some sense of the word. I think a lot of people feel healthy that don’t meet all of the standards and guidelines too. So, when I look at question b), I think for myself, “yeah, that’s a great motivation!”…but when I look through the lens of the ‘other guy’ I think… “so what? I’m never tired or fatigued because I don’t run around doing a bunch of time-consuming exercise or boring sports, and I’m in great health. I don’t have heart disease or high blood pressure, and I don’t eat a ton of junk.”

As a student, I know there are a lot of other students that fall into the ‘other guy’ category. At least at HU, which may or may not be a fair representation of college aged students. Which is who this wellness textbook review is for right? I think the idea you have with positive motivation is the right one. As long as it appeals to logic and emotion, females and males, exercisers and ‘other guys’. So you’ll have to decide if you realize you’re not going to reach a large group of people OR if you want to reach the ‘other guys’…the motive questions are going to have to be much different than you or I might come up with ourselves.

I hope that makes sense or helps at all. It’s just over the last few years, I’ve sat in class and read these books and seen more than half of my classmates look at statistics, questions, and facts and go…’who cares’. And I think it’s because nobody think of them…’other guys’…and what might motivate them. All these books are written with a sport/athletic/exercise mentality by people who are from that background. Which is ironic because since they are not one of those people who they are trying to motivate (the obese, diseased, un-fit), they are blind and cannot actually reach/motivate that group. I’d like to see a wellness book written by on of the ‘other guys’. 🙂

I also think motivation doesn’t last long meaning student’s are really only concerned with the now. They realize most of the benefits of exercise/healthy eating for the future…but they really only care what it’s going to do for them now.

What I really appreciate about Todd’s response is that he is living the college life right now. He is very much in that world and understands the pressures, constraints, and motivation that college students have. I don’t know if he’s right, but I have a feeling that he probably is.

What do you think?

Related articles

• The Six Steps Toward Wellness (rhonda27405.wordpress.com)
• Introducing the Athleciser (ruizmd.wordpress.com)
• How To Get Motivated to Exercise (fit.webmd.com)
• “Self-motivation” is rubbish! (coachmi.wordpress.com)
• Behavior Change and Exercise adherence: Finding the Motivation for Exercise and Fitness Within (pmumba.wordpress.com)