do women exercise

8/7/2019 Do women exercise

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Women and Barriers to Exercise Eilis Sheridan Tray

Do women

exercise enough?A research project designed to identify what

barriers exsist to prevent women from

exercising.

May 2010

Eilis Sheridan Tray

Glossop Adult Education

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SUMMARY

CONTENTS

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1.0. Introduction Page

4

2.0. The meaning of Exercise and its Related Terms

Pages 5-7

3.0. Methodology Page 8

4.0. Findings and discussion Pages

9-16

5.0. Conclusion Page

17

6.0. Recommendations Page

17

7.0. References and Bibliography Page

18-19

8.0. Appedixes Pages

20-24

8.1. Questionairre

8.2. HSE/2007: Proportion participating in any sports andexercise

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8.3. HSE/2007: Barriers to doing more physical exercise

8.4. HSE/2007: What would encourage more exercise..

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Having been given the topic of exercise as a broad guideline for a

research project I began to investigate via the internet the types of topical

issues which were apparent today. According to The Taking Part Survey

(2007), women had been clearly identified as a target group needing to

improve their uptake of sporting activities. (Department for Culture,

Media and Sport, 2008). On further investigations I came across several

other articles which hinted that excuses were common when it came to

not doing enough exercise. I started to reflect on my own experiences.

Through my recent studies in human biology I was fully aware of the

health benefits of exercise and increased physical activity but my

participation was sporadic, to say the least. I decided to target a group of

female peers (mums with families) and identify their attitudes to exercise.

I wanted to gauge whether they were participating sufficiently, whether

they in fact were aware of the health guidelines and if not- why not?

I wanted to prove or disprove my hypothesis:

Women dont partake in sufficient sporting activities, largely

due to perceived barriers to exercise

My aim from this was to be able to ascertain the nature of these barriers,

in order to make recommendations as to how these they may be

overcome. I wanted suggest how to support women in doing sufficient

amounts of physical activity, thus meeting the governmentrecommendations which currently exist.

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The importance of exercise and physical activity will be further discussed

in the following chapter The Meaning of Exercise and its Related Terms.

The method of gaining primary data was stipulated in the assignment as

being a questionnaire. It was recommended that this should provide

mainly quantitative data with one or two questions giving qualitative

insight. (see Methodology for more detail).

The results of the questionnaire were then to be analysed and compared

to any existing secondary data which was relevant within the Findings and

Discussion. As mentioned previously the Health Survey published in

2007, and subsequently in 2008, proved very useful in providing relevant,

large scale data on attitudes and behaviour with regards to physical

activity. In addition I utilised the National Survey of Culture, Leisure and

Sport (2005/6) and a 2004 report by the Chief Medical Officer, entitled AtLeast five a week: evidence on the impact of physical activity and its

relationship to health. I have referred to several editorial articles with

regards to the importance of exercise (specifically women) to help put my

primary research in context of more large scale findings.

2.0. THE MEANING OF EXERCISE AND ITSRELATED TERMS

Exercise is defined as activity requiring physical effort carried out for the sake

of health and fitness (AskOxford.com). The act of exercise requires your

muscles to generate movement (BBC Science and Nature). Exercise can be

broadly broken down into endurance or resistance.

Endurance exercise, like running or cycling makes your muscles stronger

through movement of the body over a prolonged period. Endurance exercise is

often referred to as aerobic as it requires oxygen to be pumped around the bodyto supply the energy for the bodys movement. (about.com) Endurance exercise

utilises the respiratory and circulatory systems of the body to improve its

physical performance. Through pumping blood quickly around the body it

enlarges the heart and increases lung capacity. Other direct benefits to the body

are: that it makes your muscles stronger and less likely to tire over time;

improves the bodys metabolism; strengthens the skeleton; improves co-

ordination and optimises the workings of the digestive system.

Resistance exercise is the alternative (or supplementary) type of exercise. This

involves weight machines or free weights and requires the muscles to lift theheavy load. By lifting the muscles are required to contract which leads to an

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increase in the number of contractile filaments within your muscle cells (BBC

Science and Nature) and in effect, makes the muscles bigger. It also benefits us

by: slowing down the natural aging process whereby we lose muscle strength

and mass; helps build bone strength and increases metabolic rate.

(emedicinehealth.com)

Some forms of exercise combine both endurance and resistance methods, for

example swimming.

Physical activity can take the form of exercises as described above. This can

include an organised sport or gym activity but More commonly refers to being an

also include being physically active in your normal day to day routine. Walking

to school or work, taking a flight of stairs instead of a lift, or having a game of

hide and seek is considered being physically active and this will improve an

individuals fitness which optimises health and help prevent certain illnesses,

elongating life. The Chief Medical Officer, in his report entitled At least five a

week: evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship to health

quotes CJ Caspersen, from a public health report of 1985, when defining physical

activity as Any force exerted by skeletal muscle that results in energy

expenditure above resting level. Within this there are differing levels of

intensity creating varying levels of energy and this will depend on how hard a

person is working. ( At least five a week: evidence on the impact of physical

activity and its relationship to health, 2004) .

Physical activity is an important health issue........there is evidence that physical

inactivity is associated with many chronic conditions, including ischemic heart

disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, certain types of cancer and obesity. Physicallyactive adults have 20-30% reduced risk of premature death and up to 50%

reduced risk of developing major chronic diseases ( Health Survey for England

2007:71).

According to an article from BBC news, a survey conducted by The Chartered

Society of Physiotherapy, polled 2084 adults. 63% admitted not taking enough

exercise and moreover, 20% said they exercised only once a month. (BBC News

online 2009). In addition modern lifestyles have become full of many labour

saving devices and convenient services that our normal everyday level of

activity has decreased dramatically.

In response to growing concerns over modern sedentary lifestyles and increased

obesity figures, guidelines for recommended levels of exercise were reiterated in

2004 by the Chief Medical Officer. At least five a week: evidence on the impact

of physical activity and its relationship to health was published and has been

the subject of many health promotion campaigns ever since. Most notable the

Change4life campaign which has been running recently has attempted to

increase public awareness of the need to become more active. The definition of

the recommended level of physical activity for adults is being active

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...on at least five days a week, at moderate or greater intensity, for at least 30

minutes a day. This can be either in one session or in a number of shorter bouts

of activity of 10 minutes or longer (Health Survey for England 2007:72, quoting

from at least five a week...). This figure rises to 60 minutes for children.

The Health Survey of 2007 identified that only 6% of men and 9% of womencorrectly specified the amount of physical activity that had been recommended

by the Chief Medical Officer, thus often failing to meet these recommendations

and in turn putting themselves at risk of certain health issues through their

inactivity.

The NHS has targeted fitness as a public awareness issue. According to their

website the benefits of optimum physical activity include:

Better health- reduced risk of Heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, arthritis,

type 2 diabetes,

More energy

Reduced stress

Stronger bones and muscles

Better balance, strength, suppleness and mobility

Improved sleep

Improved body shape

Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight

More social opportunities

A sense of achievement

More independence later in life (NHS

choices 2010)

In terms of supporting these benefits one of the most obvious links is to

obesity and the associated health issues that it brings. Obesity is

responsible for 9000 premature deaths a year in this country, and is a major

contributory factor to heart disease as well as being closely linked with

several cancers, most convincingly, bowel cancer. (BBC.co.uk.health).

In addition, recent links have been made between increased exercise and

improved mental health. A BBC news article cited a survey of 200 English

GPs and found that as many as 22% were now prescribing exercise to help

people with depression. This was felt to be due to the release of feel good

chemicals such as endorphins and it was also found to improve self esteem,

body image and even sociability. (BBC news online 2008). It has also beensuggested that by being more active and increasing brain function, you may

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A questionnaire is an example of a primary research method. Primary

research is that which has been collected for the first time, for the

researchers own purposes. It provides raw, up to date, data which can be

precisely targeted to the researchers own aim or hypothesis.

Our questionnaire (see appendix 1) was devised, to provide mainly

quantitative data on women and exercise behaviour and attitudes. This

means that the data is numerical, and will provide a statistical overview of

the sample used. A quantitative approach means data is easy to gather,

interpret and replicate and through the use of tables or graphs is easily

absorbed. Nine of the ten questions were of a quantitative nature. This

provided us with a body of data, creating statistical information to be

discussed in the findings section of this report. We were advised to

include 1 qualitative question (question 7- see appendix 1) to provide

more insight in to individual behaviour and attitudes. The aim of a morequalitative approach is to allow the sample to express their inner most

feelings on the subject, allowing the researcher to step in to these peoples

shoes. This can be difficult to interpret and can be open to distortion in

analysis as well as sometimes proving anecdotal. It is however good

practice to include at least one qualitative question in order to gauge the

views of the respondent to the subject at hand. This can sometime alert

the researcher to key issues, and help avoid serious errors of judgement

with respect to design and implementation of the research (Moonie (ed.)

2006:282). It was decided that the qualitative question would be thequestion most closely linked to the hypothesis- namely, the actual barriers

to exercise.

The sampling frame was identified as being mums with young children

and the quota had been set in the brief as between 10 and 20

respondents. I decided on obtaining 15 respondents (my quota) and to

utilise my friends and neighbours so in effect I used a quota method in

conjunction with a voluntary sampling approach. I spoke to mums in the

school playground and those who offered to take a questionnaire became

my sample. I retrospect this may not provide the most representative

data as self selection can mean a form of bias exists inherently in the

sample. It is highly likely that those people who did not do a lot of

exercise would not want to complete a questionnaire regarding their

participation, as this might make them feel bad about themselves. It is

therefore necessary to take this possible lack of representativeness into

consideration when analysing the findings. The response rate however

was a success as 100% of the sample returned their completed

questionnaire. (Haralambos, 2008)

4.0. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

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4.1 How much exercise do women do?

33%

53%

14%

fig 1. Do you partake in exercise for at least

30 mins, 5 times a week?

Yes

I do less

I do more

The above findings show that less than half the women questioned were

partaking in the recommended amount of exercise per week. This

supports much secondary data which show figures for women partaking in

exercise as being worryingly low. The Womens Sport and Fitness

Foundation (WSFF) are largely concerned with this trend, claiming that

80% of women dont do enough physical activity to benefit their health.

(Womens Sport and Fitness Foundation). It can therefore be seen that

our sample are partaking in physical activity to a higher degree than what

is thought to be the case, country wide. These figures could be

substantiated by results of a Survey of Culture Leisure and Sport

(2005/2006). Here it was identified that participation in rural areas was

traditionally higher than that of urban areas. (Taking Part Survey 2005/6).

It could also be a reflection of the volunteer method of sampling used.

Once an individual realised the survey was about exercise they may nothave agreed to take one if they felt they did not do enough exercise, as it

was likely to make them feel badly about themselves. A more structured

approach to sampling may overcome any bias in respondents and

therefore increase reliability and validity of results.

Figures produced by Sport England in their Active People Survey

(2007/2008) show that female participation in sport has increased from

12.3% to 13.2% over a two year period. However females are well below

male participation at 20%. (Active People Survey 2). It may well have

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been an interesting addition to the questionnaire to ask a sample of men

also in order to gain comparative data in the geographic area.

The Health Survey for England (HSE) 2008 measured self reported

physical activity levels and again the figures show a poorer uptake by

women, in all age groups between ages 16 to 54. It was only in the ages

55 and over where women were exceeding men in participation and that

has been accredited to a steeper decline in amount of physical activity in

men over 55 (see appendix 9.2).

Generally speaking, our data supports the hypothesis and concludes that

women are not doing enough exercise.

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4.2. What are the barriers to exercise?

The qualitative question in our questionnaire was regarding what stopspeople from exercising. As a qualitative question, and one which was

central to the research project I had hoped the respondents would be

quite expressive in this area and left it completely open to them. The

results were not as descriptive as I had hoped but did highlight some key

obstacles to doing exercise. The most common reason for lack of exercise

was time, closely followed by family and work commitments, motivation

and money. There were some minority barriers such as being lazy or

back problems but the majority of people mentioned lack of time.

The HSE of 2007 found that the most common reasons for women notdoing more exercise was work commitments and lack of leisure time,

which mirrors our primary research (see appendix 9.3). Caring for

children or older people was the third most popular reason given, which

again ties in with our findings. Other research has also found that young

women may be discouraged from participation in physical activity by

perceptions that sport is unfeminine (Health Survey for England

2007:83). This is a theory also of concern to The Womens Sport and

Fitness Foundation who feel there are very few positive female sporting

role models and that this could be contributing to why women, generally,are not as physically active as men. (BBC news online 2007). This

however, was not something that was mentioned by any of our sample.

The information in both the primary and secondary data pip-points time as

the main barrier to exercise. The question remains is that a real or

perceived barrier to achieving more physical exercise? One respondent

said the reason they didnt exercise was feeble excuses and this may be

closer to the truth of the matter. This is an area that requires further in

depth study in order to ascertain the true nature of womens behaviour

and there is a need to gain more insightful qualitative date in order toincrease the validity of any conclusions drawn.

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4.3. What are the motivators to exercise?

Moving on to what does motivate our sample to exercise, the

overwhelming reason was the health benefits it offers, closely followed by

being an example to children and desire to lose weight (see fig.2.). This

mirrors the conclusions drawn by the Chief Medical Officer in his 2004

report (At least five a week: Evidence on the impact of physical activity

and its relationship to health). It states The scientific evidence is

clear....we now need a cultural shift to achieve these goals.

14%

32%

9%4%

18%

9%

4%5%

5%

fig.2. What motivates you to exercise?

Desire to lose weight

Health benefits

Social activity

Habit

As an example to my children

Dog ownership

It's my jobTo have time on my own

Like being outside

This is a positive result and may serve to prove that health promotion

does work, where a clear link can be made by people that exercise keepsyou healthy. A weakness of the questionnaire is that this question was

only asked of those who already exercised. It would have been

interesting to identify potential motivating factors to those who do not

currently exercise. The HSE of 2007 provides some interesting secondary

data in response to the question What would encourage adults to do

more physical activity, exercise or sport. (see appendix 9.4.) The results

showed men and women agreeing that more leisure time, greater self

motivation, own ill health or advice from a doctor or nurse, would all serve

to achieve a greater participation in physical activity.

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The fact that 18% of our sample indicated that being a good example to

their children was an important motivator is another positive sign.

Childhood obesity has been a priority for the government and much

health promotion. The Change 4 Life campaign targeted families with

children as needing more physical activity. The figures produced from ourprimary research suggest that the message is proving successful. Parents

are responding to the need to make exercise part of their routine and this

should help to positively impact on future generations and their health.

4.4. What exercise do women do?

47%

12%

17%

6%

12%

6%

fig.3. What type of exercise/sport do youdo?

Walk

Run

Cycle

Swim

Gym

Karate

Nearly half of our sample achieved their physical activity through walking.

The Womens Sport and Fitness Foundation conducted some research,

which has been highlighted by Bupa, saying that 60% of women prefer to

walk (or swim), rather than play a team sport, which supports our

research (Bupa, 2007). This underlines the fact that women lead busy

lives and do not often have the time for a structured exercise routine.

However, where they have an awareness and desire to make physical

activity part of their weekly routine, walking seems to be the most

conducive and successful method.

The issue of intensity of exercise is not clarified within our survey. In

order to produce really reliable data, one would really need to ensure that

the definition and intensity of the exercise undertaken would need to be

clear and consistent across the sample. Walking can mean an amble or a

power walk and further classification would be necessary in order toproduce really reliable data.

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4.5. What is the attitude of women towards

exercise?

26%

14%

34%

26%

fig.4. What is your attitude to exercise?

Love it

Hate it

Do it becasue I feel I should

I always try and find excuses

The fact that just over a quarter of our sample were aware they made

excuses not to exercise may serve to reinforce our suspicions about the

actual barriers to exercise that generally, women have. Combine this

figure with the half hearted response of do it because I have to (34%)

and we have over half our sample not committing to exercise. Again,

combine this with the 14% who openly admit that they hate exercise we

have only a quarter of the sample giving a positive love it answer. The

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy urge women to stop putting off

exercise in an article pointing out that exercise should no longer be put

on the backburner (The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, 2006). It

may be interesting to ascertain more detail as to why this half hearted

response to exercise is higher amongst women- is it a gendered, inherent

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response, is it our schools or peer group pressure or is it because women

feel guilty making time for themselves?

4.6. Health Awareness

34%

33%

33%

Fig.5. If you were to exercise for 10 mins 3times a day-is it as good as once for half an

hour?

Yes

No

Not sure

The above question was asked of the respondents in order to gauge their

awareness of physical activity and health. The Chief Medical Officer, in

the At Least Five a week report... states

The recommended levels of activity can be achieved by doing all the

daily activity in one session, or through several shorter bouts of activity of

10 minutes or more (At Least five a week: evidence on the impact of

physical activity and its relationship to health, 2004:3).

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I was trying to gauge, in a simplistic manner, whether my sample was

able to deduce this and therefore, act upon it. My sample was equally

split between agreeing, disagreeing and not being sure.

Other research designed to check peoples awareness of the guidelines

concerning physical activity exists. In 2007 the Health Survey of England

discovered that:

About a quarter of adults (27% of men and 29% of women) thought they

knew the current recommendations for physical activity, but when asked

how much physical activity they thought people their own age should do,

fewer than 1 in 10 adults specified a level equivalent to the Chief Medial

Officers minimum recommended target. Thus only 6% of men and 9% of

women thought people their age should participate in physical activity for

at least 30 minutes on at least 5 days per week. (Health Survey forEngland, 2007:69). However the sample did go on to agree that,

Physical activity was good even if it was only for 10 minutes at a time.

(Health Survey for England, 2007).

Our sample therefore shows a poorer understanding of the levels of

recommended activity than the larger scale research. Again a more in

depth, open ended question, asking for the actual figures relating to

recommended minutes of activity might be better equipped to gain insight

into peoples knowledge of what they should be doing. The question of

breaking the activity down into 10 minutes sessions can be misleading toa fit and physically active person as they may have a greater

understanding of the importance of intensity in exercise. However, in the

report At least five a week... the Chief Medical Officer states

Shorter bouts of activity offer an easier starting point for those who have

been inactive for some time and for those who have busy lifestyles and

find it hard to make activity a priority....there is an increasing consensus

that the volume of physical activity performed, regardless of intensity,

duration or frequency, is the critical health related dimension. ( At least

five a week: evidence on the impact of physical activity and its relationship tohealth, 2004).

There is therefore a degree of ambiguity in the wording of that question and the

conclusions that can be drawn from it.

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5.0. CONCLUSION

It is true to say that the women sampled are not partaking in enough exercise or

physical activity and that this data is supported with the secondary data utilised

in this report. Time and family commitments are definitely perceived as being

the main reasons why women feel they cannot partake in more physical activity.

The question remains is the lack of time a real or perceived barrier to

achieving the recommended amounts of physical activity?

The level of understanding regarding the recommendations of physical activity

is un-determined. Motivating factors are positive, in that the sample appears to

have a clear understanding of the health benefits of exercise and also the

importance of being an example to their children.

6.0. RECOMENDATIONS

My conclusions infer that women need to be more motivated in order partake in

more physical activity. Health awareness campaigns aimed at highlighting the

disparity between men and womens uptake, may help to educate women into

the importance of physical activity. This, in turn, may result in a rethink of daily

schedules, whereby more women may seek opportunities for walking to school,

work or the shops. Health promotion tools, such as The Change 4 life campaign,

could be updated temporarily to focus on women specifically, in a targetedapproach. The specific guideline of 30 minutes a day, five times a week, should

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be made as apparent as the five day campaign and be at the forefront of every

womens mind.

Further research is necessary in order to pin point other potential motivating

factors for those who do not currently perform enough physical activity.

However, secondary data suggests we invest more time and money on girls insport from an early age within educational and community settings. The

Womens Sport and Fitness Foundation has highlighted athletics and netball as

showing signs of increased uptake and some high profile media campaigns on

the back of this increase should further encourage growth and participation.

(Womens sport and Fitness Foundation,)

In my opinion the key is to motivate women to such a degree that they can

overcome barriers which they currently perceive as stopping them being

physically active.

7.0. REFERENCES

About.com, Endurance Training for Sports, 28/07/09 available at:

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04/10]

Active People Survey 2, 2007/8, One million sport participation indicator,

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http://www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey/active_people_surve

y_2/national_results.aspx[06/05/10]

AskOxford.com, exercise, available at:

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women-playing-sport-falling[06/05/10]

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7094936.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7234303.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8120726.stmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/articles/muscles/exercise/shtmlhttp://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/html/health_news/231107_women_exercise.htmlhttp://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/html/health_news/231107_women_exercise.htmlhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/taking_part_psa3.pdfhttp://www.emedicinehealth.com/strength_training/page4_em.htm%5B19/04/10http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE07/HSE%2007-volume%201.pdfhttp://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE07/HSE%2007-volume%201.pdfhttp://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE/HSE08?volume_1_physical_activity_and_fitness_revised.pdfhttp://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE/HSE08?volume_1_physical_activity_and_fitness_revised.pdfhttp://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/Whybeactive.aspx%5B17/04/10http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/3682.aspx%5B17/04/10http://www.csp.org.uk/director/press/pressreleases.cfm?item_=2C687371DD6D4Ehttp://www.csp.org.uk/director/press/pressreleases.cfm?item_=2C687371DD6D4Ehttp://www.wsff.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/number-women-playing-sport-fallinghttp://www.wsff.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/number-women-playing-sport-fallinghttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7094936.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7234303.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8120726.stmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/articles/muscles/exercise/shtmlhttp://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/html/health_news/231107_women_exercise.htmlhttp://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/html/health_news/231107_women_exercise.htmlhttp://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/taking_part_psa3.pdfhttp://www.emedicinehealth.com/strength_training/page4_em.htm%5B19/04/10http://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE07/HSE%2007-volume%201.pdfhttp://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE07/HSE%2007-volume%201.pdfhttp://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE/HSE08?volume_1_physical_activity_and_fitness_revised.pdfhttp://www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/HSE/HSE08?volume_1_physical_activity_and_fitness_revised.pdfhttp://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/fitness/Pages/Whybeactive.aspx%5B17/04/10http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/3682.aspx%5B17/04/10http://www.csp.org.uk/director/press/pressreleases.cfm?item_=2C687371DD6D4Ehttp://www.csp.org.uk/director/press/pressreleases.cfm?item_=2C687371DD6D4Ehttp://www.wsff.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/number-women-playing-sport-fallinghttp://www.wsff.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/number-women-playing-sport-falling


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World Cancer Research Fund, 2009, Moving More for Cancer Prevention,

available at: http://www.wcrf-uk.org/PDFs/move_more.pdf[19/04/10]

8.0. BIBLIOGRAPHYBell, J, 4th edition, 2009, Doing your Research Project, Open University Press,

Berkshire.

9.0. APPENDIXES

9.1. The questionnaireHi, I am a student in Health Studies and am conducting a questionnaire about exercise.

Please answer the following questions as honestly and accurately as you can.

1. Which age bracket do you fall into?

16-24 25-34

35-44 45-54

55+

2. Do you partake in exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week?(regularly) e.g. walk, cycle or take part in a sport or organised exercise

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Yes, I do about 30 minutes 5 times a week

No, I do less

No, I do more

3. If you do exercise- what motivates you to exercise? If you dont pleasego to question 6

Desire to lose weight Its a habit

Health benefits As an example to my child(ren)

Social activity Other.............................please state

.... ............................................................

(please include up to 3 reasons)

4. If you do exercise regularly what type of exercise do you do?

Walk Team sport e.g. football, rugby

Run Swim

Cycle . Gym

Other..............please state

(please include up to 3)

5. Do you/have you maintain(ed) this level of activity regularly i.e.

20 times in the last 4 weeks i.e. 5 times a week over the last month

more than 20 times in the last 4 weeks

4-19 times in the last 4 weeks

fewer than this

6. If you were to exercise for 10 minutes a day, 3 times a day, would this be as

good as once a day for half an hour?

Yes

No

Not sure

7. If you dont exercise- what stops you from exercising? Please be as honest

and frank as

possible..........................................................................................................

................

.......................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................

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.......................................................................................................................................

8. What is your attitude to exercise?

I love it- I cant get enough

I hate it

I do it because I feel I should

I always try to find excuses

Other............

................

(please state your attitude if it doesnt broadly fit into one of the above)

9. Have you ever taken part in a sponsored exercise fun run or group activitysuch as:

Race for Life Walk to School Week

Jog Derbyshire Sports Relief Fun Run

Midnight Wander (e.g. for Willow Wood)

Other.......................................................(please state)

10. Do you ever envisage yourself being motivated by such a sponsored event

or fun run?

Yes............................................................(please state which)and why

..................................................................................................................

Possibly.....................................................(please state which) and why

.......................................................................................................................

Never

Thank you so much for your time

9.2. HSE 2007, Proportion participating inany sports and exercise (for at least 10

continuous minutes) in the last four weeks,

by age and sex.

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9.3. HSE, 2007. Barriers to doing morephysical exercise

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9.4. HSE, 2007. What would encourageadults to do more physical activity, exercise

or sport, by age and sex.

do women exercise

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