Effect of differing intensities of exercise on affect and enjoyment

The benefits of exercise are well-known and well-documented, yet adherence to exercise regimens is low. There is an intuitive connection between exercise enjoyment and increasing adherence to exercise programs. Exercise intensity may influence affect and enjoyment during exercise, which may help in prescribing exercise programs and increasing adherence rates. Purpose: To examine the intensity-affect relationship and its influence on exercise enjoyment. Methods: Participants (N=22; 12 females, 10 males; M age = 21.82 ±2.81 yrs) exercised at two different intensities [below ventilatory threshold (bVT), above ventilatory threshold (aVT)]. Heart rate (HR; Polar monitor) was assessed throughout each condition; affect was assessed pre-, immediately post-, 10-min post-, and 20-min post-exercise; enjoyment (PACES) was assessed immediately post-exercise; and Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) was assessed during exercise with Feeling Scale (FS) and Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) responses assessed before, during, and after exercise. Results: Self-reported enjoyment was not significantly different between the two conditions (p= .223). Some differences in affect were seen pre-to post-exercise, with increases in Energy and reductions in Tiredness and Calmness following exercise regardless of intensity condition. Tension increased following the aVT condition relative to the bVT condition. During exercise, aVT resulted in a reduction in affective valence compared to the bVT condition, which resulted in a steady increase in valence. Finally, there were no significant correlations between the affect measured during exercise and self-reported enjoyment. Conclusions: The findings are consistent with previous exercise intensity-affect research and extend that research by further examining the link between affect and enjoyment. Although enjoyment was not different between the two intensity conditions as expected, the results are discussed with respect to the affect-enjoyment-exercise adherence link