(Radio Iowa) - As we approach New Year's Eve, a common resolution is to get in better shape, and an Iowa State University psychology professor is studying ways to help make exercise a habit we enjoy.
Dr. Alison Phillips, a social and health psychologist at I-S-U, says they tried out a variety of strategies with an online exercise program to see what was most effective at making participants stick with it. Phillips says exercise preparation habits proved to be the best method. She says they guided participants to form habits around getting ready to exercise, essentially making sure they had everything they needed, perhaps packing a gym bag the night before and putting it in the car.
Phillips says enthusiastic participants in a sport often create an identity for themselves around that activity, and that identity can also be a powerful motivator.