Search Weight Loss Topics:

Home » Exercise Programs » Researcher studies exercise dependence in weightlifters – Medical Xpress

April 7, 2017 Bruce Hale, professor of kinesiology at Penn State Berks, left, conducts research on exercise dependence. Credit: Penn State

Is it possible for people to become addicted to exercise? In a culture where 70 percent of the population is overweight or obese, and yet only 15 percent exercise regularly enough to gain health benefits, why should anyone bother to study people who may exercise too much and produce detrimental consequences? These are the questions that Bruce Hale, professor of kinesiology at Penn State Berks, ponders in his research on exercise dependence.

Hale states that perhaps by studying these individuals, researchers can begin to find more effective ways of using specific personal characteristics and situational influences to motivate people to stay more active.

"Evidence suggests that up to 3 to 4 percent of the population may suffer from exercise dependence, a condition where individuals feel compelled to exercise even when excessive exercise leads to medically, vocationally and socially adverse consequences and withdrawal symptoms when they are forced to stop," Hale explains.

"In our specific line of research, we have sought to understand why people continue to over-exercise in some weight lifting activities even though they are jeopardizing their health, reducing their career possibilities, and disrupting relationships with families and partners."

This line of research evolved from an undergraduate thesis of one of Hale's ex-bodybuilding students while he was teaching in the United Kingdom. This former bodybuilder was concerned and unable to understand why many of his old friends were spending all of their days in the gym to the detriment of career achievements and social relationships. Together, they devised and validated a new measurement inventory, the Bodybuilding Dependence Scale, over the next four years in a series of published studies to try to understand the psychological and social antecedents of exercise dependence in weight lifters.

They found that bodybuilders ranked significantly higher in exercise dependence and weight lifting identity, but lower in physical self-esteem than power lifters and fitness lifters. In addition, they showed that experienced bodybuilders also ranked higher in social support from other lifters, but lower in social physique anxiety than inexperienced bodybuilders. These initial results did not seem to differ for males or the few female bodybuilders they were able to measure.

When Hale joined the faculty of Penn State Berks in 2003, he was interested in resurrecting this line of research. He and an undergraduate student undertook another study to further validate a number of exercise-dependence questionnaires commonly used in the literature. In 2008, they reported that several of the better-validated inventories showed possible gender biases in various subscales that make up the exercise dependence construct, a potentially serious problem for researchers in the field. Next Hale found numerous male power-lifting and bodybuilding kinesiology majors at the collegeincluding Michael Briggs, who is now an Instructor in kinesiology at Penn State Berkswho wanted to collect more data for their theses on these cohorts.

Their 2010 published data showed that in this sample, both bodybuilders and power lifters were higher in exercise dependence than fitness lifters, but fitness lifters seemed to have a higher drive for muscularity, a finding they still cannot explain.

Finally in 2013, they returned to the question of whether exercise dependence was as prevalent in female bodybuilders as it has been in males. With the help of one female kinesiology major who participated in the "Arnold Bodybuilding Competition" in Ohio while collecting data, and another student who collected data from local female lifters for her thesis, they were able to gather enough information from female bodybuilders and fitness lifters to perform statistical analyses. The results showed that female bodybuilders were no different than their male counterparts: They too were much higher in multiple measures of exercise dependence than female fitness lifters.

Eighteen years of undergraduate research has resulted in eight published articles and six invited chapters, and Hale can say with some certainty that for a very small percentage of the exercising population (especially male and female bodybuilders and some weight lifters), exercise can become addictive.

But what can researchers learn from these individuals that might help to motivate others to undertake a regular healthy exercise regimen?

"First we know that people will start a program if their physical self-esteem and body image are low. Perhaps we can show these individuals that regular exercise, including weight lifting, can improve their fitness and make them feel better about the way they look. This initial motivator might keep people adhering to exercise programs," states Hale.

"Next, we have learned that committed exercisers usually set exercise goals. In order to avoid becoming addicted to only 'appearance goals' (muscle size, weight, etc.), it may be necessary to set 'fitness goals' (increased workout times, endurance goals, health-related cardiac goals) that benefit health and wellness in the long run and don't risk addiction to appearance goals.

"Finally, when we look at dependent weight lifters, we can see that a strong social support network of workout partners may be necessary for regular adherence to exercise. Most of us could benefit from recruiting others to regularly work out with us to help us maintain a healthy habit."

He summarizes by saying, "It is clear from these studies that undergraduate kinesiology research interests can produce some highly significant findings and useful practical applications for improving our health."

Explore further: Prior miscarriage, weight affect exercise, well-being in pregnant women

Women with a history of miscarriage and women who are overweight or obese prior to pregnancy tend to have poorer psychological health and lower motivation to exercise during their next pregnancy compared to women without ...

Prohibition is failing to curb recreational bodybuilders' use of performance and image-enhancing drugs, and the policy is sexist and causes harm, according to participants in a first-of-its-kind University of Queensland study.

If your New Year's resolution was to exercise more in 2017, chances are you've already given up or you're on the verge of doing so. To reach your goal, you may want to consider joining a gym, based on the results of a new ...

(HealthDay)If your New Year's resolution to get regular exercise is waning, there are a number of ways you can maintain your momentum, a nutrition expert says.

Having a hard time getting in shape? The key may lie in more intense, short bursts of exercise, according to new research from McMaster.

A University of Queensland researcher is trialling a 12-minute exercise plan that aims to fight type 2 diabetes in a flash.

Despite strong declines in the rate of tobacco smoking over the past 25 years, one out of every four men still smoke daily, as do one out of every 20 women.

Eating potassium-rich foods like sweet potatoes, avocados, spinach, beans, bananasand even coffeecould be key to lowering blood pressure, according to Alicia McDonough, PhD, professor of cell and neurobiology at the ...

Public attitudes in UK and USA reveal support both for life-sustaining interventions and for measures to enable peaceful death in progressive neurological illness such as dementia, according to a survey carried out by researchers ...

Body weight plays a significant role in how much benefit children may get from consuming "good" fats, new research suggests.

A simple test to determine a person's grip strength may be a predictor of developing metabolic disorders in middle or older age, a new cross-continental study has found.

A new Yale-led study reveals a distinct connection between drought exposure and adverse human health among older adults.

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Continued here:
Researcher studies exercise dependence in weightlifters - Medical Xpress

Your Full Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number
Select your age (30+ only)	30313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120
Select Your US State	Select Your StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington,DCWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Program Choice	Select Your ProgramInjectable HGHInjectable TestoteroneInjectable SermorelinInjectable Weight LossInjectable HCG DietInjectable Vitamins
Confirm over 30 years old	Yes
Confirm that you resident in USA	Yes
This is a Serious Inquiry	Yes
Message:

Home » Exercise Programs » Researcher studies exercise dependence in weightlifters – Medical Xpress