OK, it's not the home gyms that don't work for some people, it's the people that don't work with home gyms. New York Times health columnist Tara Parker-Pope has done the research, and she reports that a study of 205 adults published in the the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that those with a home exercise machine were 73 percent more likely to start exercising, but after one year they were 12 percent more likely to have quit than people in the study who did not have home equipment. Parker-Pope found that having home exercise equipment or not having home exercise equipment had far less influence on stick-to-it-ness than did other factors, such as a conviction that one has the power to achieve his or her goals. "In the Annals study," Parker-Pope writes, "those who scored high on psychological measures of
self-efficacy were nearly three times as likely to be exercising after
a year as those with lower self-efficacy scores, whether or not they
owned an exercise machine."
Read more in the New York Times.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Who you callin’ a geezer? Just kidding.
I saw this article, too. If someone wants assurance before they buy a new home gym or other equipment, they could take a psychological self-efficacy test.
This means, basically, they should demonstrate an “I Can” attitude of confidence. We need to inspire this from an early age. All people of all ages should feel confident about exercise, at any age in life.