Virtual Partner Can Double Exercise Performance

Your spouse can’t do it, your doctor can’t do it, but a virtual exercise partner can apparently double the time we spend exercising-happily. Go figure. A Michigan State University news release reports that researchers at the school’s department of kinesiology put 58 women on stationary bikes, and divided them into three groups. The first group exercised on their own alongside a virtual person, the second group exercised alongside a virtual person but also worked as a team, and the third group cycled alone. Wait, there’s more: the women in groups one and two were assigned a “virtually present partner” and were told their partner would be riding at the same time they were, on a similar bike in another lab. The women “met” their partners via a pre-recorded video-chat and were told their partner’s performance was moderately better than their own. While riding, the participants tracked their partner’s progress by watching what looked like a live feed but was in fact a recording. All riders rode a video-game exercise bike for as long as they felt comfortable. They then were asked to rate their intention to exercise again, how well they felt they had done and how tired they felt. What did the researchers find? Overall, exercising with a virtually present partner improved performance on the cycling task, and the women cycled longer when working alongside a more capable partner than when exercising alone. Those women who exercised as part of a team cycled, on average, two minutes longer than those who exercised independently with a partner – 22 versus 20 minutes – and twice as long as those who exercised without a partner – 22 versus 11 minutes. In terms of motivation, there was a marked decline in intent to exercise among those who cycled on their own, while those who cycled with a virtual partner reported no decline in motivation to exercise. Read more from Michigan State.