Men who planned gym times and trained with coaches were more active
Who it’s about: Adults, Students, Workers
- Helped
Men who planned set exercise times, laid out gym clothes and trained with coaches moved more than men without it.
- Rule: Write down when and wheretested
- Rule: Put a visible cue where you'll do ittested
- Action: Exerciseused
- Rule: With a coach or therapistused
- Rule: Practise with a groupused
Trial, groups not picked at random of 139 inactive men at a Saudi university · vs men who got no programme · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ numbers unreliable
The study
Who took part
139 men aged 18 to 55 in Saudi Arabia, staff and students at one university, who did less exercise than advised. They were about 35 on average and most were overweight; 74 were in the programme group and 65 in the other group, but the paper also says only 106 were counted.
What they did
The programme group had one session on building habits. They wrote plans with set exercise times and laid out their gym clothes as a cue. Then they did 4 coached gym sessions of an hour a week for 12 weeks. The other group got no programme, and people were not put into groups by chance.
What happened
After 12 weeks the programme group did about 254 minutes of brisk exercise, against 192. They took about 6,100 steps a day, against 4,700, and weighed about 79 kg, against 87. The other group also moved a bit more. The paper's numbers don't fully add up. It is also not clear if a device measured the exercise or the men reported it.
Source
Assessing adiposity indicators in short-term physical activity-based-programs: The impact of university resources on habit formation (2025)
DOI: 10.29333/ejgm/16259 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Rule · where5
Put a visible cue where you'll do itA sticker, poster, object or wearable prompt at the point of action.
