TWE #13: 3 simple ways to boost pleasure and enjoyment during exercise

Read time: 5 minutes

Your lungs are burning.

Muscles aching.

Legs shaking.

It’s at this point you wonder: is this what I have to put myself through to be healthy?

This may sound familiar.

It’s true not everyone likes exercise. In fact, some find it downright unpleasant.

But what most don’t realise is it doesn’t have to be this way.

And, there are simple strategies to make exercise “feel” better.

Why is pleasure or enjoyment so important anyway?

If given a choice, we usually opt to do things that make us feel good, and avoid things that make us feel bad.

It’s our pleasure-seeking tendencies that often direct us away from exercise towards more sedentary options.

The good news is we can modify exercise to boost pleasure and enjoyment.

And in doing so, this can help make exercise something we actually want to do more often.

The factors that can influence how we "feel" during exercise are considered either intrinsic or extrinsic:

Intrinsic: related to the way exercise is prescribed (Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type or FITT)
Extrinsic: any other factors (such as listening to music, nutrition, or exercise location)

Understanding the role of these factors can inform practical strategies to make exercise "feel" better.

So, let's dive in.

NOTE: This is the first installment of a 2-part series on how to make exercise “feel” better. To kick it off, this week we’ll cover exercise-related (instrinsic) factors that influence pleasure during exercise, followed by extrinsic factors next week.

The importance of exercise intensity

Intrinsic factors that may influence pleasure during exercise relate to how exercise is prescribed.

These include frequency (how often), intensity (how hard), time (how long), or type (such as cardio or weights).

Of these, exercise intensity is the main factor that seems to influence the pleasure or displeasure experienced during exercise (otherwise known as affective responses).

As we’ve covered previously, how people feel during exercise seems to depend on the intensity “domain”.

As summarised in the diagram below:

"Moderate" exercise results in pleasant affective responses for most people
"Heavy" exercise results in variable affective responses (mixed feelings of displeasure and pleasure)
"Severe" exercise is associated with displeasure for most people

For these reasons, it’s been argued the likelihood of exercise intensity to generate positive feelings should be a primary concern when prescribing exercise. That's of course alongside other important factors like safety and effectiveness.

So, can we adjust exercise intensity to optimise pleasure?

The good news is yes, we can.

There are 3 simple strategies we can use to adjust exercise intensity to improve pleasure:

Self-selected intensity
Pleasure-guided intensity
Patterns of intensity

Let's unpack each:

Strategy #1: Self-selected intensity:

When given the option, most people choose exercise intensities not expected to cause displeasure.

This seems to be most often towards the upper end of the "moderate" domain, just prior to the ventilatory threshold.

But in research and practice, people are often told to exercise at a certain intensity.

This may increase the risk of experencing displeasure during exercise, and potentially dropout as a result.

Allowing people to choose their own exercise intensity may therefore help people stick to exercise longer-term.

And, there is some research evidence to back this up.

One study found that people allowed to choose their own walking speed walked about 26 more minutes per week than those told to walk at a moderate intensity.

A follow-up study found self-paced exercisers had more positive affective experiences during exercise, which also explained their better adherence to the exercise.

So, focusing less on hitting a specific intensity (like pace or weight lifted) during exercise, and letting our "feelings" guide us instead, could help make exercise more enjoyable.

This brings us to the second strategy:

Strategy #2: Pleasure-guided intensity:

Another way to boost pleasure during exercise is to learn to exercise at intensities that feel good.

In other words, to become more attuned to how we feel during exercise. From there, we can let how we feel - rather then “external” metrics (like maintaining a certain pace or weight lifted) - dictate our intensity.

To do this, a simple measure such as the "Feeling Scale" can be used.

This scale allows one to rate their current feelings from -5 or "very bad" to +5 or "very good":

It's not yet clear if allowing pleasure to guide exercise intensity can help people stick to exercise long-term - but preliminary results are promising.

In one study, inactive females completed 8 weeks of "affect-guided" training where they were coached to maximise pleasure during exercise.

Compliance with the program was very high (92%), which as a bonus also improved markers of aerobic fitness.

Allowing pleasure to guide our intensity ties in closely with self-selecting intensity, which together may help make exercise a more positive experience.

Strategy #3: Pattern of intensity:

What we recall about an experience plays a big role in determining if we want to have that experience again.

After an exercise session, it turns out what we remember about how it "felt" is not just determined by the average pleasure experienced over the session.

Instead, certain aspects of the session seem more influencial.

These include the:

"Peak" (most intense moment)
"End" (final moment); and
"Trend" (whether an experience becomes more positive or negative over time)

We know exercise at very high intensities is not pleasurable for most people.

So, avoiding a high "peak" moment during a session can obviously help limit negative feelings.

But even if higher intensities are reached during a session, decreasing intensity towards the end - and finishing on a more positive note - may improve affective responses.

In one study, exercisers who decreased intensity over time during exercise remembered the experience to be more pleasurable, predicted future exercise experiences to be more pleasurable, and enjoyed the exercise more.

Similar findings have also been seen with resistance training.

This study had participants complete 3 sets of 10 repetitions (for six exercises) on two occasions. In one condition, the intensity (load) was increased during the session (55%, 65%, 75% 1-RM), and in the other, the intensity pattern was reversed.

During the decreasing-intensity (load) condition, participants reported more enjoyment and pleasure (both shortly after and 24-hours after exercising) compared to the increasing-intensity condition.

The findings of these and other studies suggest both the ‘end’ and ‘trend’ intensity patterns play a key role in how pleasurable the experience is.

Practical tools to maximise exercise pleasure

Many of us have been conditioned to believe exercise has to be negative experience.

And if it isn’t, it just ain’t going to “work”.

This is problematic since for most of us, it's near impossible to sustain something that isn't enjoyable.

But - the experience of exercise can be improved with some simple tweaks.

These strategies can target the “peak”, “end”, and “trend” components of a session:

A more pleasant “peak” moment (avoid overly-high intensities)
“End” on a positive note (reduce intensity at the end of the session)
“Trend” towards more positive experiences (reduce intensity throughout session, or if unpleasant feelings arise, ensure more pleasure is experienced as exercise progresses).

Boosting pleasure and enjoyment during exercise could play a big role in helping to establish a consistent exercise routine.

And as we know, anything that helps us keep showing up to exercise is likely to benefit our health and fitness in the long run.

So there we have it - exercise-related (or intrinsic) factors that influence pleasure during exercise. Stay tuned for next week where we’ll cover other (extrinsic) strategies to help make exercise a more positive experience.

Thanks for reading!

Until next week,

Jackson

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IMPORTANT:

The information contained herein is of general nature only and does not constitute personal advice. You should not act on any information without considering your personal needs, circumstances, and objectives. Any exercise program may result in injury. We recommend you obtain advice specific to your circumstances from an appropriate health professional before starting any exercise program.