The Sassonomics Guide to Fitness Part 1 - Getting Social
It’s that time of year, people! New Years Resolutions abound about a happier and healthier you. But how do you actually keep that resolution all year long? Today’s Sassonomics Guide to Fitness will explore something we lovingly call ‘commitment mechanisms’.
Of those who make New Years Resolutions, getting in shape tends to top the list for about 50% of us. But how many people actually stick to these goals? Did you?
The evidence isn’t great. Strava – the social network for athletes – used their data (31.5 million logged activities) to find out the exact day that New Years Resolutions die: January 12th. That’s the day when motivation has burned out. Research has found that around 80% of people fail to keep their New Years Resolutions – fitness or not.
This does not bode well for us resolutioners. Luckily, behavioural science is here to help!
In a series of posts I’m dubbing The Sassonomics Guide to Fitness, we will be exploring different ways to get fit and keep fit, with the help of behavioural science.
The average New Years resolution dies on January 12 :(
Today’s Theme: Getting Social
We are social creatures. Think about it – yes, fitness is good for staving off illness, but it’s also a status mechanism to signal attractiveness to others – and to ourselves. There’s people around us and they can matter to our fitness goals.
In terms of the former, people have an internal motivation to see oneself in a positive light (a “positive self-image”). Working out, being fit, and feeling attractive is one way to achieve this. But in terms of the latter, people are also motivated to manage how other people see them (called “impression management”) and can be motivated to do things to avoid reputational damage.
One thing people do to avoid reputational damage is to keep their commitments – like, say, joining a skating team and showing up to every practice.
But if you are thinking about fitness – and in particular fitness in the age of COVID – three options to get social come to mind:
Working out at home doesn’t have to be hard!
Tip No. 1 - Find An Accountability Buddy
An accountability buddy is someone you ask to monitor how well you stick to your fitness routine. And perhaps you do the same for them. It makes it more difficult to skip your workout because you’ve made a commitment to your buddy. It change the narrative away from an isolated fitness journey to one where it’s not just about you anymore.
This tool is effective because of the concept of reciprocity, that is, a social norm where we expect and tend towards in-kind exchanges between people. If you do something for me (ex. commit to the fitness agreement), I feel the need to do the same thing, locking us into the fitness program.
This is a particularly useful tool in Covid, where we might not be able to work out together. You can choose to schedule synchronous workouts – or not. You can choose ways to prove you did your workout, or take each other’s word for it. It can be a big group or just one other person.
Whatever you do, make sure you state your goals at the beginning, so it’s easier for your accountability buddy to keep you to it. There’s even a site called getmotivatedbuddies.com so there is no excuse not to find someone.
Tip No. 2 - Find a Workout Buddy or Group
Maybe find a different workout buddy this January!
I find simply being at the gym or in a fitness class highly motivating – more motivating than working out on my own. Strava reported that working on your resolution with others, through a club or other platform, increased activity by 46%. Research has also found that working out in these group environments leads to enhanced exercise performance. Seeing someone else do the workout can help you push yourself – you don’t want to be the person in the group giving up. It can also make you feel like you’re not in this alone, pushing through muscle pain together.
This might explain the ubiquity of group exercise. There is an undeniable electricity in a spin class or a Zumba class, where sometimes nothing more than being in the same room at the same time connects you with these strangers.
On the flip side, having a buddy to workout with might work well for you too. This turns gym time into social time (catching up with a bestie), and might even make you both feel more brave in the face of the highly intimidating gym rats staring you down through the mirror. If they make the time to go to the gym, you feel more accountable to be there yourself. Plus they can offer encouragement and you can cheer each other on.
Running with a friend can really help you stay motivated.
The “less free” option here is getting a trainer. Trainers also keep you accountable to your goals. But they are more expensive and don’t provide exactly the same environment as meeting up with your friend and talking about things of common interest.
Tip No. 3 - Leverage Social Media
Though Behavioural Sassonomics has often issued words of warning regarding social media usage, it does seem to have some benefits for a social fitness journey. Sharing fitness goals on social media can act as a distributed ‘accountability buddy’, if you will, and cheer you on.
These status updates tend to get more likes than other kinds of posts. But take heed: this doesn’t mean that your network actually likes your posts. They could be, instead, offering subtle support.
One way around this is the increasingly popular use of fitness social media (ex. Fitocracy, Strava, Nike, etc.). These platforms connect you with likeminded people, share in support, and actually might offer some good information to help you improve your workout abilities or techniques. I’ve heard people at the office commenting on other people’s Strava scores. It can also keep you accountable to actually tracking your fitness regimen.
How I Stay Accountable to Fitness
As a competitive synchronized skater, my team keeps me accountable to working out in that we have (or had – prior to Covid) practices on a weekly basis. Since that’s not an option, my dear friend and I have started our own accountability group. So far it’s just the two of us, but we have to prove our daily fitness achievements with pics, and offer words of encouragement to each other, or suggestions for activities (given that the sidewalks and streets outside are currently covered in ice). As I write this, I have met my goal each day so far. But I also woke up 2 hours early because I was so ridiculously hungry from my new routine. So… you win some, you lose some.
What does this all mean for us Resolutioners? 12% of gym sign ups happen in January and there are over 180 million uses of the hashtag #fitness on Instagram. Meanwhile 80% of new gym members are likely to quit in 5 months. We have an appetite for fitness, but keeping that motivation up is hard. So our advice is as follows:
My Three Tips for Fitness Success in 2021:
Start the new year off with an accountability buddy, and make sure your plan goes beyond the 12th of January.
Make use of fitness social media platforms (and try not to annoy your friends too much with your posts).
When the gyms open up again, making a standing workout timeslot happen with a buddy, or get to a group fitness class.
What are your fitness goals? How are they going? What’s your secret to success? Keep us posted, we’d love to hear from you!
With sweat,
