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Sport with several people is more fun and it is also a real motivating factor. A study shows that exercising, especially fitness, with another active person helps to motivate you and empower you.
Gray weather, pump stroke… The slightest obstacle discourages you in your desires for jogging? Perhaps you have not adopted the right strategy: that of exercising together!
Physical activity recommendations: that’s good, following them is better!
Indeed, it may seem obvious, but social interaction would play a more important role in the practice of sport. And it is a study that tells us today. The team of researchers from Kean University in New Jersey started from an observation: the directives of the Ministries of Health which recommend a certain type and amount of physical activity do not inspire enough motivation.
Social interaction in sport, on the other hand, would have a strong influence on physical exercise. The results of their research have been published in the journal PLOS ONE on October 19 and relayed by the site Healthline.
Social interaction can get you moving
Thus there is, according to these researchers, a newly developed mathematical model which suggests that interaction with moderately active people can encourage sedentary people to become more active.
The team used data from the US Military Academy and according to their simulations, populations with low physical activity and sedentary behavior were the ones that suffered from a lack of social interactions. However, when the simulations included social interactions between sedentary and moderately active people, both became more physically active in the long run.
“Our model suggests that focusing on the moderately active population to maintain their activity and increase their interactions with sedentary people could stimulate higher levels of overall physical activity in the large-scale population.
Why doing sport with two (or more) is better!
To answer this question, the researchers do not highlight the pleasure of group exercise so much as the responsibility involved, which makes it possible to obtain results, and the commitment that this involves.
An observation confirmed by Jean-Pierre Clémenceau, famous sports coach and author of Lose weight in 30 days, contacted by Doctissimo:
“Of course, you can train on your own, but in practice it’s not always easy to motivate yourself (to put on your jogging, go out when the weather is ugly, go to the gym, etc.). But practicing a sport with a friend, a neighbour, someone who also has an interest in sport is beneficial in several ways: the other can remind us of our goals, motivate us, get us out of our daily lives.“.
“An asset that can then work for all participants on the motivation side but also on the regularity of the practice and therefore on the coveted results” he adds.
As for the choice of the person to share the effort, the scientific study relies on a person of the same level, because a person of a higher level can lead you to surpass yourself but also the opposite.
Conversely, the expert sports coach contacted believes that on a daily basis, the level is not so important: “The importance of this partnership lies in the regularity of the efforts. The difference in level is not serious, everyone can adapt their exercises, and self-motivate all the same“.
So no more excuses for putting on your sneakers!