Behavioral Determinants of Exercise Maintenance Lessons from past & Current Rowers

This paper examines the determinants of exercise maintenance through the lens of behavioral economics. I aim to explain the motivational differences between those who successfully maintain healthy exercise habits and those who do not. The implications of this paper inform rowers, athletes and non-athletes alike how to approach exercise from a perspective of long-term maintenance and health. Additionally, I briefly discuss policy implications addressed in some of the existing literature. Using an anonymous self-report survey, I collected data on numerous incentives for exercise maintenance (primary activity type, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations), and, primarily, their impact on hours of weekly exercise. I sampled 294 past and current university rowers (distinguishing between those who currently belong to a team with coached or compulsory practices) from the United States and the United Kingdom. I provide evidence that shows rowers differ from individuals described in the existing literature. Incentives for current exercise maintenance among both current and past rowers are primarily extrinsic. However, regression and ordered logit analyses indicate that parental influence at initiation has a persistent negative effect on current exercise levels, despite rigorous physical activity in the interim, among both current and past rowers.