Professional development

As a kinesiologist*, my overarching life goal is to get more people physically active and take care of their bodies. While health and fitness enthusiasts like to debate about whether static stretching is useful or not, or the best way to warm up for heavy squats, none of that matters for someone who doesn’t do much physical activity in the first place. Most people understand that physical activity and good nutrition are important for health, but too often, actions do not match knowledge. I believe that to have the biggest impact in this area, we need to understand what really drives human behavior and address the real barriers people face in becoming more physically active.

On the surface level, the barriers to physical activity that come to mind are usually:

• Not being motivated, being lazy, or not prioritizing fitness
• Lack of resources (finances, equipment, facility)
• Time constraints
• Fatigue
• Not feeling confident, possibly feeling fearful

I would like to point out some less obvious and arguably more important factors which shape human behaviour and physical activity participation:

• Habits and routines.
• Cultural attitudes, beliefs, and norms.
• Messages and interactions from trainers, coaches, and/or clinicians who want people to exercise.
• The physical environment, including urban design, access to exercise equipment, geography, and weather.
• Policies and practices from governments and organizations.

The paradigm shift I would like to see in physical activity promotion is shifting from focusing on individual responsibility (e.g. how to “motivate” individuals) to shared responsibility among health/fitness professionals, governments and policy makers, organizations (e.g. employers, health institutions/associations), and media outlets. The successful reduction in smoking rates in the past few decades wasn’t simply a result of simply warning people about the dangers of smoking; it was also a result of government interventions and the change in cultural attitudes towards smoking. Why would we expect reducing sedentary lifestyles to be different, particularly as not exercising is the easy default?

*In Canada, kinesiologists are professionals with a Bachelor’s degree in kinesiology who typically work as rehab professionals, personal trainers, sport/strength coaches, and/or fitness instructors.