Abstract
Affective responses during exercise have been identified as a predictor of exercise adherence. However, research has been mostly limited to aerobic and resistance exercise. Considering that stretching activities are also an important component of physical fitness, this quasi-experimental study was designed to: 1) compare affective responses during and immediately after stretching exercises in apparently healthy adults, and 2) assess the consistency and repeatability of affect ratings obtained one week apart. For this purpose, we analyzed the Feeling Scale (FS) and Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) ratings using Time (during and after stretching) x Intensity (light, moderate, vigorous) x Stretched Muscle Group (quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, latissimus dorsi, triceps) with repeated measures analysis of variance (ANCOVA) in 34 participants (21 males; aged 32.8 ± 8.6 years). The repeatability of FS and FAS ratings was assessed using two-way random-effects models, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC), and Bland-Altman plots. FS scores were higher following the stretching exercises, whereas FAS scores were lower, particularly in the vigorous intensity. In general, the inter-day repeatability for FS and FAS measurements was good across muscle groups. ICC tended to be higher at vigorous intensities. Ratings of core affect can be collected during static passive stretches using the FAS and FAS in ecologically valid settings. These results suggest that an adequate assessment of core affective responses to stretching activities should be performed during the exercises.
| Original language | English |
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| Article number | 102490 |
| Journal | Psychology of Sport and Exercise |
| Volume | 69 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 The Authors
Funding
During stretching, the results demonstrated that light and moderate intensities generally resulted in more positive affective responses compared to vigorous intensity, aligning with theoretical assumptions. Moreover, the differences between assessments obtained during and post-exercise were larger for both the FS and FAS as the intensity increased, thus partially supporting the second hypothesis, according to which higher exercise intensities were expected to yield larger differences in the affective valence from during to after each stretch. It should be noted that the main effect of intensity on FS ratings was not significant. Examination of the descriptive data (Table 3 and Figure 1) reveals that FS ratings obtained at light and moderate intensities, both during and post-exercise, were similar, which was not the case for the FAS. A post-hoc comparison between paired observations (not included in the results) showed that FS ratings obtained at the light and moderate intensities did not differ statistically, but both of these conditions differed significantly from the vigorous intensity. This would suggest that these two initial intensities, probably, would not significantly influence the affective state of the participants, and could be used more routinely by professionals concerned with promoting positive affective experiences through exercise.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap |
Keywords
- Core affect
- Exercise
- Feeling scale
- Felt arousal scale
- Stretching
- Valence