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Incentives offer motivation for students to exercise more
CAROLINE AKTINSON
caktinson@kansan.com
For some people, exercising is a part of life, but for others it's more of a hassle than a habit. Whether or not hitting the gym is a part of your routine, most of us can agree that working out is a catalyst in getting and staying healthy.
According to the Physical Activity Guidelines from the Department of Health & Human Services, adults aged 18 and over should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise every week. In 2010, however, less than 50 percent of that group met the minimum. Some students invest money in a gym membership or save their funds by taking advantage of free exercise opportunities. Studies like one published in Econometrica in 2009 suggest cash incentives encourage people to get active and regularly integrate fitness into their regimen.
This was the case with Tyler Jones, 22, an Information and System Technologies major from Overland Park, who never made it to the gym until he discovered a free iPhone app called "Gym-Pact." The program allows the user to create weekly exercising goals, and pays you for meeting your objective while sticking you with a fine if you don't. Jones earns about $3.50 a week for exercising
four days a week, and is penalized $5.00 for each day missed. "I can't be lazy now," Jones said. "It forces me to work out, and I'm punished if I don't by losing money." He acknowledged that money is the main motivator, especially as a college student, and he has dropped almost 20 pounds in the past month.
The Econometrica study showed a "significant difference between the behavior of the low-incentive group and high-incentive group" when participants were awarded money for exercising. It reiterated that paying people to go to the gym positively affected workout behavior. While most of us don't get immediately rewarded for being active, "GymPact" compromises workout habits with a slight push and an incentive.
Other workout facilities, such as the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center, charge money for their services, but hope the results are worth the funds.
The recreation center is free for current students for general use, or students can purchase a $50 pass per semester for KU Fit classes. Mackenzie VanBeest, an English graduate student from Chicago, Illinois, got one her first year at the University, and she "hasn't looked back since." She wanted to stay healthy, and said the pass is wellworth the money. "I work out on my own, too, but the classes have
more motivation and pressure to be there and perform," she said. "There's like camaraderie, and you definitely get your money's worth."
Jill Urkoski, Associate Director for Recreational Services at the recreation center, said that external encouragement is helpful, but it all comes down to a person's internal motivation. She used the Scale Down Challenge, which students, staff and faculty can currently sign up for, as an example. The Scale Down Challenge is $25 for a 10-week competition "that provides an opportunity for people to be in a program that gives them a possible incentive." That incentive is a cash reward for the top winners who lose the highest percent of body weight.
Urkoski warns that prizes will not always be around as a motivational tool. "Any incentive isn't going to make you a life-long exerciser," she said. "If that works for you at first, that's wonderful because it's going to allow you to keep wanting to do it. Eventually it often becomes an internal motivation."
Exercising isn't the only key to a healthy lifestyle, but it is definitely a start. For these students and faculty members, factoring in money raises the stakes and turns a rough workout into a rewarding experience.
Edited by Brian Sisk
Are fitness apps right for you?
NOOPER GOEL
caktinson@kansan.com
Until she bought an iPhone, KU sophomore Brynden Annis used to drive around in circles at least four times a week. No, she's not a lunatic. She just didn't have an app for that.
Now she can simply activate her Nike Running app and hit the pavement.
"I used to drive the same (running) route to see how many miles it was." Annis said.
"It's much easier, and more accurate," Annis said. "It'll track your pace, how many calories you burnt, and it'll track you on a map. It's just really cool."
Want to make your fitness routine
easier too? Well before you decide on what to download, consider these tidbits of advice from a fitness pro.
Natalya Kuznetova is a certified personal trainer at Lifetime Fitness in Overland Park. She says her coworkers have started incorporating apps into the fitness regime, but warns that there are pros and cons to this advancement.
Pros
- Great educational tool: "Most of those apps explain why this works. For example, in iMuscle, on the squat you can look at your muscles in 3D and see how your quadriceps contract."
- Customizable: "You can see all the muscles, and you can really create a
workout based on that."
- Keeps your muscles guessing: "You can never run out of exercises to do, because you just find a new one on the app."
- Tracks your work out: "Some members who train, we can actually look and see what they have been doing. Some apps have this feature where you can go an add your trainer as a friend, and then we will have access to everything the person logs in."
Cons
- Forfeits technique: "For some people who have never learned to exercise, I can't say if they will get the results. The form and technique, you need to know it."
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- Prior experience is necessary: "If you have some exercise background you can learn a lot from it, but if you have no base it might not be for you."
- No Guidance: "People think they know (how to exercise), but when we walk around on the fitness floor correcting people we'll ask'oh where did you learn that?' and they will say 'I saw it on either a website or application.'"
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- No External Motivation: "Some people don't push themselves hard enough. They think that by getting the app and following the workout they are going to get exactly what they want."
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- Edited by Brian Sisk
This lack of personalization in text messaging can not only lead to bold assertions but vague and confusing messages. Jeffrey Hall, an assistant professor of communication studies and co-author of an article on texting, says what makes texting appealing can also make it frustrating because of the amount of ambiguity and the absence of meaning.
Kunkel also says that text messaging is less work and is less meaningful than face-to-face conversations.
"There are so many misunderstandings and arguments over texting," Steinberg said. "Real conversations need to take place over the phone."
"Texting as a means to negotiate a date' prevents the full expression of feelings and experiences that might happen in person or by phone," Kunkel said. "It also takes away some of the responsibility that goes into dating and maintaining a romantic relationship."
However, texting can still work toward college students' advantage.
LOVE
Dating in a text-dependent world
"My boyfriend and I text a little bit more than we talk and hang out but I prefer it that way because I get sick of people way too fast," Mraz said. "I do not want to see them daily."
AMBER KASSELMAN
akasselman@kansan.com
Students adapt text messaging into their dating lifestyles
"I can put some protein in you."
When Kara Mraz, a junior from Chicago, received this text from a guy and she lost interest immediately. She had declined his invitation to go out drinking, and was explaining that she was relaxing and drinking her post-exercise protein shake. But the guy would not give up. After she ignored several of his texts, he wanted to know why she was so angry. She told him to reread the protein text, and then never spoke to him again. Mraz, like many college students, faces the challenges of trying to date in a culture of text messaging reliance.
"I think a lot of people would not have the relationships they do without texting because they do not have the balls to say something in person that they do via texting," said Mraz.
Approximately 83 percent of American adults own cell phones and 73 percent of them send and receive text messages. The most avid of these texters are young adults, according to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. Although college students have adapted texting to fit their dating lifestyle, the evolution of this technology is not the turnoff. It's the
misuse and abuse of text messaging that is off-putting.
Despite her critique of what people might say via text messaging that they would not say face-to-face, Mraz admits that she does the same thing.
"I texted my boyfriend that he had no direction in his life and to quit wasting his time with bullshit jobs," Mraz said. "But it is bad to text about serious problems because when we get together neither one of us says anything about them, so there is this giant elephant in the room, but no one brings it up so nothing gets solved."
"Texting seems to be an easy way to avoid relationship problems or tensions," Kunkel said. "We should never forget that dealing with the discomfort or awkwardness of handling conflict with others is a huge building block in our experience sets that make us more skilled communicators and relationship partners."
Adrianne Kunkel, an associate professor of communication studies, says that the lack of face-to-face conversation in text messaging makes it easier for people to say things that they might not otherwise say when confronted in a face-to-face context.
Instead, Tracey Steinberg, a "dateologist" and host of "Dating Help 911"; says texting should be used as a quick form of communication that relays only simple
- Edited by Brian Sisk
How porn affects relationships
CHELSEA MIES
cmies@kansan.com
Adam, University of Kansas student from Hutchinson, sits in front of his laptop, but instead of doing homework he is doing something that most college aged males do. On the screen, a man and woman engage in different sexual activities; he is watching pornography.
Increased and consistent consumption of porn can affect the way men view themselves and their partners, which affects their relationships. Adam said that this used to be a problem for him.
"I know that porn is very over-dramatized," Adam said. "But when I was younger, before I started having sex, I would think man I wish I could be like that. But now I know that it is all fake."
Now, Adam watches porn two to three times a week, which, according a study at the University of Montreal, is about the average for both single men and men who are in a relationship. Adam is in a relationship.
Carol Simon, a philosopher and author of Bringing Sex into Focus: The Quest for Sexual Integrity, says that pornography can be a problem, because it often depicts women in unrealistic ways. This, she says, can shape a man's attitude about or expectations of real women.
Women are often objectified in porn, which is not the way that all women actually want to be treated
by their sexual partners and porn stars are not what average women look like. Because of a lack of a realistic portrayal of women, porn can create a negative experience for men in their sexual encounters. It can also cause conflict within a couple if neither party is getting what they expect out of their sex.
"I think it can cause problems for people, because people get lost in the fantasy of it," Adam said.
CHARLIE student from Wichita
"I have never had a bad experience, because if you use porn the right way it is a great way to learn about your boyfriend or girlfriend."
"People want do the things they see people in porn doing."
Dennis Dailey, professor emeritus at the University of Kansas, said that there are many ways that porn can negatively affect a relationship. Dailey said that porn isn't always a negative thing in a relationship, however.
Dailey said that porn usually becomes a problem when one person in the relationship views it as a threat or when it begins to take the place of sex in a relationship.
ute, people use all kinds of things that could be a turn on; food, wine, or a romantic evening. Erotic material can do the same thing." Dailev said.
Charlie, a student from Wichita,
said that he watches porn with
According to Robert Weiss' article Does Watching Porn Affect Intimate Relationships? , viewing porn too often can cause reduced interest in intimacy with a long-term spouse or partner. Viewing porn too often can cause men to create a vision of women as objects and cause them to regard women as lower beings in circumstances other than sex.
In a relationship, the seam of pornography cuts both ways. While it can become the force that pushes two people apart, it can also bring them closer together. For these young men and their relationships, caution in the use of pornography is key.
"If you think about it for a min-
While some people have serious problems with porn and how they use it, others think that is a great tool to help build a strong relationship.
Ceylon unlucky and poor is such a bad thing," Charlie said. "I have never had a bad experience, because if you use porn the right way, it is a great way to learn about your boyfriend or girlfriend."
his girlfriend and that it is good thing in their relationship. They use it to learn new things to experiment with in their sex life. He said that this has strengthened their sexual relationship, because they can both see and understand what the other person likes.
"I'm not sure why everyone thinks that porn
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Edited by Brian Sisk
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