Application of the limited strength model of self-regulation to understanding exercise effort, planning and adherence

Abstract

The limited strength model posits that self-regulatory strength is a finite, renewable resource that is drained when people attempt to regulate their emotions, thoughts or behaviours. The purpose of this study was to determine whether self-regulatory depletion can explain lapses in exercise effort, planning and adherence. In a lab-based experiment, participants exposed to a self-regulatory depletion manipulation generated lower levels of work during a 10 min bicycling task, and planned to exert less effort during an upcoming exercise bout, compared with control participants. The magnitude of reduction in planned exercise effort predicted exercise adherence over a subsequent 8-week period. Together, these results suggest that self-regulatory depletion can influence exercise effort, planning and decision-making and that the depletion of self-regulatory resources can explain episodes of exercise non-adherence both in the lab and in everyday life.

Keywords:

• self-control
• ego-depletion
• physical activity

Acknowledgement

The research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes

Note

1. Given the purpose of the follow-up study, we did not measure exercise plans in the control condition. However, pilot data collected in one of our previous studies (Bray et al., 2008), using the exact same depletion manipulation as described in this study, revealed no differences in future exercise plans between depleted and non-depleted participants, t (48) = 0.26, d = 0.08, p = 0.79. Thus, self-regulatory depletion does not appear to have an effect on the formulation of longer-term exercise plans.