LITERATURE REVIEW

Physical activity is important for maintaining health and well-being, and the benefits of
regular physical activity are far reaching (e.g., improved cardiovascular health, weight
management, and improved mood). Despite these well documented benefits, many
individuals fail to achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Barriers to regular
exercise include financial and time limitations, environmental and physical constraints, as
well as motivational factors such as lack of interest and enjoyment. An additional barrier to
regular exercise among overweight and obese individuals, for who exercise can be
particularly beneficial, might come from their experiences with weight-based stigma.
Negative attitudes toward obese individuals are widespread in our society, and obese people
suffer discrimination in virtually every area of their lives, including education, employment,
and romantic relationships.

Body image has become a popular topic over the past 35 years. In fact, 90% of body image
studies have been published since 1980. Interest in this area parallels growing public health
concerns about weight status, physical inactivity, obesity, eating disorders, and the associated
spectrum of health consequences. Body image is a multidimensional construct encompassing
how we perceive, think, feel, and act toward our bodies and lies on a continuum from healthy
body perceptions (ie, accurate and mostly positive) to unhealthy body perceptions (ie,
inaccurate and mostly negative). Evidence consistently indicates that unhealthy body image is
associated with obesity and physical inactivity and plays a pivotal role in the development of
eating disorders during adolescence. Importantly, body image has “developmental
significance” such that it is not a static personal characteristic, but rather a dynamic aspect of
us that changes over the lifespan. Adolescence represents a critical period for healthy body
image development due to the type and magnitude of age-related transitions occurring during
this time.

Furthermore, models of perfect bodies that traditionally had their greatest impact on women
are increasingly becoming influential with men seemingly due to media ideals. However,
striving for the perfect body is associated with a number of negative psychological outcomes
including risk taking behaviours such as anabolic steroid use, eating disorders. These risk-
taking behaviours mark the degree to which males are willing to gamble with their health for
aesthetics, particularly in countries where there are significant disposable incomes and
advertising targeting perfect bodies, including America where much of this research is carried
out, and Australia which is the context of the current study. While much of the past research
has been carried out in America, these studies seem directly applicable to Australians, as
American culture is highly visible through business interests and culture that is reinforced
through television and movies. Where comparisons exist in the literature, results appear to be
very similar.

The customers are segmented according to the goal they pursue in coming to the Fitness
Club. segments have been thus identified. The largest segment consists of customers who
come to the club to loose on weight. Importantly, the weight status of youth (ie, overweight
and obese) is strongly connected to body image. Specifically, research consistently shows
that greater body mass index (BMI) is associated with heightened weight concerns in both
adolescent girls and boys. Longitudinal studies suggest that the impact on body image is
long-term such that greater BMI during adolescence strongly predicts body dissatisfaction in
young adulthood. However, while the association between weight status (objective or
perceived) and body image is relatively consistent in the literature, the varied psychological
factors that contribute to that relationship provide a more complex picture. Internalization, the
degree to which someone adopts a sociocultural body ideal as his or her own, seems to be a
particularly salient psychological factor in the weight status–body image relationship.
Overweight and obese youth, especially those who have body- and appearance-related
concerns, are likely to avoid physical activity. For example, Neumark-Sztainer et al in a study
of 2,516 adolescents found negative associations between body satisfaction and physical
activity. Similarly, Puhl and Luedicke found that among adolescents who were bullied, those
who experienced negative affect avoided physical activity. The association between weight
status, weight stigma experiences, and physical activity seem fairly clear; yet, additional
research is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying these associations and to
further explore the impact on physical fitness. The influence of gender on the consequences
of the weight status–body image relationship is somewhat unclear

Interestingly, gay men were influential in becoming body conscious, sparking a general
masculine interest in fitness and body image. Again this similarity has been noted between
American and Australian gay men through movies and television serials such as “Queer as
Folk”, which has been very popular and influential in both countries. The attitudes on
desirability seem to be very similar, judging from the popularity of American media here as
well as Australian films that have been popular in America. This study will survey gym-
active males by exploring the relationships between body mass, body satisfaction, narcissism,
reasons for exercise, and masculinity and femininity. A better understanding of these
variables may provide some answers to the dilemma of how men can use exercise in a way
that maximizes its healthy effects and minimizes the harm that may result from
indiscriminate exercise. Body image and masculinity are important aspects of identity in
many men who have sex with men (MSM). Body image is a multidimensional construct of
the self, consisting of how one feels and behaves regarding one’s own physical attributes and
correlates with well-being. MSM who develop a muscular body shape are usually considered
more attractive and gain more self-confidence, while those who fail to fulfil these aesthetic
standards are less desirable and more likely tom be avoided by other men. The shaping of a
muscular body has become a symbol of health, and MSM train in the gym in order. In
addition, as gym training is an important component of the internal MSM culture, the venue
(gym) is also used for social interaction and meeting potential partners. The incentive to
perform intensive anaerobic training (IAT) is therefore strong, and some MSM spend long
hours in gyms shaping their bodies, while some also adopt strict dietary regimens or are
tempted to use anabolic steroids.

Motives to exercise

Dispositional Motives. Dispositional motives are the contents of individuals’ goals for life in
general. They are what individuals generally aim to attain or avoid. A distinction is
sometimes made between implicit and self-attributed motives. As typically measured, values
have moral connotations, whereas life goals do not. Life goals can be measured using the
Aspirations Index. One widely used version of this measures seven goals: growth,
relationships, community, wealth, fame, image, and health. In self-determination theory the
person-focused goals (growth, relationships, and community) are characterised as intrinsic,
whereas the status-focused goals (wealth, fame, and image) are characterised as extrinsic.
This is because the pursuit of the person-focused goals is thought to be conducive to the
satisfaction of innate needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, whereas the pursuit
of the status-focused goals is thought to be more dependent on external conditionality’s.
Health goal may have both intrinsic qualities (attaining a positive state of well-being) and
extrinsic qualities (avoiding health problems).

Participatory Motives. Participatory motives are the contents of individuals’ goals for a
particular domain of behaviour. They are what individuals aim to attain or avoid through
participating in the behaviour is more differentiated, distinguishing between specific motives:
affiliation, appearance, challenge, competition, enjoyment, health pressures, ill-health
avoidance, nimbleness, positive health, revitalisation, social recognition, strength/endurance,
stress management, and weight management. These specific motives can be grouped into
appearance/ weight, social engagement, health/fitness, and enjoyment-related composites.
According to self-determination theory, appearance/weight motives would be predominantly
extrinsic, social engagement and enjoyment-related motives would be predominantly
intrinsic, and health/fitness motives could have both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities.

Regulatory Motives. Regulatory motives are the perceived loci of causality of individuals’
behavioural goals. In self-determination theory, individuals are intrinsically motivated when
they engage in an activity for the inherent satisfaction that they derive from the activity. They
are extrinsically motivated when they engage in an activity for rewards attained or
punishments avoided through the activity. However, within extrinsic motivation there is a
continuum. External regulation is when the behaviour is controlled by external
conditionality’s. Interjected regulation is when the external conditionality’s have been
internalised to some extent, so that the individual acts for example to heighten self-esteem or
lessen guilt. Identified regulation is when the outcomes of the behaviour are consciously
valued by the individual. Integrated regulation is when the outcomes of the behaviour are
fully congruent with the individuals’ other values. External and interjected regulation are
relatively controlled forms of regulation, whereas identified, integrated, and intrinsic
regulation are relatively autonomous forms of regulation. Some self-determination
researchers refer to these different forms of behavioural regulation simply as motives. We
refer to them as regulatory motives, to distinguish them from dispositional and participatory
motives. Various instruments have been developed to measure regulatory motives for
exercise.