Does Physical Activity Enhance Relationships with Others?

Study 1 found that social identification with a fitness club, but not the frequency of attending the club for physical activity, was positively associated with members’ well-being. Study 2 revealed that members with high social identification experienced more affective relationships with other members than those with medium or low identification.

This increasing probability of late survival comes with considerable individual, economic and social impact. Physical activity (PA) can influence the ageing process but the specific relationship with healthy ageing (HA) is unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies examining the associations of PA with HA.

However, the affective and performance effects of social reward and support, particularly in transient collectives, virtual settings, and exercise groups without clearly defined boundaries, interdependent roles and shared goals, remain relatively unexplored, both theoretically and empirically, and little is known about the psychobiological pathways via which human sociality, psychology and biology co-regulate one another in exertive physical activity [17, 19]. Preliminary experimental evidence suggests that exercising with others versus alone leads to significantly greater pain thresholds, and

An elite, highly bonded team of rugby players participated in solo, synchronized, and non-synchronized warm-up sessions; participants' anaerobic performance significantly improved after the brief synchronous warm-up relative to the non-synchronous warm-up. The findings substantiate claims concerning the reciprocal links between group exercise and social bonding, and may help to explain the ubiquity of collective physical activity across cultural domains as varied as play, ritual, sport, and dance.

Exploring whether the mechanisms underlying the positive relationship between group exercise and physical activity are forms of social support – emotional, validation, informational, instrumental, and companionship and exercise identity. Participants (n=506; M age = 34.3) completed a 235-item ...

When partners spend leisure-time ... The results suggest that it is not the mere existence of a romantic relationship but the current copresence with a partner that affects PA behavior....

Exercise interventions support ... the benefit is less than is suggested by cross-sectional studies comparing active versus inactive individuals (Bloomfield et al., 2004). The relationship between greater bone mineral density and bone strength is unclear, as bone strength cannot be measured directly in humans. Thus, whether the effects of physical activity on ...