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3: Promoting Self-Determined Motivation for Physical Activity- From Theory to Intervention Work

  • Page ID
    111994
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    Why did I get up at 5:00 am to go to yoga this morning? Why does my 72-year-old father attend his local early morning park run event every Saturday, come rain or shine? Every behavior we undertake in life (working, exercising, travelling etc.), is underpinned by motivation. Motivation is one of the most important concepts to understand for those interested in promoting health and well-being via participation in physical activity.

    In this chapter, we will explore how motivation has been defined,and focus on self-determination theory(SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000, 2017) as one of the most popular and useful theories that has been applied to the study of motivation to be active. We also illustrate how SDT can be applied in real life settings, using two recent projects as examples to explain how significant others in physical activity settings (e.g., exercise instructors, walk leaders) can say and do things to support the development of adaptive motivation among those they work with. Finally, we provide recommendations for future research and practice.


    This page titled 3: Promoting Self-Determined Motivation for Physical Activity- From Theory to Intervention Work is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Eleanor Quested (Society for Transparency, Openness, and Replication in Kinesiology) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.