Br J Health Psychol. 2026 Nov;31(4):e70111. doi: 10.1111/bjhp.70111.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Regular exercise is vital for preventing cardiovascular disease, maintaining a healthy body weight and supporting mental well-being, yet most people exercise insufficiently often due to motivational barriers.
DESIGN: This study examined two types of exercise motive-functional (divided into health/fitness and enjoyment) and appearance-and their interplay with mood and exercise engagement in daily life. Two hypotheses were tested: (H1) functional motives, compared to appearance motive, predict greater exercise engagement, and (H2) higher (more positive) mood, in interaction with exercise motives, predicts greater exercise engagement.
METHOD: Ninety-eight healthy BMI women completed a 2-week smartphone Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol reporting exercise motive (baseline), exercise engagement (frequency, intensity, duration) and mood several times/day.
RESULTS: Partially supporting H1, enjoyment motive predicted greater exercise frequency and duration, whereas-contrary to H1- health/fitness motive predicted shorter duration and appearance was unrelated to engagement. H2 was not supported: mood did not predict engagement and functional motives did not strengthen the mood-engagement link. Contrary to H2, the appearance motive strengthened the (same-moment) within-person association between mood and exercise intensity, such that women higher in appearance motive showed a stronger positive mood-intensity link. Multilevel temporal networks revealed that higher (more positive) mood at one assessment weakly predicted greater exercise intensity and duration at the next assessment.
CONCLUSIONS: Together, enjoyment emerges as central to exercise engagement, while positive mood temporally precedes exercise, informing future lifestyle interventions. Further research on the temporal dynamics linking mood and exercise is warranted.
PMID:42834692 | DOI:10.1111/bjhp.70111