Increasing the Pleasure and Enjoyment of Exercise: A Novel Resistance-Training Protocol

This study was designed to test the effect of an increasing (UP) or decreasing (DOWN) intensity resistance training (RT) protocol on pleasure and enjoyment of RT. Participants (N = 40; mean age = 35.0 ± 9.2 years) completed two RT sessions comprising 3 x 10 reps of six exercises. In the UP condition, load progressively increased from 55% to 75% of 1-repetition maximum (1-RM) while in the decreasing-intensity DOWN condition, this pattern was reversed (i.e., 75% to 55% 1-RM). The DOWN condition resulted in more overall pleasure compared to UP, and a slope of increasing pleasure while the UP condition resulted in decreasing pleasure. Enjoyment of RT, postexercise pleasure, and remembered pleasure were all significantly greater for DOWN compared to UP (all p > .01). These findings suggest that decreasing RT intensity throughout an exercise bout can elicit a positive slope of pleasure and enhance affective evaluations of exercise.