Identifying Those Ready to Make a Voluntary Commitment to Fitness

Abstract

Using survey data from personal interviews, this study investigated the relationship between voluntary commitment to physical fitness and three categories of predictor variables. Voluntary commitment was explored conceptually and then operationalized as membership in a health club or organized exercise class. The principal findings are as follows: (a) involvement in fitness activities can be usefully considered in terms of voluntary commitment; (b) commitment is empirically related to demographics, attitudes, and both passive and active leisure pursuits; (c) persons who commit to physical fitness programs have the characteristics of youth; (d) persons who commit hold a self-image of fitness and athletic ability, have been influenced by friends on how to spend their time, and have a higher level of self-motivation and mental ability; and (e) persons who make a commitment to formal physical fitness programs are more involved in a variety of active and passive leisure pursuits.