The conundrum of exercise for older men in TR settings

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to determine how older men distinguished exercise from being physically active and to identify motives for exercising. Subjects were interviewed using a prepared script. They were encouraged to talk about how they characterized their exercise and physical activity (PA). Several themes emerged after transcripts were reviewed, including a tendency for men to engage in PA and exercise alone, a clear distinction between exercise and PA, and the primacy of psychological and mental benefits as motives for exercise. Comparisons were drawn between the male subjects in the present study and qualitative studies using older women as subjects, with some interesting gender contrasts apparent. The article ends with implications for practitioners.