ut I cannot imagine the enormous life changes required for that to become a part of my lifestyle. This very lack of belief in my ability to do it is a major barrier to successfully starting and keeping up an exercise program (Poag & McAuley, 1992, p. 358).
The truth is that the barriers I think about are actually perceived barriers. If I think things are in the way of my increasing activity in my life, then those things will probably become barriers. This area of my routine is actually volitional, and I have to face that (Godin, Valois, & Lepage, 1993, p. 98). I am somewhat influenced by my culture and the type of lifestyle that I have adopted up to this point. I don't have any friends who regularly attend a health club, and actually the sight or the idea of hard-bodied, physically fit sweating people just makes me feel like somebody who doesn't fit in. I cannot regress to that younger age, and it is intimidating to me to think about something that is so foreign to everyone in my social and professional circle.
Most of the research on the relationship between exercise and decreased risk for heart disease was done with men, but the more recent research shows that actually there is no gender difference between the benefits of exercise for
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