Behavioural Intervention: Increasing Exercise

Abstract
This study sought to test the use of operant conditioning principles to increase the levels of exercise of the author, more specifically to increase the quantity of push-ups and sit-up sets. A baseline measuring of the sum of both sets of exercise was recorded over a 10 day period. An intervention plan was then used in an attempt to increase the levels of exercise sessions done in the subsequent 10 day intervention testing period. The Bloom’s method was used in the analysis to compare the baseline and intervention periods. Using this method, the research hypothesis was supported that operant conditioning did increase the levels of exercise significantly.

Behavioural intervention: Increasing exercise
The importance of exercise, especially in the widely sedentary lifestyle found today cannot be overstated. Physical inactivity is recognised as one of the most important population health risk factors. According to a government study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), only about 57 percent of the population perform enough activity to gain health benefits (Armstrong, Bauman & Davies, 2000). To further highlight this phenomenon, the AIHW study also found gardening to be amongst the most popular physical activities found, mainly amongst the senior population (Armstrong, Bauman & Davies, 2000). Researchers have reported alarmingly that 47 percent of female and 32 percent of male university going students in Australia are sufficiently inactive (Leslie, Owen, Bauman, Sallis, & Lo, 1999). Leslie et al. (1999) further found that physical activity typically declines between adolescence to adulthood, especially after the age of 30. Physical activity is not just essential for a healthy lifestyle but has been recommended as part of a treatment plan to fight depression, obesity and other psychological disorders (Palmer, 2005; Cagler, Gurses, Mutluay & Kiziltan, 2005). Furthermore, it has been found that regular physical

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