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Final Report: Developing an Evidence-based Physical Activity Report

As an insufficiently active 34-year old father of two, working a full-time job as a lawyer, Luke’s most significant barriers to attaining a higher physical activity are family caregiving obligations and the lack of equipment and facilities around his neighborhood. This final report articulates the interventions towards abolishing the barriers of family caregiving obligations and a lack of equipment in his neighborhood by formulating evidence-based strategies of engaging his children in physical exercise and substituting his lack of equipment with jogging, working out at home, and walking as methods to increase his physical activity.

Strategy 1: Engaging His Children in Physical Activity

As Luke works a full-time job as a lawyer, he has little time to increase his physical activity; he has to come home and help his wife with the children and cooking before retiring to bed and waking up again to a full-time job. Therefore, engaging his children through having weekly sessions that engage the children in physical activity games, finding ways to stimulate the children into physical activity, and providing overall support and encouragement that prompts modelling of physical activity.

Luke will increase his physical activity by stimulating the children to participate in physical activity. Liszewska et al. (2018) denote that stimulating a child’s physical activity will help the child’s growth and development. Stimulating the children’s physical activity will involve Luke buying building block games for the three-year-old while investigating what the seven-year-old considers fun (2). Gameplay is an interactive space between Luke and the children that he gets to exercise through moving about while playing with the children. Ultimately, Luke’s physical activity increases depending on how he allocates himself to play with the children in the evening. Given that he spends 10 minutes a day on weekdays with the children before they go to bed playing through stimulation, his physical activity time increases by 50 minutes through the weekday.

Additionally, the stimulation can encompass bi-weekly sessions that Luke engages the children in physical activity. Ha et al. (2019) explain that vigorous physical activity helps build bonds within the family through active engagement in physical activity (1). This strategy follows the theory of planned behaviour where Luke makes time to play with the children towards increased physical activity. Luke’s vigorous physical activities bi-weekly can include tumble play, Follow the Leader, balancing a beam, and coin pitching for 10 minutes (1). These bi-weekly games can happen over the weekend, where Luke has more time around the house. Each of these games improves motor skills with developing children. While improving coordination amongst the children with these involving games, Luke’s physical activity increases with his involvement. The involvement with teaching the children the games ties into Liszewska et al. (2018) strategy of modelling the activity.

Modelling a physical activity for children improves the parent’s overall physical activity. Luke’s involvement in games such as coin pitching will require him first to show the children how to play the game by modelling a coin toss into a jar, and the children follow suit with the same (2). Modelling the behaviour is essential in a child’s development as they learn to rely on and emulate their parents in the activities. This encourages further development where, when the children do not get it right the first time, Luke will encourage them to try again by modelling the same game until they do (2). Basing on the interpersonal model of behavioural change, such encouragement to keep practising improves the support system in the household while the children feel encouraged to try their best even when they fail by modelling and seeking approval from their father. Ultimately, Luke increases his physical activity, but the children also adopt the culture of play as a way of physical activity.

Luke’s physical activity increases through engaging his children in physical activity. By spending 10 minutes on weekdays with the children, Luke’s physical activity increases to 50 minutes. Adding to the weekend bi-weekly 10 minutes of vigorous physical activity through modelling the games, Luke adds another 20 minutes to his physical activity time. Collectively, Luke’s adds up to 70 minutes to his existing 65 minutes, adding up to 135 minutes of physical activity.

Strategy 2: Substituting Lack of Equipment with Home Workouts

Substituting the lack of equipment with home workouts necessitates Luke first to identify the barriers to his physical activity and then continue towards having home workouts. Jenkinson and Benson (2010) explain that identifying one’s barriers to physical activity help with the formulation of ways to move forward towards increasing physical activity time (4). In Luke’s case, his most prominent barriers to physical activity are family caregiving obligations and a lack of equipment in his neighbourhood. Using the theory of planned behaviour, Luke can formulate ways to increase his physical activity. Lack of equipment in his neighbourhood increases Luke’s anxiety and diminishes his physical activity because of traffic and no workplace exercise. Therefore, Luke can formulate ways of adding to his physical activity time from home to be productive at work. One of the ways involves scheduled hoe workouts.

Home workouts are essential in improving one’s physical activity. Modelling the interpersonal model of behavioural change, Luke can change his schedule towards home workouts. The home workouts will ensure that he uses available equipment or no equipment at all. According to Kaur et al. (2020), the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted the innovation of workouts. This is because of gyms closing following lockdown restrictions. Therefore, adopting home workouts will increase one’s physical activity (3). Luke’s home workouts could include high-intensity training, yoga, and meditation throughout the weekdays, Monday to Friday (3). The involvement of Luke in these workouts in the morning can take up at least 15 minutes each morning for either one of the proposed exercises. Working out in the morning before getting to work ensures that Luke adds on to his current physical activity time of 65 minutes weekly and still gets to work effectively and productively throughout the workweek. The involvement of morning home workouts not only help improve Luke’s physical activity through increased physical fitness, but also, Luke has an increased self-perception, continued fitness, improved mood, improved psychological status, and improved physical health through continued fitness (3). As a lawyer working tirelessly, an elevation of mood is needed for Luke to meet up with potential clients and not ward them off with a bad attitude but an elated mood.

Additionally, Luke should incorporate jogging and walk on the weekend mornings where he is home relaxing. Jogging for 30 minutes on Saturdays improve his overall physical activity (3). During the Saturday jogs, Luke can listen to his favourite music that helps decrease his psychological concerns warding off mental illness, depression, and anxiety in the coming workweek while recording his physical activity with an accelerometer (5).

Conclusion

Luke’s biggest barriers to physical activity are family caregiving obligations and the lack of equipment and facilities around his neighborhood. Strategies towards ensuring that he secures his job and still increases his physical activity should revolve around engaging his children in physical activity and  home workouts. Therefore, with the substitution of lack of equipment in his neighbourhood and workplace with morning home workouts and Saturday jogs, Luke’s overall physical activity increases by 135 minutes. Adding Luke’s weekly physical activity, engagement of physical activity with his children, and additional home workouts, Luke’s overall physical activity comes to 140 minutes of physical activity. In the end, Luke’s physical activity improvement leads to an increased self-perception, continued fitness, improved mood, improved psychological status, and improved physical health through continued fitness.