Charles Explorer logo
🇬🇧

The Physical Self-concept of Visitors to Fitness Centres

Publication at Faculty of Physical Education and Sport |
2011

Abstract

Exercise in fitness centres is very popular leisure activity. This article offers results of research focused on Physical Self Perception in the group of fitness centres visitors.

The Physical Self is one of the main topics of modern Sport and Exercise Psychology. 100 people, 50 % men and 50 % woman who regularly visit fitness centres created the experimental group. We used Czech version of the test Physical Self Perception Profile (author Fox, 1990) by Tomešová (Tomešová 2003, Tomešová 2005) for diagnostic.

Our results were compared with results of validity study made by Tomešová (Tomešová, 2003) which was done on a group of PE students and a group of non-athlete students. We compared results of men and women regularly visiting to fitness centres - men achieved higher average values in all PSPP factors.

We found out the higher average values in Strength and General Physical Self-Worth factors than took Tomešová in the both groups of her study. On the opposite side, we found out the lower average values in Sport factor in comparison with results of Tomešová.

It can be the cause of the fact that the main aim of fitness isn''t any sport performance, but health-related fitness, body shape and body composition as well as of the fact that people adhering to fitness can have different body perception before starting exercise in fitness centre.