Mirror, Mirror in the Gym

Gyms interested in attracting new members may want to lose the
mirrored walls.

Researchers found that sedentary women exercising face-to-face with
their reflections walk away feeling less energized, less relaxed, and
less good about themselves than women who work out without mirrors to
gaze at.

In the study, Kathleen A. Martin Ginis, an associate professor of
kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, analyzed the
behavior of 58 college students after they spent 20 minutes on a
stationary bicycle while wearing loose-fitting shorts, a T-shirt and
running shoes. She says that the team was surprised to find that even
women who were happy with their bodies were affected by the mirrors. "We
thought that the effects would be strongest in women with the worst body
image," she says, "but body image didn't matter."

The study was published in the journal Health Psychology.

"If you're just focused on the appearance of the body then you're
not focused on the experience itself," agrees Jay Kimiecik, PhD., an
associate professor of exercise psychology at Miami University in Ohio.
Kimiecik's philosophy of intrinsic exercise holds that exercisers should
learn to pay attention to internal rather than external cues. According
to Kimiecik, concentrating on appearance and external outcomes such as
losing weight can take away from the enjoyment of the experience.

Mirrors may also make exercisers more aware of one another.
"Putting a beginner in front of a mirror if they're surrounded by a lot
of people can make them feel like they're being judged," said Kimiecik.
Martin Ginis is conducting a follow-up study to measure the combined
effect of mirrors and crowded rooms.

So what should be done to motivate couch potatoes to get to the
gym? Experienced exercisers, especially weight lifters, use the mirrors
to check their form and position, so taking them down may not be an
option.

Kimiecik piloted a 12-week personal fitness program at the YMCA
designed specifically for beginners. They set aside a separate,
mirror-less area for the newbies so that they wouldn't have to deal with
the environment of the main gym.

"In the health and fitness industry we totally underestimate the
effects of things like mirrors. People are very much intimidated," he
says.