Need help sticking to your fitness goals? Using rewards or punishment just might do the trick. We ask four girls to test out this approach.
Need help sticking to your fitness goals? Using rewards or punishment just might do the trick. We ask four girls to test out this approach.
Whether it’s to lose weight or train for a marathon, staying motivated to see your fitness goals through is tough. Thankfully, there’s an age-old trick that can help, which uses rewards and punishments to influence behaviour. This method is nicknamed the carrot and stick approach, so-called because of the analogy that in order to motivate a donkey to get moving, you’ve got to either urge it along with a carrot (reward) or strike it with a stick (punishment).
If you think about it, this approach is pretty much applied everywhere, from school and the workplace to family and relationships, and it’s why we actually do things a certain way. But which one is more effective, the carrot or the stick? And to what extent do they help when it comes to achieving your fitness goals? “Rewards generally have a more positive connotation to them, and probably give more purpose to what you’re doing,” says Tan Chee Chong, a personal trainer at Elevate Gym. “They focus on the benefits while punishments focus on the lack of them, which can make you feel less enthusiastic about your activity,” says Chee Chong.
Various studies have had contrasting results – some found that rewards work better at inducing certain behaviours, while others found the opposite to be true. In a recent experiment, researchers at Harvard University discovered that most people function better in an environment of rewards. But another study at Washington University in St. Louis found that punishment had up to three times the impact compared to rewards.
So should you use the carrot or the stick to help you hit the gym or pound the pavement? You’ve just got to figure out which motivates you more. If even putting on your running shoes is a struggle, a reward approach may be right for you, especially when you need some immediate payoff to get into a new habit. If you’re easily threatened by loss, perhaps setting up a punishment system might be better for you.
You can even use technology to motivate you with an app like Pact, free on Google Play and Apple App Store, which rewards you with actual cash when you exercise, and punishes you when you don’t by deducting money from your account to pay other active members. Whether you set up a system of reward or punishment, just remember that these are only means to an end.
"Rewards generally have a more positive connotation to them, and probably give more purpose to what you’re doing.”
Does it work?
Four girls tried out the carrot or the stick approach for three weeks to see if it could motivate them to hit their fitness goals. Here are the results.
The Stick (Failed!)
Challenge: Run twice a week. For every run she misses, she’d have to skip rock climbing, which she loves and does at least four times a week. “I gave up sticking to it. I felt all the more need to exercise when I missed a run, so I went climbing anyway. It’s more effective to have a long-term goal, and to have someone hold you accountable to it.” Jinny Saw, 26
The Carrot (Passed!)
Challenge: Swim twice a week. If she hits this goal, she’ll get to indulge in a chocolate buffet, her “major weakness”. “Rewarding myself for workouts totally works. Besides, [the reward] gives me a boost of serotonin, which motivates me to swim even more. In fact, I grew so uncomfortable with not going to the pool at least once a week that I couldn’t sleep.”Tasha Quek, 25
The Stick (Passed!)
Challenge: Practise yoga twice weekly. For every class she misses, she’d have to buy a colleague lunch, which can’t be below five dollars. “It’s a good deterrent to my laziness. While the amount is small, I don’t want to be spending money on someone for no good reason, and this has motivated me to stick to the sessions.” Farah Hussein, 27
The Carrot (Passed!)
Challenge: Do HIIT sessions twice weekly. For every workout she completes, she “pays” herself 10 dollars. She’s free to spend the final amount as she wishes. “It worked surprisingly well. While it’s still my money, the thought of having a sum I can ‘rightly’ spend on anything I want was nice. I blew it on a Japanese meal!” Audrey Tsen, 28
Images 123RF.com Text Adora Wong.
