Promoting physical activity during the COVID-19 lockdown in Australia: The roles of psychological predictors and commercial physical activity apps

Trends in Physical Fitness and Nutritional Status among School-Aged Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Shaanxi, China—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Adolescents and children usually consumed more snacking and ultra-processed food during the lockdown [ 20 , 21 ]. Additionally, the decrease in outdoor physical activities may also be the other reason, although there were many studies have focused on the contributions of indoor physical activities during the pandemic [ 1 , 31 , 32 ], the significant decrease in physical activity equivalent (PAE) has been the main reason for the increasing BMI [ 1 , 2 , 13 , 14 ].…”

“…However, these lockdowns can not only cause psychological problems (anxiety, loneliness, depression, etc.) [ 1 , 2 ] but also affect one’s physical fitness and nutritional status.…”

“…Especially during the global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a better fitness level and immunity not only decreases the chance of mortality but also improves the performance of prognosis after infection [ 12 ]. The indirect injury of lockdowns caused by COVID-19 deserves more attention, which reduced people’s physical activities [ 1 , 2 , 13 , 14 ], level of physical fitness, and affected their overall health.…”

Understanding physical activity declines during COVID-19: The affective repercussions of disruption to exercise routines

“…Several studies have since examined the association between well-established psychological predictors of PA and PA engagement during COVID-19 to determine factors that forestalled declines in PA. These studies consistently found that higher levels of self-efficacy (i.e., one’s confidence in one’s ability to successfully perform a behavior) and identified regulation (i.e., finding personal utility or importance in PA) were protective of PA engagement during this period of disruption ( Petersen et al, 2021 ; Rhodes et al, 2020 ; Volz et al, 2021 ). However, these studies did not find an association between intrinsic motivation–doing an activity for its inherent rewards–or related constructs (e.g., affective judgments) and PA engagement ( Petersen et al, 2021 ; Rhodes et al, 2020 ; Teran-Escobar et al, 2021 ; Volz et al, 2021 ).…”

“…These studies consistently found that higher levels of self-efficacy (i.e., one’s confidence in one’s ability to successfully perform a behavior) and identified regulation (i.e., finding personal utility or importance in PA) were protective of PA engagement during this period of disruption ( Petersen et al, 2021 ; Rhodes et al, 2020 ; Volz et al, 2021 ). However, these studies did not find an association between intrinsic motivation–doing an activity for its inherent rewards–or related constructs (e.g., affective judgments) and PA engagement ( Petersen et al, 2021 ; Rhodes et al, 2020 ; Teran-Escobar et al, 2021 ; Volz et al, 2021 ). This finding was unexpected given the wealth of support for intrinsic motivation as a sustainable form of motivation for long-term engagement in PA (see Ng et al, 2012 and Teixeira et al, 2012 for meta- and systematic analyses) and warrants further examination of factors that might impact the association between intrinsic motivation and PA.…”