Abstract

Abstract Regular exercise and lifestyle physical activity are often used interchangeably or combined in physical activity messaging based on evidence for their relatively equivalent health outcomes. However, differences between their motivational correlates are relatively unexplored. The purpose of this study was to compare the motives towards lifestyle physical activity and exercise and their relationship with behaviour using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The participants were a sample of undergraduate students (n=150) who completed measures of the TPB framed in terms of exercise and lifestyle physical activity and self-reported physical activity measures with similar framing. Results identified marked differences between the instrumental attitudes towards the two activities showing instrumental attitudes towards exercise to be higher (P<0.01; d=0.68). Most importantly, exercise had larger TPB–behaviour correlations (P<0.01; q=0.15–0.20) compared with lifestyle physical activity, but follow-up analyses by intensity (strenuous, moderate, mild) showed that these differences were only present at strenuous intensity. Our results suggest that the correlates for the two types of physical activity may differ. Although more research is necessary, this may affect the efficacy of promotion campaigns that do not tailor content exclusively for either exercise or lifestyle physical activity.