An article published in the American Psychological Association reveals that women feel dissatisfied when they view themselves in the fitness area mirrors during physical activity. Mirrors are more frequent than painting on the walls of fitness clubs and gyms. What can be inspiring when you look at the fitness area mirrors and your clothes full of sweat? For beginners, it is no big deal. One study revealed that women who exercise in front of the fitness area mirrors do not feel comfortable with their bodies unlike women who train without them.
Placing mirrors in the place where people take gym classes needs to be reconsidered if it is intended to attract a new audience, according to the American Psychological Association journal Health Psychology. Studies conducted at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario where middle-aged and sedentary women answered a questionnaire about how they felt about their bodies looked, how safe they felt in their ability to pedal on stationary bikes, and how they were in their mood and most admitted to being calm or exhausted. They exercised on bikes twice for 20 minutes at moderate intensity for one week.
In one of the studies, they trained in halls where there were fitness area mirrors and in the other the mirrors were covered by the curtains. After completing each of the study, they answered the same questions that had been asked previously. When they exercised in the room where they could be observed through the fitness area mirrors, the mood did not present the same improvement that happened when they practiced the exercises in the rooms where the mirrors were covered, the studies showed. For example, the rooms with mirrors made these women feel less calm and more fatigued than before. According to researchers, these women were not out of weight and even women who had a good image regarding their body felt worse after exercising in front of the mirrors.
Although the study was not directed at men, the researchers assert that they should present similar, less intense reactions, as they tend to have a less severe critical sense than women. The results indicate that fitness clubs and gyms should begin to check their decoration. If exercise makes sedentary women feel worse than they felt before starting physical activities, it will be much more difficult to persuade them to stay regularly in the activity. In case of some women, they felt encouraged when they saw themselves improvement in their shape in the fitness area mirrors. In short, it is up to you how you perceive your self-image when you look at yourself in fitness area mirrors.