Starting an exercise regimen with others can be a powerful fitness motivator, and new research spotlights the strategy’s particular importance for older adults.

In a randomized clinical trial in JAMA Network Open, older adults who talked with peers about their exercise program were able to increase and sustain physical activity levels much better than those who focused on self-motivation and setting fitness goals.

“The interpersonal group involved more peer-to-peer conversation, collaborative learning, and sharing,” said McMahon. Participants talked among themselves about how they could sustain doing the prescribed exercises at home. “Through those conversations, they learned and experimented,” McMahon said. They problem-solved, determining what barriers might stop them from exercising and brainstorming ways around them.

The intrapersonal group (ie, they learned to set goals and develop action plans, but did not connect with others), meanwhile, exhibited no significant changes in total physical activity. (The third experimental group, the intrapersonal plus interpersonal condition, had results similar to the interpersonal one.)

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