The real reason why we don’t want to exercise – school PE lessons

It seems there’s a deep rooted reason why we don’t want to workout and it has nothing to do with being tired and busy – it goes all the way back to our childhood.

Women are being put off exercise for life by their school PE lessons, a study has found.

Secondary school classes are the ones most likely to affect girls and it’s competitive classmates, grubby changing rooms and embarrassment of getting sweaty in front of the boys that leaves us likely to hit the gym.

A survey found that more than half of school age girls said their PE lessons had put them off doing any exercise at all.

Sue Tibballs, of the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation, which carried out the study, explained to the Mail Online:

“If only activities on offer are competitive sports like netball and hockey you are going to have whole swathes of girls who feel pushed out and don’t want to exercise.

“That continues into their adulthood.”

She also warned that teachers were finding it difficult to get pupils enthused by sport because girls were ‘worried about their hair and nails.’

“It’s also hard because there aren’t many sporting role models for girls. While boys grow up dreaming of playing for England, women’s sports tends to get pushed out.”

During the study, 1,500 school-age boys and girls were questioned about how often they played sport and their attitude to PE lessons.

The results revealed girls tended to become less and less positive about sport as they grew older, with many blaming secondary school PE lessons for putting them off.

  • shuleiya

    No doubt exercise is quite necessary for us and unfortunately now days we avoid physical workouts and exercises.I m very conscious about my health and love to discuss healthy,fitness issues and read about it.

  • http://www.motivatept.co.uk/ Julie

    I think it probably depends upon the way physical activity was taught in your school and probably the type of school you went to. I attended an all-girls school that put a particular emphasis on school sports. From hockey to netball we were all encouraged to take part and have fun. We were put into ‘houses’ and competed at all sorts of activities (not just sports). I can see how the thought of this could appear off-putting for those without a natural leaning to sports but the school had a very all-inclusive attitude which ensured that no-one was ever made to feel alienated. As a result we all enjoyed exercise and had fun with it, and I know that all my school friends continue to live very active lives today. One of my best friends from school represents England in hockey and was in the 2012 olympic team!