Pros and Cons

This post is part of a larger health change project to build in more flexibility training into my fitness regime. The problem is that I basically hate stretching but am starting to see a real need for it now. Here is step 2 of building intent.

Outcome expectancies assignment details. As part of the process of developing intentions people are believed to benefit from identifying the positive outcomes that will accompany the new behavior in contrast to the negative outcomes that accompany the current behaviors (Schwarzer, 2008). An example of a positive outcome expectancy of increasing my flexibility would be that I would be able to ride my bike with a slightly higher, more efficient saddle position. An example of a negative outcome expectancy of not increasing my flexibility would be narrower cross-training options as I would become increasingly more wary of pick up games of soccer or other sports that I have not specifically trained for.

Assignment. Brainstorm a list of as many positive outcomes of increasing flexibility.

I wanted to go old school analog with this assignment but I couldn’t help doing a quick search just to get the ideas flowing. In the process of doing that I came across a pros and cons template by Amanda Hawkins. It seemed just the right tool to use when doing this assignment so I printed one off, got an old stubby #2 pencil and started to list the advantages and disadvantages I expected to encounter with this soon to be implemented flexibility program. Like maybe many people the negatives were easiest to dive into but were fairly slow in coming once I got past the initial few. The positives in contrast weren’t maybe as easy to approach but were faster coming once I got rolling with them. Here is what this assignment yielded.

Scoring

After completing each side of the list I went through it fairly quickly and wrote down the significance of each pro and con on a scale from 0-10. Rather than tally the scores at the end I felt an average score might give me a score that would accommodate the different numbers in each list. As this tool was really just another way to reflect on my expectancies with regard to the pending program, the scoring was more for fun than anything.

Results

The results of this inventory were useful for me in that I discovered two new motivators in the form of “long term mobility gains” and a “long term reduction of stress”. Rather than think of this as a purely stress management benefit I saw it through this process as a long term advantage to not carrying so much tension with me as I move through the world. That alone seems like reason enough to get rolling with this.

Next Step

Tomorrow I am going to complete the self-efficacy inventory and then set about designing my initial flexibility assessment. I did 85k on the bike yesterday and did my normal amount of stretching during and following the ride. With a day to harden up I should be up to my normal standards by tomorrow when I hope to take my indirect flexibility measurements.

Hawkins, A. (2010). Pros and Cons. Retrieved February 06, 2010 from Ahhh-design: http://ahhh-design.com/​pros-and-cons/.

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