Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Activity in the Prevention and Management of Disease
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1395471
This article is part of the Research Topic Strategies in Improving and Encouraging Walking among Older Adults View all 3 articles

Insights from older adults' lived experience of physical activity and exercise during the COVID-19 lockdown in England

Provisionally accepted
Zsofia Szekeres Zsofia Szekeres 1,2*Noelia Agustín-Sierra Noelia Agustín-Sierra 3Lisa Zaidell Lisa Zaidell 2Katya N. Mileva Katya N. Mileva 2Rita F. De Oliveira Rita F. De Oliveira 2*
  • 1 School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
  • 2 London South Bank University, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study investigated older adults’ emotional and social experiences of physical activity and exercise during the first Covid-19 lockdown in England. Participants were 24 older adults (M=74 years, SD=5.0) either physically active or inactive before lockdown. Semi-structured interviews were conducted at the start of the pandemic in England, and when restrictions were lifted eight weeks later. Template analysis revealed three main themes: a Sense of Purpose for Being Physically Active, Routes for Engagement, and Inactive by Force? with different sub-themes for active and inactive participants The lockdown restrictions emphasised the need to keep physically active in both active and inactive participants, but they perceived barriers differently. Both active and inactive participants found a renewed sense of purpose in walking outdoors for exercise when restrictions eased, enhancing their physical and mental well-being. To reduce barriers and emphasise that exercise is for all ages and all levels of mobility, multi-modal recommendations are presented for educating, promoting, supporting, and enabling older adults to engage in physical activity and exercise.

    Keywords: barriers, Motivation, LockDown, physical activity, Socio-ecological model, qualitative Font: Not Italic Font: Not Italic Insert Table 2. Here

    Received: 04 Mar 2024; Accepted: 13 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Szekeres, Agustín-Sierra, Zaidell, Mileva and De Oliveira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zsofia Szekeres, School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
    Rita F. De Oliveira, London South Bank University, London, SE1 0AA, England, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.