Attendance and Fitness in Aerobics Exercise

The effects of contracting and lottery procedures on exercise attendance and improvements in fitness were assessed using 37 female college students assigned to five groups. Three of the groups utilized contract procedures, one a lottery, and the fifth was a no-treatment control group. Subjects in two of the contracting groups ran over twice as much distance as subjects in the other three groups, providing an assessment of the effects of increased training on the measure of fitness (the 12-minute test). Results showed that all contracting groups and the lottery group attended the exercise sessions significantly more than did the control group.