Exploring the Barriers to Resistance Exercise among Hong Kong Women

Regular resistance exercise has been shown to have numerous benefits such as healthy aging, and delaying or preventing chronic illnesses. However, evidence shows women’s participation in physical activity and resistance exercise is low. The lack of visibility is especially problematic for women who face multiple sources of disadvantage, such as ageing, frailty, less muscle. More is that women live longer and thus early prevention and be proactive to minimize burden to the society is essential. This study, which was the first done locally, aimed to explore the potential barriers to their engagement in resistance exercise. A cross sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 366 Hong Kong women. The findings showed that a majority of them did not regularly participate in any form of resistance exercise. Their low participation rates were due to limited knowledge on resistance exercise, lack of community resources, lack of companions, no time, and feeling tired after long working hours. Our study demonstrated a significant negative relationship between their hours of work per day and participation rates in doing the exercise. This research highlights the importance of promoting resistance exercise to women to improve their participation rates so as to enable them to enjoy healthier life thereby minimizing hospitalization and institutionalization. If successful, this can help reduce social and economic costs to Hong Kong.