The relative effects of a live and videotaped instructor on ratings of perceived exertion and subjective feelings of students in an aerobic exercise class

With the increased level of participation in fitness activities, videotaped exercise programs have become extremely popular. The purpose of this study was to determine whether exercising to a live presentation versus exercising to a videotaped presentation during an aerobic dance session had a differential influence on subjects' ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) and their general feelings (FS) about the exercise experience. A within-subjects design was used, with all subjects experiencing an equal number of exercise sessions under both conditions (live and videotaped). A counterbalanced order was used. The 23 female subjects were from an intact "Exercise to Music" class offered at The University of Tennessee. The independent variables were the two exercise conditions (live and videotaped), and the dependent variables being measured were the RPE and FS scores. In order to control the intensity of the exercise, subjects were asked to stay within 150-160 beats per minute, which was monitored by using heart rate instruments and palpations taken from the carotid artery in the neck. No significant difference between the live and videotape conditions for either measure was evident. It is recommended that further studies be conducted integrating the two instruments [Borg's RPE scale (1982) and Rejeski's FS scale (Rejeski, Best, Griffith & Kenney, 1987)] in an applied setting such as a classroom or fitness center.