What Maori men really think about exercise

Brotherhood: A study conducted by Dr Isaac Warbrick found sedentary men were more likely to exercise if they kept fit alongside friends. Picture supplied

MAORI men are disproportionately affected by lifestyle-related illnesses associated with sedentary behaviour, but relatively little is known about their thoughts and preferences towards exercise, says Dr Isaac Warbrick.

He is an exercise physiologist at the AUT School of Public Health and Psychosocial Studies and director of the Taupua Waiora Centre for Maori Health Research at AUT South Campus.

Dr Warbrick said current approaches to health promotion emphasised physical and mental wellbeing, but often lacked cultural relevance.

“There’s a lot of gym talk and so-called motivational memes on social media about there being ‘no excuse not to exercise,’ but providing for your family and putting whanau first is more important for Maori men.

“We can’t expect them to engage in forms of exercise that take an hour or more out of their day when they barely get that time to spend with their family,” says Dr Warbrick.

He conducted a qualitative study of sedentary Maori men aged 30-70 years with a body mass index (BMI) over 25. Participants shared their preferences and thoughts on physical activity.

Four key themes emerged from the data — ‘‘camaraderie and bro-ship’’, ‘‘adulthood distractions and priorities’’, ‘‘provider orientation’’ and ‘‘problems with contemporary gym culture’’.

A sense of camaraderie or ‘bro-ship’ motivated the men to be physically active.

They talked about how much easier it was to exercise with a friend.

Participants had a strong collective orientation, whether it was as part of a military unit, sports team or group of friends.

There was a sense of accountability and responsibility to the group and its members to persevere and do their best. Without this, it was difficult to find the motivation to exercise.

Accountability to others often superseded individual aspirations.

This extended to the men’s roles in their whanau and community. When talking about earlier life experiences, participants said physical activity almost always involved working as part of a group. Mostly, it was physically demanding work, not exercise in the modern sense, such as gathering and preparing food, chopping wood or working on a farm. Prior to adulthood, participation in sport was also extremely important to the men, often taking precedence over education.

Once they got older, work and family commitments took priority.