Latent variable modelling of the relationship between flow and exercise-induced feelings: an intuitive appraisal perspective

[Abstract]: The present study examined the relationship between self-reported levels of Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) and the post-exercise feelings of Positive Engagement, Revitalisation, Tranquillity, and Physical Exhaustion (Gauvin & Rejeski, 1993) using responses from 1, 231 aerobic dance exercise participants. Vallerand’s (1987) intuitive-reflective appraisal model of self-related affects and Csikszentmihalyi’s (1975) conceptual framework for optimal experience served as the guiding theoretical frameworks. It was hypothesised that self-reported flow would be positively associated with revitalisation, tranquillity and positive engagement while statistical independence was expected for physical exhaustion. First, participants completed the Flow State Scale (Jackson & Marsh, 1996) and second, the Exercise-induced Feeling Inventory (Gauvin & Rejeski, 1993) immediately after an aerobic dance exercise class. Latent variable analyses showed that the higher-order Flow factor was positively associated with post-exercise Positive Engagement, Revitalisation, and Tranquillity, but not with Physical Exhaustion. Flow state explained 35% of the variance in Positive Engagement, 31% of the variance in Revitalisation, and 22% of the variance in Tranquillity. It is concluded that self-reported flow in aerobic dance exercise is moderately associated with the experience of positive post-exercise feelings. Physical educators may wish to employ interventions to facilitate the flow experience during lessons that involve structured exercise

Managing agency for athletic performance: a discursive approach to the zone

This paper provides a discursive perspective on a concept used within sport psychology, in both its academic and practical discourse, namely 'the zone.' This extraordinary state is one of exceptional peak performance whereby an athlete claims to perform effortlessly, automatically, and successfully. The focus of this paper is the use of the zone as a discursive resource in accounting for successful performance. Through the examination of two televised accounts of performance by elite athletes, I argue that the zone can be used as a way of managing agency for a performance for diluting or softening accounts of success, or as a way of claiming success was probable when failing due to injury. The paper proposes a number of rhetorical contrasts that are evident in the discursive deployment of the zon