Do you find exercise pleasant or unpleasant? The Affective Exercise Experiences (AFFEXX) questionnaire

Abstract Suggestions that affective experiences may influence exercise motivation have commonly appeared since the dawn of exercise psychology. However, a measure that captures the nature, the antecedents, and the motivational implications of such experiences has been lacking. We developed the Affective Exercise Experiences (AFFEXX) questionnaire to assess the constructs within a conceptual model, according to which core affective exercise experiences (pleasure-displeasure, energy-tiredness, calmness-tension) are influenced by six antecedent appraisals and, in turn, shape attraction or antipathy towards exercise. We report results from three studies (N = 1799) evaluating internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and factorial, convergent, discriminant, construct, and criterion validity. We show that attraction-antipathy correlates with vigorous (0.55) and moderate-to-vigorous (0.48) self-reported physical activity, and accounts for 11–12% and 6–7% of additional variance, respectively, beyond variance explained by self-efficacy and behavioral intention. Affective exercise experiences warrant further study as possible contributors to motivation. The AFFEXX is available from this link: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EF76R .