Group Exercise

Research: Is group exercise more effective than individual exercise?

New research suggests that group exercise unleashes a flood of chemicals in the brain, triggering the same responses that have made collective activities from dancing and laughter to religion itself such enduring aspects of human culture. For some (but not all) people, finding workout buddies could help turn fitness into a pleasant addiction.

Researchers from Oxford's Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology report on a study of the university's famed rowing team. The crew was divided into teams of six, each of which performed a series of identical workouts on rowing machines. The only variable was whether the workouts were performed alone, or in teams with the six machines synchronized by the crew's coxswain.

Results:

After each workout, a blood-pressure cuff was tightened around one arm of each subject until he reported pain, an indirect method of measuring endorphin levels in the brain. Endorphins – the same chemicals that stimulate “runner's high” – produce a mild opiate high and create a sense of well-being as well as blocking pain. Sure enough, the rowers' pain threshold was consistently twice as high after exercising with their teammates compared to exercising alone, even though the intensity of the workouts was identical.

“We also suspect that shared goals – ultimate goals, like winning the big race, and proximate goals, like endeavouring to row together in synch – are at least part of the trigger,” she said by e-mail.

Endorphins are produced by virtually any vigorous physical activity, but group work appears to enhance the effect dramatically – and there's plenty of evidence that exercise classes meet that description. In a series of studies stretching back more than a decade, University of Saskatchewan professor Kevin Spink has found those who feel a greater sense of “groupness” and cohesion within an exercise class are more punctual, have better attendance and even work harder.

Is Group Exercise Better than Working Out Solo? 2010. Accessed 2, October, 2011.

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/is-group-exercise-better-than-working-out-solo/article1421529/

WHAT does this mean for our project?? This evidence will greatly assist our concept- as we are arguing that our 'exercise motivation' product, will be successful because it allows the users to interact with the results of each others fitness. This article also proves that similar group goals further benefit exercise motivation. This research not only proves the successfulness of group fitness over individual fitness, but also re-confirms the connection between exercise and mood improvement. 

Conclude: Group exercise is more successful than individual exercise !

Laser Goal Development

The main concern derived from our design freeze presentation was that we hadn't focussed on the tangible interaction from the users. We needed to include an aspect of information that acted as a level of communication between the users. The reading of exercise was an automatic input that was shared between the users. In class we began considering what useful information could be communicated for the design.

Our most successful idea was to transfer user goals back and forth to each other. IE. if your friends fish beat you today, you can communicate through the tank display that tomorrow you intend to beat there fish by so much etc. I began looking at possible ways this could be shown through the tank. I firstly considered having two fish for each user (one to display your goal for tomorrow, and one to display your exercise achievement for that day)

After trying different designs for the two fish display, I decided it would get too confusing, as the user would need to manually adjust one of their fish, and evidently would mean each fish would need to be labeled. We discussed the use of lasers in class and how that would be possible for this design. I mocked up some sketches of how I believed this to be possible..

Initial inspiration for the magnet laser design came from a similar system that I used to have with my actual fish tank years ago. It was to clean the glass of the tank on the inside. They were magnetised and had a mesh grip material on one side of the inner tank cleaner. (images below)

Design Freeze

The past week saw significant development on our concept design. We were able to figure out the ins and outs of what we wanted from our design and what it definitely needed. In final the short brief of our design is to display the amount of exercise performed by each person by mechanical fish.

This is our Week 9 Design Brief: (click to enlarge)

Design Narrative:

Existing Product Fish

I've had a look around at some existing mechanical and fake fish, which are used in existing product designs. There is a wide range of products that use artificial fish in the designs to represent a living interactive form. Here are some of the examples I have found.

The majority of the 'mechanical' fish I found are some what evil/deep sea looking. These are designs which are actually capable of moving throughout water imitating real fish. Maybe the ugly/evil design is necessary to make swimming possible..?

These designs all use more fake unrealistic designs of fish in their products. They are still imitating live fish, however, on a more playful and fun level. 

Video Design Narrative

This week we began by looking further into tangible design within the scenario. The lecture identified that a design that uses tangible interactions, fit's within people's life, and enhances their experiences. This forced me to again question the 'quality' of the information that was going to be communicated through our design. The first exercise during class had us filming other people ordering at a coffee shop. We then analysed the film and captured some important shots relating to the actions of the users in the video. This was done to make video cards in order to uncover user interaction needs. The following are some of the important snap shots that were taken at the coffee shop.

By analysing each of the actions in the snap shots there were a number of issues that came up. When we were waiting in line 2 other customers asked us if we had ordered yet or not. This means the lining up, paying and waiting to receive sections were not clear enough. Once we reached the counter the lady apologised for the wait. There were a number of people just waiting around, we were not to sure who's coffee we were expecting next and therefore the situation was slightly confusing. Once your coffee is ready the simply yell out what you ordered and you head to the other side of the counter to collect it. We found that this system was fairly unsuccessful as there wasn't a designated area for the coffee to be put down and then collected.

We then focussed on putting each of these actions and processors under significant headings. This is what my group came up with:

Friction

• Surrounding noise (people walking past, take away shop over the path, TV in distance)
• Communication (between customers, customer and cashier, customer and barista) 
• Standards (of service, of coffee)
• Expectation (is what you receive the same every time?)
• Under pressure (can see large line of people waiting)

Routine

• Counting money (handed from customer)
• Measuring coffee (pulled out of a grinder)
• Pouring of milk (into the different jugs)

Forceful

• Banging the coffee out (must hit hard for it to fall out in one piece)
• Banging milk jug (to eliminate small bubbles)
• Yelling at other staff (during a confusion or mistake/ under stress)
• Stress (to produce the goods in a short amount of time)

Precise

• Selecting the correct button on till (cappuccino, latte, skim milk etc.)
• Calling out coffee (must be exactly what the customer ordered)

Social interaction

• Customer, barista, barista and coffee machine
• Interaction between customers (are you waiting, is that mine or yours etc)
• Uni environment (may be more relaxed then what you would find in the city)

Sustain

• Actions of people in the environment
• Cleaning (of entire shop)

Elegant

• Pouring of milk (needs to be precise)
• Presentation of staff and shop
• External view (how its perceived by the customer)
• Staff attitude (friendly and welcoming? short and rude?)

This exercise shows the we need to consider the entire scenario use of the design. Exactly how the user is going to react with the product and what they are getting out of it. Must apply a similar exercise to our concept design.. !

Heart Rate Connection

Research: Does exercise raise your Heart Rate? (Highlighted enlarged text signifies the important information)

The reason for the heart rate rising during exercise is fairly obvious. The muscles need more oxygen as they are moving. To get these, the heart rate must go up to pump the blood around the body faster.When we start to exercise the brain tells the muscles in our body to move. At the same time the brain is sending signals (via the sympathetic nervous system) to the heart to increase its rate. It is the sympathetic nervous system that controls our bodies in time of stress. The brain, via the sympathetic nervous system, also redirects blood to the muscles by reducing the flow from unnecessary functions (such as digestion). As we exercise more, the nervous system feeds back and the heart increases its rate to match the level of exercise being done. If your heart cannot provide enough oxygen to move the muscles, you have to stop.Although we breathe harder when we are exercising, generally it is the heart's ability to get the oxygen to the muscles, rather than the lungs' ability to gather oxygen, which limits how much oxygen the muscles receive.

Heart Rate and Exercise. 2008. Accessed: 10, September, 2011.

                 http://www.planet-scicast.com/experiment.cfm?cit_id=2717

WHAT does this mean for the project?? This information confirms to connection between exercise and increase in heart rate. This means that recording the increase in heart rate, is an accurate measure of how much exercise was performed. For this project - a heart rate monitor can be used in order to measure each users increase in heart rate, to record how much exercise each member has completed.

Exercise and Mood Connection

Research: Exercise and Endorphin release. I have highlighted the information I believe to be important and relevant.

The traditional benefits of exercise have been to improve and maintain physical fitness, as well as helping to prevent diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.  However, exercise is also great for your mood.

Exercise decreases the stress hormones such as cortisol and increases endorphins.  Endorphins are the body’s natural feel good chemicals, and when they are released through exercise, your mood is boosted naturally.  As well endorphins, exercise also releases adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine.  These chemicals work together to make you feel good. 

Endorphins are defined as hormone-like substances that are produced in the brain and function as the body’s natural painkillers.  During exercise, these endorphins are released, and this can produce feelings of euphoria and a general state of wellbeing.  The endorphins produced can be so powerful that they actually mask pain.  Physically active people recover from mild depression more quickly and physical activity is 

strongly correlated with good mental health as people age.

Exercise and Endorphins. 2008. Accessed: 10, September, 2011.

               http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/Exercise_Endorphins

This is just one of many articles which prove the connection between exercise and endorphin release. As stated endorphins can act as the body's natural painkillers. As endorphins are released, substances are released in the brain, which increases the mood of the person. It's also important that it claims to also act as a recovery for states of mild depression.

WHAT does this mean for our project?? We now have a proven, solid connection, that exercise improves mood through endorphin release. We are now able to continue with the design of the project with the overall intent to motivate users to exercise- in order to get fit, but to also increase and better there mood.

Focusing on Scenario

We began this workshop by dividing into our groups: Scenario, Object and Behaviour. Initially we focused  on what scenario is.. before delving into what its made up of.

Overall we were able to conclude that scenario is the element linking the events people and places within a design. It is comprised of the physical aspects, cognitive aspects and social references. After thoroughly researching each of these aspects you are able to correctly identify your scenario.

We then moved on to further investigate scenario by a number of exercises. Our first task was to outline an initial design brief based on scenario elements identified in the diagram:

From this i was able to identify what was needed within the scenario of the situation. We were asked to come up with a solution to the example design problem about the crowded supermarket. My rough concept looked at implementing a screen at the front of the store which enables users to select what they are looking for then.. supermarket GPS- can take you to exactly where each item is, and it will navigate the easiest way around the supermarket (ultimately saving your time).

Task two asked us to use the scenario diagram and apply it to your project. This was hard for me as my group hadn't fully identified what our final project would be. So for this exercise i focussed on Bec's initial concept which was the plant mood transfer.

This exercise clearly outlined each aspect in our existing concept. It took it back to the real basics- looking at the importance of the information that is transferred. It identified what experiences were existing and forced me to ask which experiences were needed.

This concept map was then used to outline alternative design briefs.

We asked ourselves a number of questions for this task:

1. What is the Topic Area:  Transferring mood

2. What are the key words: Mood, happy, unhappy, grow, physical reaction, connection, emotional, living form etc.

3. Use the topic area and key words to establish separate design briefs:

1. Mechanical fish to represent friends moods. Swim a lot = happy, Hover around bottom of tank = sad

2. Living forms (somewhat disposable) how many forms are living can reflect your mood?

3. A transportable device to reflect friends moods. Advantage of being portable.

We then looked at the positives and negatives within each new concept to get an overall favoured design. I liked number one the mechanical fish the most, I believe the concept is strong and continuing the 'living forms' theme is a strong idea.

NEED to discuss this lesson with my group and present to them the three concepts that i came up with. Could one of these be the final design..?

Concept Selection

This week we began group work to continue on to our final concept design. My group members are Bec Cunz and Yoakim Vasdekis.

The following are the important parts which i gathered about the project from the lecture:

• Latent needs of your user (What design are they going to find beneficial/ WHY do they need it?)
• What daily life experiences are relevant to them? (Find a problem in their existing life and then find a way to solve it. Or enhance an existing experience)
• Quality of information. (What experience are you enhancing- IS it needed? IS it in demand? AVOID transmitting useless information that doesn't assist the user in any way.
• What do you want the information to be? WHAT is needed??

Our group began by discussing each of our concepts with constant feedback and help from the tutors. This is what i recorded:

From here we agreed to go away and brainstorm possible ideas and concepts that relate to the sharing of moods throughout the day between a group of friends.

This is my thinking so far..

• Throughout the day can have updates of how your friends are
• Your friends must 'apply' to view how your day/mood is.
• Also transmit what they are doing? Is this really needed?
• How does it go two ways? - they see your day and you see theirs
• Does it need to have a controlled aspect?

Whats the point?

• Can do something if friends upset?
• Easier than a call
• Simple?
• A connection (Making the friends closer by knowing how they are?)

• Connected by Music?
• Can know what friends recent downloads are?
• Recent plays?
• Showing music?
• Do all friends use iPods though? (would iPhone use be more common?

How to connect this?

Tell mood by music played ie.

Fast techno- Excited

Adele- Depressed

Slow- Calm

Country- Having a weird day..

MUST apply to view what music the friend is listening to.

• Can you listen to that song as well?
• Or is it a list of artists and song?
• Can it be an iPhone app?- NO, no screen use?
• No screen means no printing- cant use print or text

HOW can it work?

• iPod transmits signal- therefore your ipod will play the song your friend is listening to..
• Can it include and app? (Still works by itself but needs app to accept/deny etc?

IDEA has potential. I would like if we could avoid the use of a wristband or ring that needs wearing. Many of the initial concepts used this design and it would be effective to stay away from this. THOUGH- how else can it be done..?

Final Board

Scenario of use:

This storyboard of the scenario of use displays how two friends begin their night with the wrist bands and due to excessive drinking one results needing to go home. It shows that the friends don't need to be together to use the Drunk Watch.

Final board identifying Scenario, Object and Behaviour: