Theme 1: Pre-existing conditions, fatigue and baseline fitness
’d, tiredness, fatigue, chronic musculoskeletal conditions
SAID
Eleven respondents expressed that pre-existing health status and related symptoms impacted their ability to participate in prescribed exercise sessions. In all instances, this theme was identified as a barrier to participation. Low back and other chronic musculoskeletal conditions were often identified as influencing participants’ ability to exercise (e.g., ‘I think there were a couple of the exercises that I didn’t do because of my lower back issues’). Some participants expressed that these physical limitations reduced the amount of time that they could spend exercising, while for others, limitations were related to the specific exercises they could perform.A feeling of tiredness was also commonly identified as a pre-existing barrier. For some participants prevalent tiredness impacted their ability to exercise on a given day (e.g., ‘There’s a degree of tired where I just can’t do it. So, it was always on those times I just didn’t have it in me.’), while for others fatigue set in while exercising (e.g., ‘I was very tired after I got done with them and it said do them 10 times. I couldn’t do the 10 times.’).For some participants, existing health status presented a challenge when starting the program (e.g., ‘Well, when this all first started, it was very hard to do.’). However, as the program advanced, some participants found it easier to participate (e.g., ‘I wasn’t used to exercising. So, yes, I’d go out and take a walk, but I mean I wasn’t walking like I’m walking now. Now, I do it like eight times a day, where before I only went to the gate and maybe back again.’, and ‘I worked my way kind of up to what I expected I should do. But I found it very hard when I started at first.’).