Brooke’s Point National Higschool

Brgy. Pangobilian, Brooke’s Point, Palawan

Building A Stronger Mind:

The positive impact of working out among the students of BPNHS on their mental
health

A Qualitative Research Presented To:

Ms. Jessica C. Salatambos

Research Teacher

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Practical Research 1

Presented by:

Jayden Josh Diaz

Arran Bell Bugarin

Johann Timothy Valdez

11-STEM A

May 25, 2023

 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

“The body achieves what the mind believes” to create a positive attitude and belief towards reaching your
fitness goals, can help a person overcome physical limitations. Going to the gym to exercise is more than a workout pr
a physical hobby for everyone, it requires a right mindset to be consistent and discipline for doing it daily. strong and
a well-defined physique that every students aims to acquire and use it as an influence or to inspire other students, this
can be achieve through being committed on exercising regularly. This does not only improve the physical set of skills
but also lowers the risks of negative effects on the mental health.

Furthermore, students are also found going through the gym every weekdays after their school sessions every
week days also, these teen agers are slowly progressing in reaching their dream, their fitness goals. The dilemma of
students working out are sometimes fueled by negative energy and thoughts some of the students experienced heart
broken and use it as a fuel through motivate themselves to go into the gym as their daily basis. Which can either make
good or bad intentions that may bring down others, or to hurt other people through, physically, also, one of the factors
that students are facing right now is their personal barriers and lack of guidance or professionals to teach them because
most of the students are scared that they might be judge and unwelcomed and might hurt themselves. So, this signifies
the local issues of students that goes to the gym and facing these such problems indicates that we must put attention
for these negative and positive effects of the issues.

Meanwhile, several studies may have already been made to further increase our awareness and knowledge
about the benefits of going to and being in the gym, however, only a few studies have been professionally conducted
that would prove several effects of what this specific “gymbro” mindset would do to our everyday lives and the
positive impact it gives to our productivity, efficiency, and relief of stress. The only observations that have been made
during this modern time that can be considered remotely close to a professional study are social media videos that
cover this topic along with recorded proof and results, but the concern still remains that an increase in actual research
needs to be upheld especially in this specified area of Brooke’s Point, Palawan.

In connection with this, the publishers from LIFE, The Philippine star featured “fitspiration” Culver Padilla
(celebrity fitness coach to names such as Iza Calzado and Markki Stroem) to promote that people should “Act on it”
and move towards their goals and actively try to better themselves and their mental condition as supported by some of
his partnering gyms such as AWAKEN, also emphasizing that securing one’s mental state and improving mental
health is one of the key factors into starting off and being consistent in your gym life . Moreover, several promotions,
authorities, and big names in the fitness community from overseas has adamantly voiced their recommendations for
the widespread of information and highlight of learning the basic disciplines and improvement of “gyming” to our
current lifestyle and needs of every practitioner.
Significance of the Study

This study aimed to provide valuable information on what are the positive impacts for doing physical
workouts on Brooke’s Point National Highschool (BPNHS)

For the Students, this study will help them to try physical workouts for theirselves since this study will provide
Information about the benefits of doing physical workouts. The students will improve their mental and physical health.
They would become healthier.

For the Teachers, they could help the students to motivate themselves doing such workouts and to lessen the
percentage of having stress for their students.

For future generations,

Statement of the Problem

What does the workhorse lifestyle of a gym practitioner do in favor of a person’s mind? Understanding this
relation of the body and mind has not been easy, and the gap between clarification and confusion has only been
increasing especially in this new information age that has caused a rise I’m skepticism in the reputation of the “Gym
Life”.

This study was conceived to understand a specific part of a “GymBro’s” life, and that is the positive impact it
manifests for the practitioner’s mental health.

Specifically, this investigation seeks answers to the following questions.

1.What kind of objectives make people go to the gym in the first place?

2.What does a “GymGoer” do to keep themselves disciplined

3.How does going to the gym benefit the mental health of a person?

4.Why do people put so much time and effort into going to the gym?

5.What kind of benefits does going to the gym affects the students’ academic performance?
Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The general intent of the study is to look into the benefits of gym work out on mental health and academic
performance at Brooke's Point National High School (BPNHS), with a particular emphasis on the students who go to
the gym.

This investigation will mainly assess the positive impact of doing gym workouts, it also includes in this study
for how the students doing gym workouts will affect their performance in school. This study yearns to help not just the
students but also the teachers, seeing the selected students of Brooke’s Point National Highschool doing physical
workouts; The goal of this study is to investigate and to know the general benefits and techniques came from the
selected students of BPNHS.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are operationally defined for clarity purposes. The following terms are:

GymBros

GymGoers

Gym

Fitspiration

Gyming

Skepticism

Workhorse
 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter includes the ideas, finished thesis, generalization, or methodologies. Those related topics that
were include in this chapter helps familiarizing information that are relevant and similar to the present study.

Related Literature

(Question no.1)

According Giselle A 2020, People who plans to go to the gym mainly wants to get healthier. By engaging physical
activities in the gym, this helps improve cardiovascular system and making it more efficient in pumping more blood
through the whole body. Other's tend to do it for their mental health. Other people experience stress, depression, and
heartbroken. By exercising it relieves these mental health problems. Exercising relieves tension in the brain resulting
to release endorphins. Endorphins provide the body a positive feeling, aid in relaxation, and reduce stress and tension.
In other words, regular exercise promotes great mental health in addition to being beneficial to your physical health.
Some Students main reason why they started working out was for them to mend from heartbreak.

(Question no. 2)

According to Remez Sasson (2014), Seeing progress in your body, slowly losing weight and getting in shape, this
situation often happens usually after gaining results. This awakens a strong motivation for an individual to pursue and
continue working. When you look around at the gym, you will be seeing people with shaped body and defined
muscles. These people also inspire other people to work out and be disciplined in pursuing their goals. By applying
self-discipline and perseverance to working out, in which it can develop discipline can have control oneself and its life
habits. The result and growth on your journey will also be your own motivation. As Jan McKIngley said “Self-control
is a key factor in achieving success. We can’t control everything in life, but we can definitely control ourselves.” As
for Ruth Boat and Simon B. Cooper (2019), States that self-control is one factors which alters one’s response in
achieving something or a desired outcome in life. Individuals who have high self-control are more likely to adhere
exercise programmes than those with low self-control. For instance, people who exercise also has jobs, schools, and
meetings to attend which can be an obstacle for maintaining physical activity lifestyle. Rather than resting they will
choose the remaining time for working out. Therefore, self-control is an important factor to ensure the consistency of
their exercise programmes in stressful situations.

(Question no.3)

There is a substantial body of evidence that shows a positive relationship between physical activity and mental health
and illness (Biddleetal.,2000; Biddle &Mutrie,2001; Callaghan,2004; Daley,2002; Fontaine, 2000; Saxenaetal.,2005).
The substantial evidence linking physical activity to mental health has resulted in recommendations for exercise to be
used as an adjunct to other forms of treatment in mental illness. Emphasizing that no matter the surface of the
situation, going to the gym or exercising in general has both direct and indirect benefits to a person’s mental health.
Indicating that there is a various disciplines have been observed from the resulting adaptations of the average
“gymgoer” during their time working out or in the gym. The mental health of the average person mostly contains the
usual aspects of what we know as “stress”, although prominent to all ages, many who exercise the art of physical
reprimand, can suppress this emotion and help grow more intellectually just as much as mentally.

(Question no.4)

Many empirical studies show true, that there is an adamant difference between highly motivated individuals versus
those who are less active, and this is as true as significant change in motivation and likeness in the desire of activity,
leads to more noticeable changes in agreeability and general behavior.

Overall, many agree that going to the gym, working out, or exercising hone one’s body and mind not just for the
present but also throughout their entire future life. Agreed upon in a study (Scott’s, 2011), working out means to
create a better physical and mental version of yourself, to comprehend more than the average human being. Self-
acceptance (Crone et al.’s (2005), the participants conceptualization of mental health and centered on respondents’
acceptance of themselves, their health and social status, and life situation. The category provided participants with
self-assurance or confidence; for example, “out on the bike I feel a tone with the whole of life and the whole of
creation (self-acceptance) I feel that this is the extreme of what a human being can feel in pleasure and in being alive.
I just love life and when you use everything, your body, and your mind, to achieve the best then you get the best
feeling” (Mary in Croneetal.,2005). Many people throughout the world feel this sensation when given a sense of
seniority to others in a subjective way. Psychologically, participants of these studies state to be more succumbed to
life rather than be a prisoner to negative events, feeling that they have more control over their actions and decisions
during trying times, all opportunities given and attained through their actions as gym and exercise practitioners. Also,
acceptance of companionship in an exercise workplace proved to be substantial in one’s mental health as “gym going”
is a collective discipline that more often times than not require the help of others, suggesting that surrendering to
another’s care I apart of mutual benefit (Glenister,1996).

(Question No.5)

According to Howard Taras (2013) There may be some short-term improvements of physical activity (such as
on concentration) but that long-term improvement academic achievement as a result of more vigorous physical
activity is not well substantiated. The relationship between physical activity in children and academic outcomes
requires further explanation. However Cornelia Herbert, Fried Rich Meixner (2020) States that the health benefits of
regular physical activity and aerobic exercise are undisputed in the literature. The present series of pilot studies had
two major obejectives, examine mental health well-being, and regular physical activity of university students and
explore the potential health benefits of short-term aerobic exercise on university students in an online and laboratory
study. There is an urgent need to develop physical activity among the university students (Stuts-Kohlemainen and
Sinha, 2014) Taken together, there is an urgent need to develop physical activity and exercise interventions to
promote mental health and well-being among universstudents. The interventions should fit into their daily working
schedules and demands and also fulfill the criteria of being evidence-based.
Synthesis

The studies conducted by

Theoretical Framework

The following theories of learning served as the background of this study:

First, Bahrke and Morgan’s Distraction theory (1978); Second, Ransford’s The Social interaction Hypothesis(1982);
Third, Bandura’s Self-efficacy theory (1997).

Bahrke and Morgan’s distraction theory implies that any time spent away from, or out of one’s daily life
brought by physical activity is responsible for any type of benefit brought from exercise. The main idea or theme of
Bahrke and Morgan’s theory is that exercise acts as a temporary breaking away point for a person to relax and calm
his/her sense of self or even quote escape from reality. This serves a fundamental focal point for gymgoers today and
those in between a rock and a hard place in currently in life. The mental health of gymgoers and certain practitioners
of body building, powerlifting, calisthenics, and others require time and focus being alone or to not stress about the
struggles of life, nonetheless this type of action that the theory supports may lead to positive and/or negative impacts
towards the gymbro/gymgirl as it only theorizes a temporary state of “zoning”. Boutcher (1993) also stated that
activities such as yoga and psychotherapy had similar effects. There Is little support that this mechanism is responsible
for chronic bouts of activity but Paluska and Schwenk(2000) suggest that this mechanism maybe responsible for the
antidepressant affects from an acute bout of exercise.

In addition, the self-efficacy theory by Ransford C. P. proposes that an individual’s confidence to exercise is
strongly related to their ability to perform the behavior. Therefore, the successful adoption of exercise may lead to
increases in mood, self-confidence, a sense of ability or self-efficacy, which impacts on a person’s autonomy and their
ability to cope with life.

The people nowadays especially adolescent males and females generally treat their appearance or image to others as
one of their highest concerns and if needed, is there highest priority to change or revamp.

Hence, the idea is that while your confidence in exercising and working out increases so does your interpersonal
morale. In modern society’s case, the self-efficacy theory also applies to someone’s everyday struggles. The ability to
be confident in decision making, task performance, and intrapersonal conduct.

Lastly, the social interaction hypothesis (Ransford,1982) suggests that social relationships and mutual support
from other people in an exercise setting provides a significant proportion of the effect of exercise on mental health.
However, there are mixed responses to this hypothesis because research into home based and community programs
have found social interaction to be unnecessary for the elicitation of mental wellbeing (Glenister,1996). However,
according to Biddle and Mutrie (2001), for some socially excluded groups, such as older people or people with
depression, the opportunity for social interaction maybe particularly important for their mental health. Biddle and
Mutrie concluded that consensus on the mechanism responsible for physical activity and mental health benefit is still
inconclusive and unclear. Although very limited and unlikely in this generation, to console and conform with others in
a gym or exercise facility, the implication of this concept or action suggests to be what is one of the key benefits of
Gymgoing to a person’s mental health. Increasing solidarity among age groups and even peers, going to the gym and
exercising the body alongside partners who possibly share the same interests, in theory, boosts significance and
causes a change for the better.
Research Paradigm

Research Title: Building A Stronger Mind: The positive impact of working out among the students of
BPNHS on their mental health.

WORKING OUT MENTAL HEALTH OF STUDENTS IN BPNHS

 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

In this study we have chosen Narrative as our research design. This helps getting the
participants story or experiences relating to the specific subject in the study. Moreover, it
helps the participants express themselves to gain an in-depth understanding while we the
researchirs are gathering information base from their past and present experiences in
working out.

Participants and Sampling Techniques

In this study we used purposive sampling to gather useful information that will help the study. The respondents of the
study were 6 who were doing physical workouts. They were interviewed for this research to gather useful information
that is needed in the study. Individual interviews were conducted with 6 all male respondents. The respondents said
that they experienced a lot of changes especially on their mental health ever since they started doing physical
workouts, they also share some techniques that they also used everytime, and some motivational quotes to spread
positive mentality. The participants we’ve selected are from the same school. All respondents’ data is collected on
May 27, 2023, total of 6 respondents came from grade 10 and 11, age ranges to 16 to 17 yrs old.

Research Instrument
The Instruments we used was a researcher-made questionnaire open ended questions to gather all the needed data that
help to determine the benefits and experiences of a students doing physical workouts on their mental, academic and
lifestyle. In designing good data collection instrument were considered. For Instance, statement describing the
situations pertaining was toned down to accommodate the knowledge preparedness of the respondents. Open-ended
questions were provided to accommodate free formatted reviews related to the topic. In this way, the instrument is
authorized to obtain valid responses of the students.

Data Collection

Data collection took place in May 27, 2023. We gathered the primary information through structured
conversation during the interviews with the selected students of Brooke’s Point National Higschool as our outmost
performance. All of the 6 respondents were acquaintances of the researchers. All respondents were interviewed
through online social media app. Open ended questions like this allow the participant more scope to express thoughts
and feelings (especially when sensitive issues are being discussed) and can offer more detail on the research subject
(Sarantakos, 1988). The selected student respondent, with their particular knowledge and understanding, can provide
insight for the study and can share experiences that they experienced. Through the key informant Interviews, we were
able to gather deep information that will probably help and provide the needs of our study.
Data Analysis
QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

(Objective of the analysis)

This report gives an overview of the qualitative analysis of * interviews that were done online and were conducted
with participants who frequently go to the gym or partake in any physically strenuous exercise. Within the framework
of Brooke’s point Palawan.

The questions that were asked were as follows:

•Why did you start doing gym workouts or home workout?

•Do you work out just to have a healthy hobby? or is there any other reasons?

•Can you balance your academic performance while maintaining your physical active lifestyle? How so?

•Did you see or felt any changes before and after your workout in the mental health and moods? If your answer is yes,
how so?

•How do you keep yourself in being physically active or keeping on track in your programs daily? what are the factors
that May hinder your physical active lifestyle?

• If you had a chance to talk to your old self, what are you going to advice or say to her/him about the drastic changes
of your new self? Mentally and physically. (Feel free to express yourself in this question, we appreciate an honest
answer)

The aim of the interview was to ask these specific questions to determine a recurring pattern within the mental health
of the participants, and their motivations, goals, and plans pertaining to working out or going to the gym.

To answer these questions, we analyzed what participants prioritized aesthetic gym results to participants who
prioritized increasing their health and life discipline, to recover from injuries, to defy peer expectations, or generally
just getting into shape.

We want to know what kind of different outlooks these several people have when determining how they take their
gym experience. This approach allows us easier sorting of information given by the respondents.

Additionally, the researchers paid attention to how, specific circumstances like difference in body figure and body
mass affects the wanted results.

Taking into account all of these questions and factors these are the accumulated results of the analysis:

(Thematic analysis)

Firstly, several recurring themes of distinct similarities were observed during the interviews done by the researchers to
the respondents, some of the respondents stated their motivations being that they just wanted to improve their health
and reduce their bodyweight, while others stated their motivations to be to change their appeal to the public and to
adjust their social outlook from others. Similarly, those very participants responded that they think highly of nutrition
and another pattern to their responses were their diet and control over what they eat, although unrelated they still
deemed the requirement to looking great to others was to also feel great as well.

On the contrary, when asked their ability to balance their time in the gym and their academic schedule, the participants
responded that the stress and challenges that came from trying to put time in one and the other proved to somewhat
take away from the fun and relaxation of going to the gym thus creating a paradoxical event that hinders development
and slows down progress, however, other responses state that the challenges that procure from this paradox also
makes the practitioner all the more motivated to progress further and continue their gym journey.

When asked, to further elaborate on their struggles a theme suggested that some of the participants were subjected to
being shunned and demoralized by those around them for making their weight loss journey, while some of their peers
apparently supported them the back-and-forth balance between the two separated them to being acknowledged and
stepping away from certain social groups.

Secondly, the participants’ response to the 4th question above, had different viewpoints but only a few recurring
themes. The first being that many of the participants agreed that working out benefited their mental health allowing
them to feel more refreshed with their bodies and feeling more relaxed as they continually make improvements to their
lifestyle. Second, the participants feel as if they have taken something away in their life in order to pursue their wight
goals, as if the deemed working out as sacrifice and is something that is “not free”. This burdens their minds and has
them feeling a slight guilt that weighs on their conscience which in turn affects their mental health. Lastly, the
participants see that working out is a long term progressive achievement and if anything is an investment that requires
time and commitment, allowing them to be stronger not just physically but mentally as well. Others mostly believe
that this journey is not one where you would particularly think about the present but of the future, entailing that mental
strain of right now is coherent to a greater benefit in the future.

Lastly, the apparent avid effects of gymgoing in the mental health of the participants is their ability to cope with
themselves during trying times, for example the loss of a loved one, or the end of a romantic relationship. All of the
participants become aware and increase their sense of as to not lose determination during these events. The most
practical theoretical escape from depressing times to most is working out.