Panteleimon Ekkekakis
Chairperson and Professor, Department of Kinesiology | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Panteleimon Ekkekakis's research examines pleasure and displeasure responses to exercise,
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Biography
Panteleimon ("Paddy") Ekkekakis is a professor of exercise psychology and chair of the Department of Kinesiology at Michigan State University. His research examines pleasure and displeasure responses to exercise, including their underlying psychobiological mechanisms, and their implications for exercise behavior.
Industry Expertise (2)
Education/Learning
Health and Wellness
Areas of Expertise (6)
Exercise Psychology
Fitness
Health
Kinesiology
Well-Being
Exercise
Education (1)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.: Ph.D.
Links (2)
News (2)
Negative memories of gym class may last into adulthood
CBC News online
2018-09-04
"The most surprising thing about our research was the vividness of [memories and the] emotional impact. This tells us these were transformative experiences," senior author Panteleimon Ekkekakis of Iowa State University in Ames told Reuters Health by phone.
High-intensity workouts won't work for most people
Daily Mail online
2017-10-04
Dr Panteleimon Ekkekakis, a professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University, studies how our bodies and brains respond to exercise. He says the entire premise of HIIT – which involves alternating between intense bursts of exercise and fixed periods of less-intense activity – guarantees a level of displeasure and therefore does not encourage people to stick to it. 'If you can take an hour of exercise and squeeze it into one minute, there's a price to pay,' he said.
Journal Articles (5)
Physical Activity and Excess Body Weight and Adiposity for Adults. American College of Sports Medicine Consensus Statement
Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine2024 Excessive body weight and adiposity contribute to many adverse health concerns. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recognizes that the condition of excess body weight and adiposity is complex, with numerous factors warranting consideration. The ACSM published a position stand on this topic in 2001 with an update in 2009, and a consensus paper on the role of physical activity in the prevention of weight gain in 2019. This current consensus paper serves as an additional update to those prior ACSM position and consensus papers. The ACSM supports the inclusion of physical activity in medical treatments (pharmacotherapy, metabolic and bariatric surgery) of excess weight and adiposity, as deemed to be medically appropriate, and provides perspectives on physical activity within these therapies.
When Studying Affective Responses to Exercise, the Definition of “Intensity” Must Reference Homeostatic Perturbations: A Retort to Vollaard et al.
Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology2024 In articles on the methodology of studies investigating affective and enjoyment responses to high-intensity interval training, we noted that, occasionally, exercise conditions described as involving “high” intensity exhibited heart rates that were only as high as, or even lower than, heart rates recorded during comparator conditions described as being of “moderate” intensity. Drs. Vollaard, Metcalfe, Kinghorn, Jung, and Little suggest instead that exercise intensity in high-intensity interval-training studies can be defined in terms of percentages of peak workload. Although we maintain that defining exercise intensity in terms of percentages of maximal heart rate is a suboptimal way to quantify the degree of homeostatic perturbations in response to exercise, we are unconvinced that definitions of intensity relying solely on workload are appropriate for studies investigating affective and enjoyment responses to exercise.
Affective responses to stretching exercises: exploring the timing of assessments
Psychology of Sport and Exercise2023 Affective responses during exercise have been identified as a predictor of exercise adherence. However, research has been mostly limited to aerobic and resistance exercise. Considering that stretching activities are also an important component of physical fitness, this quasi-experimental study was designed to: 1) compare affective responses during and immediately after stretching exercises in apparently healthy adults, and 2) assess the consistency and repeatability of affect ratings obtained one week apart. For this purpose, we analyzed the Feeling Scale (FS) and Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) ratings using Time (during and after stretching) x Intensity (light, moderate, vigorous) x Stretched Muscle Group (quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, latissimus dorsi, triceps) with repeated measures analysis of variance (ANCOVA) in 34 participants (21 males; aged 32.8 ± 8.6 years).
Extraordinary claims in the literature on high-intensity interval training (HIIT): I. Bonafide scientific revolution or a looming crisis of replication and credibility?
Sports Medicine2023 The literature on high-intensity interval training (HIIT) contains claims that, if true, could revolutionize the science and practice of exercise. This critical analysis examines two varieties of claims: (i) HIIT is effective in improving various indices of fitness and health, and (ii) HIIT is as effective as more time-consuming moderate-intensity continuous exercise. Using data from two recent systematic reviews as working examples, we show that studies in both categories exhibit considerable weaknesses when judged through the prism of fundamental statistical principles. Predominantly, small-to-medium effects are investigated in severely underpowered studies, thus greatly increasing the risk of both type I and type II errors of statistical inference.
Exploring the impact of individualized pleasure-oriented exercise sessions in a health club setting: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Psychology of Sport and Exercise2023 Research on the relationship between exercise-induced affect and exercise or physical activity behavior has gained momentum in recent years, yielding several observational and longitudinal studies. However, experimental tests demonstrating a causal role of affective responses on exercise adherence are lacking. Given the need to devise exercise prescriptions that can facilitate adherence and promote regular physical activity, a Randomized Controlled Trial targeting individual pleasurable responses in a health-club setting will be conducted. The experimental protocol will compare two individualized evaluation, prescription, and supervision methods, adjusted for intensity, with the aim to explore their impact on behavioral, affective, and motivational outcomes.
