The EMI-2 only has two fitness-related subscales, strength and endurance, and nimbleness. What about all the other potential fitness-related reasons people have for exercising?
Good question. We began with a set of items tapping a wider range of fitness motives but they simply didn’t factor out. It seems that, for our development samples at least, individuals just didn’t distinguish so finely between different aspects of fitness. Individuals who exercise in specific or specialised contexts would probably be more acutely aware of the different parameters of fitness and distinguish between them accordingly. Loze and Collins (1998, Journal of Sports Sciences, 16, 761-767) developed a muscular development scale which they administered to four groups of exercisers, along with two EMI subscales (weight management and appearance). They found that their new scale was reasonably factorially distinct from the two EMI subscales, although there was a degree of cross-loading of muscular development items on weight management (which is quite an interesting finding in itself). Their new scale discriminated between resistance exercisers and those who engaged in other types o
