1In many Western countries an active life-style is regarded as a part of a person’s social and cultural capital (in Bourdieu’s sense of the term), as well as a social obligation. The promise of health which sport holds out and the ideology of care and prevention inherent in the welfare state have led to the
establishment of ideals and norms which attribute to sporting activities a major significance for both the individual and the state on account of sport’s real or imagined positive impact on health and well-being. In no other epoch of history has individual and societal interest focused on the body as a form of capital, not only as the subject but also as the object of consumption, a site of work and a project of enhancement (Maguire 2008; Kamper & Wulf 1982; Ach & Pollmann 2006; Mehlman
2009). 2Health and fitness are no longer looked upon as individual fate and a personal issue but as an obligation of the individual towards society and a moral imperative that modern states impose on their citizens. In this way the health policies of the state combine with the striving of the individual for well-being form a doctrine, which a number of political scientists such as Nikolas Rose
have termed “healthism”. Healthism aims at the internalisation of health doctrines by individuals and the production of compliant citizens who contribute to the functioning of society, whereby “public objectives for the good health and good order of the social body” are intertwined “with the desire of individuals for health and well-being” (Rose 1999:74). 3Sport and physical activities are key
components of health policy. They serve as preventive measures against so-called “civilisation diseases”, as symbols of a healthy and modern lifestyle and as important tools in the context of body enhancement projects. Thus, the questions that arise here are: to what extent are populations of industrial societies physically active and what are the possible reasons for adopting an active or a sedentary life style? 4This article looks at the situation in Denmark and examines the participation of the Danish population in recreational physical activities. The focus is on reasons for participating or not taking part in sport (for all) and particularly on the issue of time in this context. The first part of the article presents statistical data which is available on the physical activity patterns of Danes; the second part,
based on results of an interview study, provides an in-depth insight into the use of time among older adults and its impact on physical activity. 5In spite of omnipresent health and fitness discourses, information campaigns, and numerous and various opportunities of doing sport, a considerable percentage of
people in European countries do not comply with the health recommendations proposed by experts. Smoking and the consumption of alcohol are widespread, and only a minority of the population takes part in sporting activities to a sufficient degree (European Commission 2010). When people are asked to give reasons for not participating in sport or physical activities, lack of time is mentioned almost automatically. Referring to the existing literature, Pahmeier (2008) names
time-related barriers as the most frequently reported reasons for not doing sport and as obstacles hindering people from taking part in physical activities. This statement is confirmed by current representative surveys: The Eurobarometer Sport and Physical Activity (European Commission 2010, 35), a study conducted in 27 European countries, identified lack of time as the most important reason for not participating in sport or recreational physical activities. 45% of the respondents complain about
shortage of time which prevents them from doing sport more regularly. 13% name disabilities or illness. All other factors seem quite insignificant in comparison: 7% do not like competitive activities; money is mentioned by 5%, lack of opportunities by 3%. Time budgets seem to influence the activities of the respondents in the different countries in different ways. Whereas 62% of the respondents from Malta report that lack of time prevents them from being more active, only 33% of Finns mention
time as a problem (European Commission 2010, 36). These findings are difficult to interpret. However, the answers confirm that time is a very variable and fluid concept which is intertwined with sporting activities in diverse ways. 6Denmark is one of those European countries which have an above average proportion of people participating in sport (for all). This is shown not only by the
Eurobarometer but also by a recent representative survey in the country, in which 56% of adults (58% of women and 53% of men) reported that they regularly take part in physical activities (Pilgaard 2008, 37). In the 60-69 age cohort the figure even rose to over 60%. The majority, however, takes part in activities that are not very strenuous – and do so relatively infrequently. On average only 13% of the population did sport at least five times a week and 29% three to four times, i.e. to a degree
that health experts consider necessary. 7The great majority of those who take part in physical activities choose self-organised “sports” such as hiking, jogging, cycling, fitness training, gymnastics or swimming, whereby participation in physical activities and choice of sports are distinctly related to social background. Sports participation increases in proportion to length of education and
size of income (Pilgaard 2008, 63). As in other countries, “high education and extensive physical activity for the purposes of body maintenance go together; there is a general consistency between manifestations of institutionalized and embodied cultural capital” (Warde 2006, 120; Klein & Becker 2008). In view of the health discourses and policies mentioned above, as well as the numerous opportunities in Denmark of taking up sport, the question arises why relatively few people take advantage
of the possibilities which exist. 8According to the Eurobarometer study (2010, 37) 45% of the Danish respondents named lack of time and 15% disability or illness as reasons for not being physically active. Other reasons were named by only 5% or fewer respondents. 9In the above-mentioned Danish
study, too, lack of time was by far the most frequently named reason for not being physically active. 40% of the respondents who had resigned their membership of a sports club did so because of their lack of time. In both sexes, work and family had an influence on leisure time, although – consistent with traditional gender roles – women spent more time on the family and men more time on their work. In this survey, 38% of the women and 28% of the men reported that they had no time for sport due
to family obligations; while 29% of the women and 37% of the men named the stresses and strains of work as obstacles. The third most frequent reason for non-participation in physical activities was lack of time due to other leisure interests. Further reasons given were: poor physical shape and health problems (reported by around 20% of the respondents) and lack of interest (reported by 15%). Even if it is taken into account that more than one reason could be given, it can be
assumed that lack of time is experienced by numerous respondents as a major obstacle hindering participation in physical activities. 10This survey also reveals that interdependencies of age and gender have an influence on free time. 66% of the 30-39 age cohort (but 71% of the women) reported lack of time due to family obligations as the reason for not taking part in physical activities. By
contrast, only 25% of the 50-60 age cohort and 17% of the over-60s named the family as a reason for non-participation. 11In the question of the influence of work on recreational sports, too, interdependencies were revealed between age and gender. 46% of the Danes between the ages of 30 and 39 and 40% of those between 40 and 49 (in both cases more men than women) reported that they had no time
for sporting activities because of their work. 12Among the older respondents the time devoted to family and work decreases, and they seem to have sufficient time at their disposal for leisure activities (Pilgaard 2008, 71). The survey data indicates that the time budget for physical activities increases in the age cohorts of 50-59 and 60-69, in particular if activities such as walking or
biking are included. These results are consistent with those of time-use studies in other countries which note a distinct correlation between sporting activities and phases of life (e.g. Allmer 2002; Breuer 2005; Klein 2009). 13With regard to the type of activities, the survey reveals that an increase in participation in physical activities means, first and foremost, an increase in time spent
on walking, although the borderline between sporting and everyday walking activities is often blurred. 14This example shows the dilemma of time-use surveys, which regard activities as stable facts and time as an objective magnitude and make a rigid distinction between various categories, especially between leisure and working time. They do not take into account “lived definitions or
experiences of leisure … and the spectrum of activities and continuities of dispositions which fall between and across the two realms” (Maguire 2008, 60). How time is spent and above all experienced in different contexts by men and women or by the old and young cannot be gathered from the empirical surveys available. 15The aim of the second part of my article is to explore the
interrelationships between the management, use and experience of time, its active planning and its incidental happening ans using active; to understand the phenomenon of the lack of time; and in particular to investigate the influence of gender on the planning of leisure. I will discuss the results presented above against the backdrop of theoretical considerations and the results of an interview study. Since time is subjectively perceived and also negotiable in many situations and since doing
sport likewise involves subjective definitions and experience and can also be planned flexibly, the question arises as to how men and women structure their everyday lives, and how and where they find (or negotiate) time for sporting activities 16In my theoretical considerations I approach the interrelated topics of time, gender,
family, work and sport (for all) from a constructivist perspective. 17In contrast to numerous studies on time use and leisure, I propose to understand time not as a fixed entity or a linear principle of classification but as a social construct which is intertwined with the structures and arrangements of cultures and societies, as well as the rhythm of individual lives (Novotny 1994; Weis
1995/1996; Misztal 2003). Using and experiencing time are dependent upon not only living conditions but also attitudes and ways of thinking. Whereas traditional societies live in a “natural” day/night rhythm, modern societies are based on and organised around an abstract dissection and exact measuring of time which can, in the form of working time, be bought and sold. In the case of work in the family, devoting time is considered a sign of love; and it was, and still is,
expected that women show this type of love for their families (Davis 1992). 18The concept and the use of time have dramatically changed in the last century, parti-cularly in recent decades, in which new technologies have led, according to Giddens (1995), to a distanciation of time and space and a dis-embedding mechanism, meaning that social relations are “lifted out” of local contexts and restructured in abstract time and space dimensions. Currently, distances are diminishing or even disappearing, transport and communication processes are accelerating, and time seems to have changed its meaning and importance. These new opportunities of dealing with time raise questions of whether individuals experience time in a new way, what they are doing with the time “saved” and in which areas – work, family, leisure or even physical activities – they “invest” their time? 19Time-use studies, and also the surveys cited above, indicate that time is gendered, embedded in the gender order and embodied in men and women (Henderson 1990). Drawing on constructivist approaches, gender refers to the individual as well as to the social level. According to Judith Lorber (2005, 6), societies are “gendered”, meaning that “work, family and other major areas … are organized by dividing people into two categories: ‘men’ and ‘women’ … The systematic allocation of people in gendered positions and the positions themselves are based on socially produced statuses”. At the same time, gender is embedded in identities, enacted in social situations and “embodied”. A society’s gender order produces the scripts for the organisation of, as well as the use of time in, individual lives – which is all part of “doing gender”. Western societies are based on a gender-specific segregation of work, which leads to a gendered experience and use of time. With the rise of factories and the separation of (paid) work and family life in the 19th century, a work, time and gender order developed which assigned new tasks and different schedules for women and men (Beck 1999; Bittman & Wajcman 2000). Today the gender roles have become more and more alike, which has changed time experiences and management of both genders decisively. The “normalisation” of dual-career families in Western countries has ended the strict gender-specific division of work and confronted women and – to a lesser degree – men with the (difficult) task of integrating all areas of life: family, work and leisure including sport. In Denmark, working outside the home and having children is “normal” for women. The country has the highest employment rate of women in Europe (73%) [1] and at the same time a high birth rate, which means that many Danish women, but also many Danish men, must balance work outside the home and care for the family (Thrane 2000). 20Family sociologists such as Rapoport et al. (2002) demand an integration of these spheres and emphasise that life involves both caring for the family and doing work, which can be paid or unpaid, at the workplace or in the household. In addition to this, leisure must also have a place in people’s lives. Studies and statistics, however, indicate that women are still doing the major part of the housework and have less leisure time than men. 21Leisure, in the sense of a defined timeframe filled with personal contents, did not develop until the 20th century against the backdrop of industrialisation and set working hours – and thus also hours in which one was free and not bound to the workplace (Nahrstedt 1972). Ever since, specific patterns of free time have developed in each historical epoch in accordance with a particular life-style. Leisure is not a period of time, for example the “residual time” which is left after sleep and work, but an experience which varies according to the activity and the circumstance. It is subjectively perceived, experienced and evaluated: depending on the situation, one hour can feel like ten minutes or a whole day (Blackshaw 2010). The concept of “free” time also obscures the fact that there are no clear boundaries between work and leisure because work can have the characteristics of leisure and leisure may be experienced as work. 22As mentioned above, leisure is gendered, which means that women’s leisure differs from that of men not only the amount of time but also with regard to its organisation and meaning. Women’s leisure is, at least if they have a family, often “in-between” leisure – the time between coming home from work and cooking dinner for the children. In Denmark, too, there is evidence that women are more engaged in house work and less flexible in their leisure time than men (Bonke 2002, 9; Lausten and Sjørup, 2003, 16; Deding, Lausten & Andersen 2006). Leisure, in particular women’s leisure, is often the outcome of negotiations with the partner or the children, and also with employers. During the course of a lifetime, time regimes change and leisure adapts to new opportunities and challenges. Parents with small children, for example, plan, experience and enjoy leisure in a different way than retired people. 23The meaning and the use of (leisure) time can also be explored using Bourdieu’s concept of tastes and capitals (1984). According to this approach time is an asset; and the use of (leisure) time not only depends on tastes but is also based on – and at the same time produces – capital, contributing to social status. Crucial for the allocation of status is not the amount of time or the activities but its meaning, which depends on the particular context. Having no time may convey positive experiences signifying indispensability in a demanding job and having time for a game of golf at noon may be looked upon as work of senior managers who must foster relations with important clients. Sport as a symbol of youth, fitness and (depending on the sport) modernity makes a considerable contribution to the social standing of individuals, as well as to the way they enact their roles and how they define themselves. 24The quantitative data presented above support Bourdieu’s notion that social status and using time for sporting activities are interrelated. 25In the third section of the article I would like to present the results of an interview study which sheds light on time and participation in sporting activities from the perspective of the respondents. Time for sporting activities? The perspectives of older adultsSample and methods26The investigation into sport and time was part of a project aimed at gaining an in-depth insight into and an understanding of the factors and processes which promote or prevent an active lifestyle among Danish adults. For this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews including narrative parts and projective methods with 15 physically active and 15 inactive women and men. All informants lived in financially secured circumstances and were between 55-65 years of age, meaning that they were largely able to choose between a physically active or inactive life according to their personal wants and needs. The interviews took as a rule between one to two hours. We asked the informants not only about their current sport habits, but also about their (sporting) biographies, which allowed insights into earlier phases of their lives and the impact of their family and their occupation on sporting activities and leisure. The questions referred, among others, to their physical education at school, to their favourite sports, their training partners and their motivation to begin or their reasons to give up a sporting activity. In addition to the interviews, the informants re-constructed their sporting biographies, writing down the activities in the various periods of their lives along a timeline which helped them to remember and talk about their experiences with sport and physical activities in the past. The main focus of the interviews was on their current recreational activities, which they entered into a schedule covering a typical week. 27The informants told about subjectively significant events in their sporting biographies. They provided everyday explanations and theories about their decisions, for example about their choice of sports, and put them into a personal and social context, which changed in the course of their lives. As mentioned above, the main aim of this study was to discover reasons why some groups are physically active and others are not, despite similar circumstances of life and similar opportunities of taking up physical activities. The interviews were transcribed and organized with the help of atlas ti, a software program dealing with qualitative information and supporting the qualitative content analysis (Mayring 1990; Milles, M.B & Huberman, 1994). 28In this article the focus is on the various interrelationships between “the informants’ schedules” and experiences with time on the one hand and involvement in recreational sport or physical activities on the other. Time matters! Results29Opportunities and tastes as well as discourses and practices with regard to sport and physical activities are interrelated with and part of the conditions of life, which among the informants were similar in many respects. There were no small children to care for, and they had a relatively high level of economic and cultural capital. They differed with regard to place of residence, the role of partners and families, as well as interests and hobbies. Some lived as singles, others spent a lot of time with their grandchildren, some were very engaged in their jobs, and others took work more easily. As will be shown later in detail, these differences had no decisive impact on their willingness to participate in sport. Retirement however influenced their everyday lives and leisure decisively; it did not necessarily change their interest in, but it changed the meaning of sport participation. The amount of time – is it decisive?30Based on the results of surveys outlined above, one can assume that the amount of leisure time is a decisive factor for participating in sporting activities. This assumption, however, could not be confirmed by information we received from the interview partners. The physically active informants did not have a greater amount of leisure time available to them than inactive informants; on the contrary, belonging to the active group were informants who were under great time pressure in their jobs. An analysis of a typical week (the informants had to fill out a ‘timetable’ with the activities they were involved in) shows clearly that all the informants’ schedules, including those of the inactive group, had ‘empty spots’, particularly at weekends and on afternoons or early evenings, meaning that there was/is time available which could have been/could be used for physical activities. 31It does not appear to be so much a busy schedule that prevents people from being active but rather the subjective feeling that there is no time for “unnecessary” occupations. However, lack of time can also be used by individuals with a sedentary life-style as an obvious and acceptable excuse for not complying with current health recommendations. 32Almost all physically active informants reported “time problems”, at least at some stages of their lives. Very few seem to have always had enough time to devote their energies to sporting activities, but they found a way to “squeeze” sport in. One of them, JN, a teacher, managed to do so because his work provided some flexibility and his wife shared his sporting endeavours. Others, in particular the men participating in team sports, managed to negotiate and “find” the time to train and compete because their wives were willing to take care of the house work. Women, for example JW and IH, each with two children, organised their duties such as childcare in a way which allowed them to attend their beloved tennis matches or gymnastic classes. 33The information given by the respondents about the use of time in various contexts provides an insight into the complex interrelationships between time, its use and its meaning in people’s lives. The interviews revealed that, besides the amount of leisure time, there are other time-related factors contributing towards opting for or opting against sporting activities. Always on a Thursday evening – fixed times for sport or permanent availability?34According to the informants’ narratives, fixed dates and a certain habit of doing sport at these times seem to contribute to regular and continuous participation in sporting activities, especially when they are arranged with partners, groups or teams. There is a great probability that these dates are given high priority. Training for and taking part in competitions, too, leads to a high degree of commitment. 35Examples among the informants include three men who are members of a handball or football team for decades and who train one evening a week and compete on Sundays during the handball or football season. A further example is JC, a retired software developer who goes running with the same group every Monday and Thursday evenings and, in addition, coaches a running group once a week. Whereas during the week he has a fixed sporting schedule, he manages his time flexibly at the weekend, enjoying cycling tours with his wife or going inline skating. 36Also in the case of four male tennis players, HA, JG, JN and LA, who reserve a court for the whole season and always play with the same partners, as well as the couple who play tennis together on one afternoon after work, sport is played at set times during the week and thus has a fixed place in their daily lives. This is also true of the three women (IS, JW, RJ) who have participated in a specific form of gymnastics for years, always on the same days of the week. Another informant has – in addition to his tennis schedule – a ‘date’ with three friends once a week, on Friday afternoon, on the golf course, and this is a fixed date in his calendar. 37Around half of the physically active interviewees, more men than women, have their fixed dates for sport (either alone or with others), and sport has a natural and permanent place in their weekly schedule. There is no question about this time being reserved for sport or gymnastics, and there is no discussion about giving it up, neither with themselves nor with their families. JW emphasises that she “would always find an excuse for staying at home if the gymnastic classes didn’t always take place at the same fixed time”. Whereas the women mostly find “family-friendly” times for their physical activities, often gymnastics and/or swimming, the “sport fanatical” men fit in with the schedule demanded by their sport. Aware that the time devoted to sporting activities is taken from time with their families, some of them try to make up for it by taking over household duties, e.g. the housework or shopping, on other days. The partners of these “sport enthusiasts” have got accustomed to the sporting habits of their spouses and adapt their own schedules accordingly. 38Another ingrained habit which may affect the weekly schedule decisively is cycling; some of the informants choose to cycle to work, not out of necessity but because of the effect it has on health and fitness. JAD, for example, gets up early so that he can cycle the 13km to his office. In this way he is able to integrate physical activities into his daily routine. 39Many of the most popular physical activities (according to the survey cited above) such as jogging, hiking and cycling are available all the time. Some of the interviewees own exercise bikes or other fitness equipment, and one even has permanent access to a fitness centre in the basement of his house. Others live not far from a swimming baths or even a lake. One might assume that it would be easier for people with limited time to use those opportunities instead of exercising or playing sport on fixed dates and perhaps even far away from home. Although the permanent availability of opportunities for sport and physical activities may apply to people who live with a tight time schedule, the lack of any obligation and/or (self-)commitment tempts people to “postpone” physical exercise and assuage their guilty conscience with their intention to take advantage of the available opportunities for sport at some time in the future. All the inactive interviewees were aware of opportunities of participating in sport (for all) but did not make any use of them, lack of time being the most often named reason. All the members of the “inactive group” reported that they had taken up physical activities at some point in their lives – mostly informal ones such as swimming, exercising in a fitness centre or jogging – but had given them up, mostly after a short time. 40The physically active informants had been devotees of their sporting activities for years, sometimes since their youth, and had developed a habit, or even a certain addiction to them. Sport (for all) had become part of their lives, although, as mentioned above, a fixed date and arranging times with others contributed to an internalisation and embodiment of a sporting life-style, as the following quotes illustrate: “I somehow feel strange when I don’t go to my gymnastic classes” (JW), “I can’t relax in the evenings when I haven’t had a workout” (JAD), “For me a perfect weekend begins with a game of tennis on a Saturday morning” (JN). Using time is choosing priorities41Setting priorities for the time not spent at the workplace is especially important because, here, there may be obligations such as housework but it is also possible to negotiate “time out”. Sport has thus a chance of being put on the day’s agenda if it has priority. 42For approximately a quarter of the interviewees the time devoted to sport was sacrosanct. In the event of conflicts over time or conflicting schedules, sport was the priority, and other activities or duties were either given up or organised around the times devoted to sport. 43Although a number of women had regular gymnastics classes that they would not miss, it was above all men who gave sport supreme priority in their daily lives – two runners, two handball players and one football player. Handball and football are the most popular sports in Denmark, at least among boys and men, and as a rule their devotion to these games already begins during childhood in one of the numerous sports clubs. 44HL shared in-depth reflections on the problem of leisure time in the interview and explained how he managed to combine sporting activities with other duties and obligations in the family and at work. Years ago, as a teacher with small children, he played badminton after school because this did not take too much of his time. After a quick shower he went home to his family and shared the child care with his wife, who also went out to work. He began running as an experiment because it appealed to him as an activity which could be integrated into his schedule despite his numerous commitments as a teacher as well as a father. From his perspective, running had the advantage that he could calculate exactly how long it would take him, and so he could tell his wife, for example, that he would be back in 40 minutes. But, soon, running took so much of his time that there was no longer any place for other sports. HL runs now regularly with a group. This commitment has a high priority in his daily life and he very seldom misses training sessions. 45ES is one of those informants who seem to have no leisure time at all. He is a car mechanic with his own workshop and also has a family, along with house and garden, which also require attention even though his wife does the lion’s share of the housework. He is a handball enthusiast, putting his life and soul into the game, but because of his work he must sometimes miss training. Taking part in league games, however, is a top priority for him. 46Another fanatic handball player, who played football as well for a period of time, is BS, a self-employed painter. Throughout his life, team handball was very important to him, and he even made holidays or friends’ invitations fit in with game and tournament schedules. He still gets “very irritated” if this is not possible. He admits that “in 90% of all cases handball comes first”. Currently he goes to handball training one evening a week and during the handball season plays in competitions among senior teams at weekends. His wife had and still has to organise her life around his schedule, which meant that she arranged meetings with friends at weekends or went shopping (another cherished leisure activity in Denmark) at the times when he trained. 47For those addicted to time-consuming games such as football and handball, where players are under great pressure to participate in both training and competitions, “finding time” for their sporting activities is a problem. But “finding time” is also a challenge for those playing several sports. In this study this applies more to men than to women. One of these “multi-sport types” is JG, the director of a medical company who at some periods in his life was active in tennis, golf, basketball and running. He had to give up basketball because it was not possible for him to fit the fixed training hours into his schedule (he sometimes has to work in the evenings), and he arranged the time of his tennis matches in such a way that he could do the family shopping on the way home from the tennis club. He loves running because of the flexibility it offers; it can be done alone, in the early morning, during breaks at work or late at night. According to him, finding time for his family, his job and his sporting activities is like doing a puzzle, but it is possible. He is convinced that his success in his job is attributable to his sports training, where he has learned staying power and the will to win. 48LA is another manager who plays many sports: football in summer and handball in winter, and, in addition, he plays tennis three times a week, goes to gymnastics once a week and cycles at weekends. He “finds” time because his children are grown up, his wife does most of the housework and he puts sport before other hobbies. Spending time together – physically active couples49Some informants reported that their sporting commitments caused stress in their relationships and in one case it had even led to separation. However, time together and sharing sporting activities can also unite couples and families and improve the quality of relationships. Hiking, kayaking, sailing and other sports were named in the interviews as opportunities for families to enjoy time together. 50IH, a retired teacher with two (now) grown-up children, played tennis throughout her life, and her husband was her favourite partner. As a teacher she had time in the afternoons and tennis was a way to be together with her husband and have fun. For many years they have had their special tennis date once a week. After his death, she joined a group of women who meet at least once a week on the tennis place. 51Also JN, an engineer and teacher and his wife use sport as an opportunity to share quality time. In the past they went horse riding and parachuting. Now in their 60s, they both go to general gymnastics and use their winter holidays to go skiing. For many years JN has played tennis on Saturday mornings with the same group of people. His wife accompanies him to the tennis club, but plays with her own tennis partners. By synchronising their activities, neither of them has a guilty conscience about spending time on their own interests. 52RJ and her husband both have active and busy lives in their leisure time; among other activities, she participates in folk dancing and general gymnastics, but she does not feel guilty because her husband spends a lot of time in a fitness centre. However, they also have an activity which they share: they go on long hikes together. 53As his main sport BT chose team handball, not last because he likes to be part of a team. Part of the training is running, and this gives him the opportunity to share an activity with his wife, who likes to jog with him. Time or interest – reasons for inactivity?54Work, family, friends and other interests fill the time schedule of most of the 15 informants who do not participate regularly in sporting activities. 55Several of the “inactive” informants have a garden, a garden plot (with a small hut on it) or a summer house and like to work there in their leisure time. Gardening and doing odd jobs in the summer house is a widespread and very popular pastime in Denmark. Other informants play an instrument or sing in a choir, volunteer for a good cause, love to read or to paint or do needlework. IK learns Russian, MSA attends jazz concerts and JH enjoys organising parties in her summer house. In addition to these pastimes, many informants like going for walks in one of the many parks in Copenhagen, cycling in the woods or on the seaside or swim in the summer time. 56Most members of this group never developed a liking for sporting activities, there are, however, two exceptions: BD was an excellent handball player and had to quit sport because of injuries; JD, a good track and field athlete in his youth, became an enthusiastic bridge player with no time left for sporting activities. 57All informants had experienced of physical activities at some time in their lives, at least at school, and unpleasant occurrences during physical education were also the reason why some informants lost interest in sport forever. Nevertheless, most informants tried as adults one or other form of physical activity, but they did not enjoy it to an extent that it became a fixed habit and part of their lives. Some developed other priorities such as singing in a choir or playing bridge, which left no time for recreational physical activities. 58When one listens to the narratives of the “inactive” interviewees and looks at their schedules, it becomes clear that “inactivity” is not a matter of time but a matter of tastes and priorities. Although they are aware of healthism in Danish society, most of the members of this group do not seem to be concerned to any great degree by health recommendations. With very few exceptions they are convinced that they have a “good life”. Time use and sport in different biographical phasesWork-leisure balance in early adulthood59The narratives of most of the informants indicate that there were times in their lives in which it was difficult, or even impossible, to keep up their physical activities because work and/or family had to be given priority. They referred to the lack of time, or better the lack of flexibility, in the period when they were building their careers, founding a family and had small children. This was true of the women in particular. Both male and female informants described how 30 years ago, it was mainly the wives who took care of children and household, whereas men went out to work and, with a guilty conscience, somehow found the time to play their favourite sports. A typical example in this regard is ES, who owned a petrol station, worked 10 to 12 hours a day but still found time to play handball, not least because his wife filled in for him at home. 60Most of the women, both the female informants and the wives of the male interviewees, went out to work, often part time, at least when the children were at school. Although their children, as is usual in Denmark, were in a kindergarten or an after-school club, they had to be picked up and taken care of in the late afternoons and evenings. Housework left parents, in particular mothers, little time for sporting activities in this period of their lives. Whereas men somehow managed to play sports, several women gave up their activities and only some of them took them up again in later phases of their lives. 61A good example of this is JW, a nurse who worked in the administration of a municipality. She has always had a functional approach to health and physical exercise. General gymnastics was – and still is – her activity of choice and, as a young women already, she attended her gymnastics course regularly. After she had married and had two children, however, she had had to give up gymnastics because her irregular work and the care of her children left her no free time. Only after she retired did she find the time and the opportunity to take part in her gymnastics course again. Time patterns/ time order after retirement62Retirement affects people in many more or less decisive ways. At least the problem of having too little leisure time ought to have been solved, and the lack of time cannot be used any more as an excuse for not being physically active. The retired informants reacted to the new situation in different ways. While some used their newly gained time to check out and engage in new activities, most of the physically active interviewees followed the same leisure patterns which had developed over the years. JC continued to meet up with his running group at the same, fixed times. Even though it was now possible for him to run at other times or even spend more time running, he wanted to keep in touch with his buddies and enjoyed their company. 63Retirement also makes it necessary to restructure daily and weekly schedules, and for several couples this meant that the men did more of the housework, particularly when their wives still went out to work. In this way, they could both share leisure activities. A good example is HA, who after retirement began to share the work in the house and garden with his wife but also began to spend more time on the golf course and in the tennis club, playing with his wife or waiting for someone to turn up who needed a partner. 64OK, a former painter, kept up his old habits while developing new ones, such as going out with handball friends in the evenings after training or spending lots of time in his summer house. 65HL emphasised that his three running dates a week and meeting up after training once a week were very important for him. Running gives his week some structure and provides social contact. His running schedule had become a central element in the rhythm of his life. 66IS, who had worked as a teacher, took early retirement because of stress and sickness. When she recovered, she did not know at first what to do with all her free time. Now she has developed a schedule with lots of activities which keep her healthy and very busy. On Tuesday and Friday mornings she goes to general gymnastics lessons; on Mondays and Wednesdays she swims in a pool near her home; in addition, she attends a pilates course, has become a member of a literary club and attends lectures on a broad range of topics. Work inside and outside her summer house and travelling, e.g. to Egypt in order to snorkel, provide enjoyment and excitement. 67After her retirement and the death of her husband, IH spends an increasing amount of time on the tennis court. She now plays tennis with her friends almost every morning. She has also begun numerous new activities, learning Italian, for example, and attending various courses at the People’s University. Asked if she is ever bored, she answers, “No, there’s no time for that.” 68However, even retired people can have a busy life in which physical activities have to be carefully planned. RJ schedules her sporting activities for the mornings. On Friday mornings she goes to general gymnastics; on other days she takes part in a circuit training programme or in water gymnastics. The afternoons are reserved for long walks, working in the garden or playing with her grandchildren. RJ loves to ride a bike, not only because it is an easy and cheap means of transport but also because it provides additional fitness training. 69Retirement also offers the opportunity of taking up hobbies again which were given up on account of all the commitments and obligations that middle age brings. JW, for example, had to give up the gymnastics she loved, at first because of the children and then because of her work. Not until she retired did she have enough time for her gymnastics course and additional training in a fitness centre. 70For the informants, retirement was not a reason to sit back and relax in a rocking chair. On the contrary, most of them carried on with their sporting activities and used the additional time for walking tours, working in the garden or around the summer house. These activities structured their days and weeks, and provided opportunities for meeting up with other people and making life meaningful. Discussion71The findings of this interview study confirm results of quantitative research on the use of time and physical activity habits of the Danish population, for example the decreased leisure of young parents and the increased “free” time among the older population, as well as the problems women have of combining employment and caring for the family and, in addition, of finding time for physical activities. 72When interpreting the statements made about the interrelationship between time and participation in sporting activities one must bear in mind that not only time but also sport (for all) has various meanings according to both the culture of a particular country and the individual interpretation of his or her activity. In the last decade, moreover, the semantic fields of sport and physical activities have greatly widened and their borders became blurred. There is consensus that a football game (played according to the rules) is sport and a leisurely stroll through the park is not; but in between these two poles there are numerous activities which can be interpreted and experienced in various ways: as strenuous exercise or as a relaxing activity, for instance. However, in the Danish language there is a distinction between (competitive) sport, idraet (sport for all) and motion (physical activities). When asked about sport and idraet, the interviewees had a very clear idea about which activities belonged to sport/idraet and which not. Cycling, going for walks or working in the garden were mentioned frequently in the interviews and took up a lot of space in some of the interviewees’ weekly schedules. These activities were not classed by them as sport/idraet even though they are regarded as physical activities in health recommendations and surveys. Most members of the “inactive” group took part in one or more of these moderate physical activities, which are integrated into everyday life and are a part of Danish life-style. 73The statements made by the interviewees, as well as their weekly schedules, reveal that time is an important issue and a precondition of participation in sporting activities, in particular in organised sport. This is in line with the results of time-use studies, which, however, regard time as a fixed variable and leisure as “free” or residual time without taking its subjective meaning into consideration (see the contributions in the International Journal of Time Use Research). 74This study showed that time is fluid and that the use of time can be a matter of priorities and negotiations both at the workplace and at home. Time is perceived subjectively and the way it is judged and used varies according to personal experience and expectations. One can make time, save time or waste time, depending on interpretations and priorities. Some of the interviewees reported creative solutions of time conflicts, such as cycling to work and thus combining transport and physical exercises, shopping for food on the way home from a training session or doing sport together with the partner or the family. The physically active men in this study found time to practise their favourite sports even in the “family phase” by prioritising their sporting activities. 75As the informants’ schedules indicate, it was not the lack of time that was the reason for inactivity but the prioritisation of other leisure activities, bad health or a dislike of sporting activities. 76Generally speaking, typical patterns were to be identified both in the statements the interviewees made and in their entries in the weekly schedules they filled out which revealed the interdependencies between the amount and position of leisure time and the sporting activity. Organised sport had a fixed place in their calendars, and especially team games allowed little flexibility, which was also mentioned in the interviews. The significance of a constant routine is emphasised in other studies, too, for example by Warde (2006, 116), who used the results of the British Household Survey. According to his findings, the organisation of activities following a daily or weekly routine facilitates the adoption or continuation of an active life-style. “But all narratives refer to personal routines to account for participation. Exercise is, or has to be, planned.” This also explains why permanently available opportunities for doing sport had little appeal for the physically inactive persons we interviewed. 77With regard to gender differences in the use of time, as well as in “sporting tastes”, the results of this project are corroborated by both quantitative data and the findings of other studies (Pfister 2010). Team games were almost exclusively a male preserve, which is not surprising given the fact that in the 1970s and 1980s girls and women were scarcely encouraged when they wanted to take up football. Only one woman played team handball in her youth but had had to give it up because of injuries. By contrast, gymnastics were predominately a female activity. Both men and women played tennis and went jogging and hiking – sometimes together. The priorities of the two sexes also influenced their use of time: gymnastics had a fixed time frame and the participants did not, as a rule, socialise after the course, whereas football or handball training were followed by a “get-together” afterwards. As the statements in the interviews suggest, finding time for one or two beers in the club-house was always possible, not least because the wives would take care of the family. Some of the men also played different sports in the course of their lives, sometimes parallel to each other; by contrast, the women tried out considerably fewer sports; and this finding can likewise be attributed to family obligations and the “in-between” leisure connected with them. 78Most informants reported a relatively traditional segregation of work, where women had more responsibility for the children and home than men, who often had a time-consuming job. Despite the high pressure they were under, several men managed to invest quite a lot of time in sport by giving football, handball, running or tennis a high priority. None of the women did this; they combined family life and work at the expense of leisure, none of them giving sport the same priority as some of the men did. 79Being able to invest a lot of time in sporting activities may be interpreted as an indicator of a certain amount of self-determination and power, and doing sport in a club or a team provides social capital in the sense given to the term by Bourdieu (1984) - results which are in line with those of other studies, e.g. Warde’s study based on the British Household Survey (2006) or Smith Maguire (2008). 80In keeping with a German interview study with retired people (Abraham 2008), this project showed that on the one hand retirement changed perceptions of and ways of managing time, but that on the other accustomed time habits became more important than ever. People had to find worthwhile tasks and activities, as well as a new daily or weekly rhythm, and sporting activities could help to cope with these changes by providing social contacts and networks, as well as a structure for their time (Strobl et al. 2010). The statements of the informants revealed that it seemed natural to continue with already established habits, to use existing networks and retain the accustomed dates for sport and exercise. 81The informants, including those who were not physically active, were aware of healthism and, with few exceptions, were also influenced by health promotion campaigns. Many interviewees regarded participation in sport (for all) as an obligation. In particular, members of the “inactive” group sometimes felt compelled to come up with a good excuse for not complying with society’s moral imperatives. In this study it was in particular bad health, lack of sporting experiences and also lack of time that were named as excuses for a sedentary life-style or limited participation in physical activities. In the light of the answers given in the British Household Survey, Warde (2006) stated that particularly people with a high cultural capital used lack of time due to family commitments and work pressures as a “common excuse” for non-participation in physical activities. Conclusion82Participation in sport and physical activities can be understood as a life-long dynamic process in which sport preferences may change and phases of activity may alternate with periods of inactivity. In this process specific patterns of an (in)active life-style emerge which vary not only according to individual biographies but also according to cultural and socio-ecological influences and environments (Pahmeier 2008). If the findings of available surveys are to be given credence, time or lack of time has considerable influence on opportunities of doing sport and also on people’s inclination to take up sport and physical activities. The statements given by the men and women we interviewed reveal that time is no fixed dimension but that it is based on negotiation and priorities. Sporting activities are thus not necessarily dependent upon the amount of leisure time available but rather upon the possibility of integrating them into daily life schedules. The women interviewed did not seem to be able to manage this task as well as the men, who attached greater importance to their sporting pastime and tended to play relatively time-consuming sports. The biographies of the informants, moreover, show clearly that sporting activities have varying degrees of importance in different phases of life (not least on account of the varying time loads) and, furthermore, that especially in phases in which time is abundant, such as retirement, they not only structure but also lend meaning to daily life. What refers to a set of activities that people engage in during free time?Definition of Recreation
Recreation is an activity that people engage in during their free time, that people enjoy, and that people recognize as having socially redeeming values.
What is it refers to the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus?Reaction time is defined as the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, which can be any event that comes before a response.
What is the duration of the length of the activity?Duration is the length of time for each bout of any specific activity. Intensity is the rate of energy expenditure necessary to perform the activity to accomplish the desired function (aerobic activity) or the magnitude of the force exerted during resistance exercise (1).
Which of the following ability is used when we perform a movement in one direction in the shortest period of time?Speed: The ability to perform a movement or cover a distance in a short period oftime.
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It refers to the amount of free time left after doing the entire daily activities
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