Making Exercise Easier

Imagine the following scenario. You step on the scale after the holidays and realize you aren’t where you want to be. But the new year has just started, so you decide this is the year you finally get in shape.

You sign up for a gym membership and start going three times a week religiously. Then, after a week or two, you start to slide and only go twice a week. Soon life gets in the way and you make it to the gym once a week—if you’re lucky. By the end of February, you’ve stopped going at all.

Does that sound familiar? For many of us, it probably sounds a little too familiar. All of us have the tendency to want to get healthier, but doing the work to actually get healthier often eludes us. But why is it so difficult, especially when it comes to something as important to our health as movement and exercise?

Why Is Getting Up and Getting Moving So Hard?

This is actually a very important question to ask because it gets at the root cause of why so many of us find adding physical activity to our daily routine so difficult. We can know all about the benefits of exercise (which we’ll discuss below), but until we deal with our underlying thoughts and experiences holding us back, we won’t see progress.

Some of the more common reasons we have such trouble committing to an exercise routine include the following:

Bad past experiences. Maybe you didn’t enjoy gym class when you were in school. Perhaps another student made fun of you or put down your athletic ability. Or maybe you went out for a sport and didn’t enjoy it or worse yet, were cut from the team. Regardless, sometimes past experiences play into future expectations, with thoughts like, “I didn’t like running in high school, so I won’t like it now.” The truth is, you don’t know the future, and it may not line up with your past experiences. You might find things have changed since high school—including you!

Treating exercise as a “have to” instead of a “get to.” There are things in life we have to do. We have to pay taxes. We have to go to the dentist. And anyone who’s stood in line at the DMV knows the pain and discomfort that comes with “have to’s.” But too many people treat movement and exercise as a chore instead of a wonderful chance to use the gift of our bodies as nature intended—no wonder they don’t like it! Physical activity doesn’t have to be drudgery when you find things you enjoy doing.

Doing too much too soon. If you’re used to low physical activity, moving just feels weird. And if you decide to jump straight into training for a marathon, it could be a miserable experience for you. Many of us tend to want to get into shape overnight and therefore take on way more than is sustainable, instead of starting small and building up over time. You didn’t get where you are in a day, and you won’t get to where you want to be in a day either. It’s much better to take your time and focus on slowly working toward your long-term goals.

Having a fixed idea of what “counts.” The default idea of exercise in our society is going to the gym every morning before work, committing to spin class for the rest of your life, or training for a marathon—and the temptation is to discount anything less than that as not “real” exercise. The reality is, any movement is good movement, and exercise can be many more things than just hitting the gym (see below for some ideas).

Waiting for motivation. Have you ever said to yourself, “I’ll start exercising as soon as I get the motivation to do it?” Although we’re all guilty of this, when we think this way we’re actually sabotaging our own efforts.

You’re not always going to “feel like” getting moving, especially when you’re first starting out. But rarely do we feel like doing lots of things. Instead, take it step by step. Reframe your thoughts and say things like, “I may not feel like getting up and moving, but I can at least put my shoes on,” “Now that my shoes are on, I can at least get a 10-minute walk in,” and, “Since I’m already walking, I guess I can add on another 10 minutes.” By taking things one small step at a time, you’re more likely to succeed than when you focus on trying to eat the whole elephant in one bite. Plus, you’ll find more often than not that motivation follows action, not the other way around.

A Reminder about the Insane Benefits of Movement

As you no doubt already know, I talk about the benefits of daily movement and exercise a lot. Why? Because it’s true! Exercise is a wonder drug with crazy benefits and virtually no adverse side effects.

As a brief reminder, just a few of the myriad benefits of getting up and getting moving include:

• It improves the function and health of your microbiome.

• It enhances immune function, boosts the number and function of mitochondria, and balances blood sugar and insulin, adrenal, thyroid, and sex hormones.

• It boosts detoxification, blood circulation, and lymphatic flow.

• It increases telomere length.

• It reduces inflammation.

• It improves mitochondrial health, beneficially impacts the nutrient-sensing pathways, and reverses harmful epigenetic changes that occur as we age.

And it doesn’t take much, either. Even something as simple as walking 10 minutes per day can add years to your life. And if you add in more vigorous cardiovascular exercise and strength training, you can dramatically extend your healthspan.

Simple Ways to Incorporate Movement into Your Daily Routine

There are a plethora of options out there and countless ways you can begin to exercise and move more. Here are a few simple ways to get you started:

• Stand on public transit.

• Park farther out in the parking lot when you go to the store.

• Invite your coworkers to a walking or standing meeting (i.e., literally stand at the meeting).

• Try an under-desk elliptical, a standing desk, or an exercise ball instead of an office chair.

• Choose stairs instead of the elevator when possible.

• Turn on some music and dance in your living room.

• Play with your kids or grandkids.

• Try a new sport like frisbee golf, pickleball, or water aerobics.

• Stretch first thing in the morning.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I would encourage you to get creative! Remember, any movement is good movement. Biking, swimming, skiing, playing tennis—it all counts. Experiment and find what you like and what works for you.

Combined with the right diet, exercise is the most powerful tool for staying healthy and extending your life. Finding ways to add movement into your daily routine is one of the absolute best things you can do for yourself. If this is an area you struggle with (and it’s okay if you do), I’d encourage you to spend some time addressing the root cause of what’s holding you back and then lean into finding some simple ways to get moving that you actually enjoy. I promise you’ll be glad you did.