How to Get Motivated to Work Out

To get motivated to work out, quit waiting for motivation to arrive first. Pick something small, like a five-minute walk or a couple of rounds of squats and pushups, decide when you’ll do it, and do it today. The feeling you’re waiting for isn’t reliable anyway. In one meta-analysis, nearly half of the people who intended to be active didn’t follow through (Rhodes & de Bruijn, 2013). The US guidelines are on your side here: some physical activity is better than none, and even short episodes are beneficial (HHS).

Stop waiting to feel ready

Wanting to exercise and exercising are two different things. A 2013 meta-analysis pooled 10 studies with 3,899 people and sorted them by whether they intended to meet physical activity guidelines and whether they actually did. Nearly half of the people who intended to be active didn’t follow through. The authors concluded that intention on its own is weak at explaining who gets active (Rhodes & de Bruijn, 2013).

So don’t wait to feel fired up. Put your effort into how the workout feels instead. A 2015 systematic review of 24 studies found that feeling better during moderate-intensity exercise was linked to more physical activity later on. How people felt after exercise was not (Rhodes & Kates, 2015). So make today’s session one you enjoy while you’re in it.

Start smaller than you think

You don’t need an hour, and you don’t need the perfect program. The first edition of the federal Physical Activity Guidelines counted only activity done in bouts of at least 10 minutes. The second edition dropped that requirement to encourage people to move more often throughout the day (ODPHP).

HHS’s Move Your Way campaign spells it out: if the full weekly target is more than you can do right now, do what you can, because even 5 minutes of physical activity has real health benefits (HHS).

So pick your five minutes: a walk around the block, or squats while dinner is in the oven. If short bursts suit your day, exercise snacks shows how to fit them in. If you’d like a simple routine to follow, try this bodyweight workout for beginners.

Don’t try to make up for lost time on day one, though. The guidelines say inactive people should “start low and go slow”: begin with lower-intensity activities, then gradually increase how often and how long you’re active (HHS).

Pick a pace you’ll want to repeat

How hard you go changes how much you enjoy it. A 2011 review of 33 articles found that pleasure drops off mainly once exercise gets hard enough to pass what physiologists call the ventilatory or lactate threshold. Below that threshold, most people had pleasant changes in how they felt. Above it, the changes were negative for nearly everyone. When people chose their own intensity rather than having it set for them, they seemed to tolerate harder efforts better (Ekkekakis, Parfitt & Petruzzello, 2011).

So start at an effort you can enjoy, and set the pace yourself. You can push harder later, for example with HIIT, once showing up is routine.

Decide once with an if-then plan

Every “should I work out today?” debate is another chance to talk yourself out of it. Settle the question ahead of time.

An if-then plan, which researchers call an implementation intention, spells out when, where and how you’ll act. A meta-analysis of 94 independent tests found these plans had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006). For exercise specifically, a 2018 review of 13 randomized trials in adults found that implementation intentions increased physical activity when the strategy was reinforced (Silva et al., 2018).

Write yours in one line:

• “If it’s 7 a.m. and the coffee is brewing, then I do five minutes of squats and pushups in the kitchen.”
• “If I get home from work, then I change my shoes and walk around the block before I sit down.”

Repeat the same cue and it starts turning into a habit. How to make exercise a habit covers that next stage.

Beat the excuses you’ll actually use

The CDC lists common barriers to physical activity, with fixes for each (CDC). Here’s what it suggests for three of the most familiar ones.

“I don’t have time”

Choose activities like walking, jogging or stair climbing that fit the time you have, even if that’s only a few minutes. To find more time, track your daily activities for a week and look for at least five 30-minute slots you could use (CDC).

“I’m not motivated”

Make physical activity a regular part of your daily or weekly schedule and write it on your calendar. Joining an exercise group or class also helps (same source). Once it’s on the calendar, treat it like any other appointment.

“I’m too tired”

Schedule activity for the times of day or week when you feel energetic. Start slow, then build up to longer sessions or harder activities (same source).

Expect to feel better for it

The guidelines say physical activity can make people feel better, function better and sleep better, and that health benefits start immediately after exercising (HHS). The immediate benefits they list include reduced anxiety, lower blood pressure, better sleep quality and improved insulin sensitivity (ODPHP).

The mood evidence goes beyond a single workout. A 2023 overview pulled together 97 reviews covering 1,039 trials and 128,119 adults. Compared with usual care, physical activity had medium effects on symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress, and higher-intensity activity was linked to greater improvements. That held across healthy adults, people with mental health disorders and people with chronic diseases (Singh et al., 2023).

No study can promise you the same result, but that’s a good reason to start today.

When to check with a doctor

The US guidelines say physical activity can be safe for almost everyone. They also say people with chronic conditions or symptoms should be under the care of a health care provider, and can ask a health care professional or physical activity specialist what types and amounts of activity suit them (HHS). The CDC adds that you should talk to your doctor before starting vigorous-intensity activity if you’ve been inactive, have a disability or have overweight (CDC).

Your move

Pick your five minutes, write your if-then line, and go do it before you have time to overthink it. When you’re ready for more, how much exercise you need shows where to build toward.