For a sustainable, long-term movement practice, choose activities that are fun, engaging, and provide immediate intrinsic value and enjoyment, making time feel compressed and fostering self-motivation.
Recognize that physical activity is therapeutic and acts as medicine, offering benefits beyond burning calories or improving body composition, such as reducing inflammation, improving gut microbiome, lowering blood pressure, and boosting mood hormones.
Change your attitude towards physical activity from a competitive, ’training like an athlete’ mindset to one focused on play and enjoyment, similar to what you enjoyed as a child, to make movement more sustainable and fun.
Instead of trying to schedule long, dedicated workout times, find opportunities throughout your day to incorporate short bursts of movement, such as bear crawling for the remote or squatting during commercial breaks, to accumulate more activity without feeling like a formal workout.
Set an alarm on your watch or device to ping every hour, prompting you to engage in 60 seconds of movement, especially if you are sedentary, to increase your overall daily activity.
Start your day with 15-20 minutes of movement immediately after waking up, such as crawling, jumping, or dancing to music while preparing breakfast, to accumulate activity without dedicating extra time.
Actively look for any chance to move more, such as exercising during TV commercial breaks or involving family members to make physical activity a shared and more engaging experience.