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Exercising often feels repetitive and dull; it’s the last thing I want to do during my leisure time.
Does this sound like you? You’re not alone in feeling this way. It can be tough to find motivation when something feels uninteresting. No one wants to spend their spare time engaged in tiresome tasks! So, how can we make physical activity more enjoyable and something you actually look forward to?
Savoring is a psychological technique that can help shift our mindset. Let’s explore how to turn the thought “Exercise is boring” into “I’m excited to do this!”
Ways to Make Exercise Fun
Often, exercise feels like a necessity rather than a choice. You know it’s beneficial in the long run, but you may not want to spend time on it right now. One effective strategy is temptation bundling, which involves pairing an activity with immediate rewards (like your favorite pastime) to make it more appealing. A significant study involving over 6,000 participants found that linking a workout to an enjoyable audiobook that could only be listened to during exercise increased the likelihood of a weekly workout by 10-14%. Why does this happen? Connecting exercise with something pleasurable makes it instantly more engaging and satisfying.
Gathering with friends can evolve into a fun pickleball session. Your fondness for coffee might inspire a walk to the local café. Stretching your hips or gardening can be enhanced by tuning into a favorite podcast. To change how you view the monotony of exercise, consider the specific type of activity you want to motivate yourself to do, then brainstorm fun and enjoyable options to accompany it. Here are some ideas:
- Stroll through a farmers’ market.
- Chat with your sister while walking.
- Watch your favorite show at the gym (and only at the gym!).
- Dress in your comfiest workout attire.
- Ride your bike along scenic streets.
- Sign up for a class with an instructor you admire.
I (Diana) enjoy temptation bundling by stretching while watching our favorite family program, The Amazing Race. As teams race worldwide, I stretch my foot in circles or do figure four stretches to work on my hips, or practice headstands with my kids. My body appreciates the movement, and it feels wonderful to be active while watching the excitement unfold on screen.
Using temptation bundling is straightforward: to make your movement feel less tedious, mix it with something else you enjoy.
I (Katy) love listening to music, but between work and family, I often lack the time to enjoy it. So, going for a walk serves as an opportunity to jam out without interruptions, making the walk just as much about enjoying my music as it is about exercising. The anticipation of picking my favorite songs is often what drives me to take that walk at the end of a busy day.
To sum it up, temptation bundling is simple: enrich your movement by pairing it with something you love. Plus, be mindful while doing it (and don’t worry, we’ll guide you on how to achieve that soon!).
Ways to Savor Physical Activity
You can enhance the enjoyment of movement by being mindful of the full experience of using your body…and truly savoring it. Savoring involves actively focusing on, appreciating, and amplifying the positive elements of an experience. When you savor what you’re doing, you boost positive feelings, alleviate stress, and can transform even the most typical activities into delightful experiences.
The trick is to immerse yourself in the joyful aspects of what you’re doing—redirecting your focus to the positives. This doesn’t mean ignoring discomfort; it’s more about shifting your attention—which involves adopting a new perspective and being in the moment. Ultimately, you control what you notice.
Try this exercise right now:
- Let your chin drop toward your chest, then gently guide your right ear toward your right shoulder, and slowly tilt your left ear toward your left shoulder.
- Observe: Where do you feel tension? Where do you feel ease?
- Focus on areas that may need extra care. Breathe into those tight spots and relax your shoulders. Close your eyes and enjoy a moment to clear your mind while you stretch.
- Express gratitude for this moment with your body. Even the most mundane activities can fascinate you when you are fully present and appreciate them.
Research by Japanese psychologist Erika Miyakawa outlines five ways to savor an experience: thanksgiving, basking, marveling, luxuriating, and knowing. Each requires being fully immersed in your experience. Let’s see how to apply these concepts to your movement or exercise.
Five Ways to Savor Your Exercise
Choose a physical activity that you often find tedious or repetitive (for me, Diana, it’s walking around in circles at the airport while waiting to board, or waiting during my son’s baseball practice). Now, apply each type of savoring to that activity and notice any change in your experience.
- Thanksgiving: Be thankful for the ability to move your body. Feel grateful for this chance to be active. Appreciate the surroundings, the people, and the opportunities that come with moving your body.
- Basking: Take pride in getting stronger through movement. Acknowledge the accomplishment of living your values, completing a challenging workout, or achieving fitness goals.
- Marveling: Allow yourself to be awestruck by what you experience through movement. Notice the beauty of nature, unexpected sights, and the strength of your own body.
- Luxuriating: Revel in the physical and sensory joys of movement. Enjoy the relief of stretching your muscles, releasing tension and stress, experiencing the rhythm of your body, or exercising your creativity through movement.
- Knowing: Appreciate the insights gained from being active—what you learn by exploring new locations, meeting new people, encountering new experiences, or discovering more about yourself and your abilities.
The next time exercise feels burdensome, dear reader, try using this savoring skill and concentrate your thoughts on the positive aspects of movement. The most crucial part is being fully present—redirecting your attention to the here and now, and recognizing the benefits that come with moving your body.
Rethink Movement: Introduce Playfulness
Exercise often has to fit into our spare time, competing with other enjoyable activities. For many, exercising feels like a chore: dull! Counting repetitions, tracking laps, monitoring intensity, and focusing on metrics takes away from the feeling of playfulness—and we may need to inject more fun into our motivation for moving.
Consider the physical activities that brought you joy as a child, when you enjoyed them purely for fun rather than for their health benefits.
Any type of movement can turn into play—playing can add more joy to your experiences.
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Your mindset has a greater impact on your experience than the specific activities themselves. Engaging in playful movements can make it simpler to maintain an active lifestyle. Activities such as sports and games—think pickleball or Kubb (a fun backyard tossing game)—definitely qualify. You can even add an element of play by using a weighted hoop around your waist for 15 minutes while enjoying time in your living room. Consider changing your regular walking route to pass by a playground, where you can swing, slide, and traverse the monkey bars, giving your balance and coordination a nice challenge. Crank up your favorite upbeat music and dance freely. I (Diana) have set aside a spacious area in our living room exclusively for playful movements. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed games like balloon volleyball, Twister, and creating forts together. Having open spaces readily available encourages the entire family to get moving.
Reflect on the types of physical activities that brought you joy as a child, back when you didn’t consider their health benefits and simply found them enjoyable. For me (Katy), some of my favorite activities included pretending to be a mermaid in the pool for hours, biking with my sister around the neighborhood until sunset, and hitting tennis balls against the side of our house solo. When you’re seeking to add more movement to your life, there’s no need to resort to mundane activities. Choose exercises that mirror the fun you’ve had in the past, making it easier to engage in them.
This passage is taken from the upcoming book I Know I Should Exercise, But…: 44 Reasons We Don’t Move and How to Get Over Them by Diana Hill and Katy Bowman (Uphill Books, March 2025) and is published with permission from the publisher.