Finding Everyday Movement You Actually Enjoy

Most advice about being active starts with a number of minutes. A more useful starting point is a different question: what kind of movement would you still be doing three months from now? The honest answer is usually something you like, or at least do not mind, and that fits the life you already have.

That is not a soft option. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells adults to pick activities they enjoy and that match their abilities, precisely because that helps people stick with them. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines physical activity broadly, as any bodily movement that uses energy, whether it happens in leisure time, on the way somewhere, at work or around the home. Walking, cycling, wheeling, sport, active recreation and play are all on its list.

The five steps below are a way of finding your own answer. They take a couple of weeks, not an afternoon.

Step 1: Look back before you look forward

Start with what you already know about yourself. Take ten minutes and write down:

• movement you enjoyed at any point in your life, including as a child;
• movement you have tried and disliked, and what exactly you disliked about it;
• the active things you already do without calling them exercise, such as gardening, carrying shopping, walking a dog or playing with children.

Be specific about the dislikes. “I hated the gym” may really mean “I hated the noise”, “I felt watched” or “it took an hour to get there and back”. Each of those points to a different solution.

Step 2: Work out what kind of mover you are

People enjoy activity for different reasons. A few questions sort this out quickly.

• Alone or with others? Some people want quiet time; others only turn up if someone is waiting for them.
• Indoors or outdoors? If fresh air is the attraction, our piece on enjoyable ways to spend time outdoors has ideas.
• Structured or free? A class tells you what to do and when. A walk or a dance around the kitchen asks nothing of you in advance.
• With a purpose or for its own sake? Some people prefer movement that gets something done: a journey, a tidy garden, an errand.
• Rhythm or variety? Swimming lengths and cycling are repetitive in a way some people find calming and others find dull.

There are no right answers, and yours may differ between weekdays and weekends.

Step 3: Make a short list of candidates

Choose three or four activities that fit your answers. Check each one against the practical barriers the CDC lists as the common reasons people stop: lack of time, cost, lack of skill, the weather and having nobody to go with. Its suggestions are plain ones. If skill is the worry, choose something that needs none, such as walking or climbing stairs. If cost is the worry, pick activities that need little or no equipment. If weather is the worry, keep one indoor option in reserve.

Step 4: Run a two-week trial

Try each candidate at least twice before you judge it. First attempts are often awkward for reasons that have nothing to do with the activity: you did not know where to stand, or you wore the wrong shoes.

Keep the trial small. In England, the NHS Better Health programme makes the point that every minute of activity counts, and the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines state that there is no minimum amount of activity needed to gain some health benefit. A ten-minute version of something is a fair test of whether you like it.

After each session, note three things:

1. How did I feel while doing it?
2. How did I feel an hour later?
3. Would I do it again without being told to?

The second question matters. Plenty of activities feel like effort in the moment and good afterwards. US federal guidance notes that some benefits of activity, such as lower anxiety and better sleep quality, can appear soon after a session.

Step 5: Keep what worked and give it a place

At the end of two weeks, keep the one or two activities that scored best on “would I do it again”. Drop the rest without guilt; they were experiments.

Then attach what you kept to something that already happens: after the school run, before the evening meal, during a regular phone call. The CDC suggests putting activity in your calendar like any other commitment, and arranging it with a friend so the plan is written in two diaries. Our guide to building a small habit goes further into how to anchor a new routine.

Later, you may want to see how your choices compare with the guideline figures for adults. Those are covered in our pieces on exercise intensity in everyday language and on setting goals without an all-or-nothing mindset. They are population guidance, and both the WHO and the CDC say that some activity is better than none.

If nothing appeals

Sometimes the short list comes back empty. That is information too. It may mean the options you tried were too long, too hard or too public. Go back to step 1 and look at the third list, the things you already do. Doing slightly more of an existing activity is still a change, and it does not need a new identity as “someone who exercises”.

Tastes also shift. Something you ruled out at 25 may suit you at 50, and the reverse. It is worth repeating the exercise whenever your circumstances change: a new job, a move, a change in health or in who lives with you.