The 44 Most Common Reasons People Don’t Exercise—and the Experts Who Want You to Overcome Every Excuse
We’ve all been there—telling ourselves we’ll start exercising more when life gets a little less busy or when we find a workout that isn’t so boring. Maybe you have a very real (and justifiable!) reason to skip the gym because you’re on your feet all day for work, or you’re a caregiver and can’t find a window in your schedule for your favorite yoga class or a walk with a friend.
Diana Hill, PhD, and Katy Bowman, MS, get it. For years, they’ve been helping people reconnect with moving their bodies. Now, they’ve teamed up to write a book, I Know I Should Exercise But … 44 Reasons We Don’t Move & How to Get Over Them, aimed at helping all of us do the same.
“We wanted to create a book where you could say, ‘What’s my excuse to not exercise today?’ and then find advice that could help you make a mental or environmental adjustment and move,” says Bowman.
This week, The Sunday Paper sat down with Hill and Bowman to break down some of the most common blocks that prevent so many of us from exercising and to get their tips on how to overcome them. The best part? Their advice can help all of us find more meaning in the movement we do, which is a surefire way to not only stick to your exercise plans, but actually look forward to working out, too.
A CONVERSATION WITH DIANA HILL, PHD, AND KATY BOWMAN, MS
Why do you think so many of us struggle to move our bodies in a way that feels joyful?
Diana: One reason is because we’re stuck in our heads. We have all these stories about how we should move and all these rules about movement. As a result, we don’t explore other ways of moving that could be more joyful. And I think that for people who haven’t had expansive, joyful experiences around movement, this can be a real challenge.
Katy: Most of us have grown up in a culture where the examples of what’s available when it comes to moving our bodies is through the fitness or athletics lens. So, if your childhood experiences playing sports as a kid felt awkward or if you didn’t love them, or if fitness is uninspiring to you, you might struggle to equate movement with joy. If this is the case, it’s important to remember that vigorous gardening counts as movement; going out with your friends to a salsa club counts; lugging your kids’ sports gear counts towards the amount of physical activity you need.
When our ideas about what counts as movement are narrow, what’s available to us when we hear the command to “exercise more” from the doctor or the Instagram post leaves us feeling like we don’t know where to go or what to do.
What are some of the most common excuses that keep people from exercising, and what are the most effective mindset shifts that can help people overcome those barriers?
Katy: We organized the book into seven categories of excuses that are the most prevalent. There’s not any single one, most common excuse, because it’s so individual. The categories include motivation, time, embarrassment, mental or physical discomfort, tech addiction, barriers in someone’s environment, and then others, which includes family or friend dynamics.
Diana: No matter what the excuse, I think it’s important to recognize that there’s often inflexibility within ourselves that is contributing to that excuse. Take a really common excuse, like, “I don’t have enough time to exercise.” If you actually boil that down to the psychological factors that are contributing to it, it may not necessarily be about time but rather how you’re spending your time. Research at UCLA shows that people who engage in things they feel are meaningful feel like they have more time.
Throughout the book, we try to look at these excuses through the lens of values and motivation, as well as cognitive flexibility. It was fun, because no matter what excuse to not exercise came at us, we could tackle them from these perspectives.
You argue that having psychological flexibility can help all of us sneak more movement into our days. What’s one or two ways all of us can boost our mental flexibility?
Diana: There have been thousands of research studies on psychological flexibility for all sorts of things—everything from health behaviors, to anxiety, to working with Olympic athletes. The definition is your capacity to stay present—to be with uncomfortable thoughts, sensations and feelings and still pursue what matters to you.
So, in the context of movement, being psychologically flexible may be something like having a thought that comes up that says, “I don’t want to exercise,” or “It’s too cold outside,” and then still being able to move your body because the movement is connected to your values.
For example, a cognitive practice we may do involves being able to identify your thoughts and simply notice them as thoughts. A lot of times when it comes to exercise, we have an inner chatter that’s going on that sounds like an unhelpful motivational coach who’s saying all the things are going to make you not want to move. Being able to step back and notice these are merely thoughts and then still act independently from that thought is cognitive flexibility. When you start to decouple your thoughts from your behavior, you’re being more cognitively flexible.
What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Diana: Movement can be about a meaningful experience. Movement enhances our lives in deep ways. Movement can also help us show up in the important domains of our life differently. As a therapist, I take a 10-minute break between clients. If I walk down to my garden during those 10 minutes, I show up as a different therapist for the next client than if I scrolled on my phone during that time. In this book, we really try to help people dig into their values underneath movement, the deeper reasons why and how movement can enhance their lives and help them show up for other people and for this planet in more meaningful ways.
I hope readers understand the bigger picture. You’re not exercising just so that you can get 10,000 steps or complete the circle on your watch.
Katy: Movement is inherently challenging physically, and for some people, they get joy out of that physical challenge. But if you’re not that person, movement has to serve other things that you love, because there’s always a little resistance our bodies have to becoming active. If you can tether movement to a value, the value pulls you along. It’s like you can start drafting behind your values.
Katy Bowman, M.S. is a biomechanist, bestselling author, and founder of Nutritious Movement. She is the host of the Move Your DNA podcast and is the author of Move Your DNA, Dynamic Aging, Rethink Your Position, and My Perfect Movement Plan.
Diana Hill, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, international trainer, and sought-out speaker on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and compassion. She is the host of the Wise Effort podcast and author of The Self-Compassion Daily Journal, ACT Daily Journal, and the upcoming book Wise Effort (Fall 2025). Learn more at drdianahill.com.
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