Every January, many people decide this will be the year they finally exercise more. Gyms get busier, people purchase fitness trackers and home exercise equipment, and motivation is high. While most of us think about exercise in terms of body weight, fitness, and heart health, there’s another significant payoff that matters even more over the long haul: brain health. Regular physical activity is one of the best lifestyle habits for healthier brain aging. People who stay consistently active over time tend to show better cognitive resilience and a lower risk of cognitive decline.
Even with the health benefits and best intentions, many people find it hard to stick with a new exercise routine beyond the first few weeks. So, what about those who do stick with it? What makes them different?
The answer may surprise you because it has less to do with the latest equipment and trends, or following the “perfect” workout plan, and more to do with choosing something sustainable.
People who are successful in sticking with exercise goals usually have a few things in common: they choose activities they enjoy, they don’t overdo it, and they settle into routines that become habits.
Start With Exercise You Don’t Dread
It may sound overly simple, but the best exercise to choose for a New Year’s resolution is one you’re willing to keep doing. In practice, what matters most isn’t whether someone chooses to walk, strength train, swim, or something else. It’s whether that activity still feels doable once the novelty wears off.
Enjoyable activities are consistently associated with better adherence to routine than activities chosen because they seem “optimal” for health. And it doesn’t have to be a single type of exercise. A realistic mix that supports heart health, muscle strength, and bone health might include walking or jogging, yoga, and a social or recreational activity, like pickleball.
Once people find exercise they don’t dread, the next question is how much they actually need to do for it to matter.
Every Minute Counts
Research shows the health benefits of exercise generally follow a dose–response pattern: the most significant gains often come when people move from doing very little to doing some. Benefits don’t begin with a single number of workouts or steps, and they tend to level off at higher levels.
Even modest amounts, like a 10-minute walk, are associated with better health outcomes, especially for people starting from low levels of activity.
For many people, recognizing that even small amounts of activity matter makes it easier to keep exercising over time.
Why Consistency Beats Motivation
Motivation helps people get started, but it is an unreliable factor over time. It changes with stress, sleep, work demands, weather, and life events. Research shows that long-term exercise adherence is driven less by motivation and more by habits, routines, and the environments in which people live, work, and play.
People are more likely to be consistent when exercise fits into their existing schedules rather than requiring constant planning or negotiation. Reducing barriers, such as time, travel, or complexity, makes it easier for exercise to happen even on busy or low-energy days. Over time, these repeated, low-friction routines begin to feel automatic.
The workout plans that last usually stop feeling like plans at all. They become habits—unremarkable, routine parts of the day that don’t require much attention, motivation, or decision-making.
How to Set Realistic, Sustainable Exercise Goals
If you want to build an exercise habit that lasts beyond January, here’s what tends to work:
- Start smaller than you think you should. Ten minutes count—two days per week count. Starting small reduces barriers and makes consistency easier, especially when life gets busy.
- Plan for your schedule, not your ideal week. Exercise is more likely to happen when it fits into the day you already have, rather than the one you wish you had. Attaching exercise to existing routines (before morning coffee, during a lunch break, or while your kids are at practice) can make it easier to repeat.
- Reduce barriers wherever possible. Time, travel, complexity, and decision-making all make consistency harder. The simpler the plan, the more likely it is to survive low-energy or stressful days.
- Expect to adjust. Needs, interests, and capacity change over time. Having to modify your approach isn’t a failure; it’s part of maintaining a routine over months and years.
Remember: the best exercise goal is the one that lasts.
Author Bio
Gregory Knell, PhD, MS, is a physical activity epidemiologist and researcher whose work focuses on physical movement and brain health across the lifespan. His research has been published in leading public health and behavioral science journals and featured in U.S. News & World Report, CNN, Reuters, and The New York Times, translating scientific evidence into practical, actionable guidance for everyday life.
Further reading
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Teixeira, P.J., Carraça, E.V., Markland, D. et al. Exercise, physical activity, and self-determination theory: A systematic review. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 9, 78 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-9-78
Inoue K, Tsugawa Y, Mayeda ER, Ritz B. Association of Daily Step Patterns With Mortality in US Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(3):e235174. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.5174
Ekelund U, Tarp J, Steene-Johannessen J, Hansen BH, Jefferis B, Fagerland MW, Whincup P, Diaz KM, Hooker SP, Chernofsky A, Larson MG, Spartano N, Vasan RS, Dohrn IM, Hagströmer M, Edwardson C, Yates T, Shiroma E, Anderssen SA, Lee IM. Dose-response associations between accelerometry measured physical activity and sedentary time and all cause mortality: systematic review and harmonised meta-analysis. BMJ. 2019 Aug 21;366:l4570. doi: 10.1136/bmj.l4570. PMID: 31434697; PMCID: PMC6699591.
