Helping People Find Their Motivation to Start and Continue Exercising [Podcast Series]

• [:56] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Dr. Michelle Segar

  • Dr. Michelle Segar is Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy (SHARP) Center at the University of Michigan.  

  • Dr. Segar is also the author of No Sweat! How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness.

• [1:21]  Language and motivation for exercising

  •  “And so embedded in this language is our experiences that many of us have had that just don't feel good, are painful, are shame producing, make us feel self conscious and, more generally, create a negative feeling that make many people disdain exercise and want to avoid it at all costs.”

  • “But really, if we could reframe the term, the language ‘active living,’ to reflect how we live our lives, we look for opportunities to move. Another term we can use for exercise, take an opportunity to move. Who doesn't want an opportunity, right? Inherent in that concept is something positive.”

• [5:15]  Helping people find their motivation

  •  “And I'm asking people if being active or exercising feels like a chore from one (a chore) to a five (a gift). And through that answer, we find out whether people's reason or why for exercising is based on motives or reasons for exercising that research has found actually make it into a chore or are based on logical or should-based reasons, which we know from research and years of promoting exercise for these reasons are actually, they may get people to start exercising, but they don't get people to to continue.”

• “I think I come at it in a sideways way, and, through helping people understand that their whys have actually been getting in their way and then helping them identify what I call the right whys. And it's not that they are right because I say they are right.  The right why is inherent to the individual, which I think is what you're doing with your clients as you're helping them identify what type of why for exercise is actually going to help them both stay motivated, and want to do it but experience positive feelings, all of which the research show will promote sustainable motivation.”

• [8:50]  Moving from a chore to a gift

  • “So if we can use this explicit dichotomy, then it gives us a point of conversation, a point of entry, to convert someone from a chore to a gift.”

• [10:20] Health is not a motivator for exercise

  • “The challenge is that in theory, we care about our health, in theory, we want to exercise for health, but in reality, we have too many other more urgent compelling things to do. So that's why health as a primary motivator for exercise, whether, again, it's right now or in 20 years, may not be the greatest motivator for people who aren't super, super, super, super motivated to prioritize their health.”

• [12:42] Focusing on the short-term reasons for exercising

  • “So we need to align what we really want to achieve with the way it's going to get there. And ironically—I think there's something super ironic about this—that the way to achieve the long term benefits from exercise is actually to focus on the short term reasons for doing it.”

• [14:10] COVID-19 and exercise

  • “So anecdotally, I've heard that some people are exercising more because they have more flexibility in their lives. And on the other hand, a lot of the people who are regular, regularly active before COVID are less active because they can't do what they love doing or what their regimen, their exercise regimens were.”

• [19:16] Making lasting behavior change

  • “I believe we've got to get people focused on the experiences in the now that they are going to achieve from their quote unquote health related choices. So I believe that the beginning is what do you need? What's missing from your life? What's missing from your day? Is it energy? Is it a spark, you know, verve? What is it? And then well what could help you achieve that?”

• [23:47] The health & fitness industry communicating to reach the 80%

  • “And if, when the fitness industry understands—which I think they do—that the 80% that is not coming to their doors looks different than the 20% that is coming to their doors, has had different experiences than the 20% that is coming to their doors. And then addressing those things and showing images of people of all sizes and shapes and colors doing different types of activities and offering different types of classes.”