Smart fitness startup ideas

We all know this exercise does good But its benefits don’t always motivate us to set the alarm and lace up our sneakers. According to a survey, 75% of Americans don’t meet recommended guidelines for aerobic and strength-training exercise (StM.: 68% of Greeks say they don’t exercise at all, according to a 2022 survey). Many experts say that the key to a better, more regular workout is not in the body, but in the mind. As anyone who seesaws between a Netflix marathon and an evening run can understand, the body may be willing, but the spirit needs a boost once in a while.

However, there are a few tools that can trick our reluctant minds into finding the motivation to get back to the gym or bike ride up the mountain.

Try playing

“The brain loves to play, especially if we reward it when we win,” says Daya Grant, a neuroscientist and life coach in Los Angeles. Use it to your advantage. For example, Milo Bryant, a trainer in San Diego, holds two lottery tickets with exercise titles for his group’s classes. “The athletes will blindly draw an exercise from one draw and a number of reps from the other and whatever happens,” he says. Apps like Zombies Run! – A cross between a fitness tracker and an episode of The Last of Us – taking your workout to another level. Like most running apps, it lets you track your route and pace. Its trick is that it gives you “missions” through your headphones while you’re exercising, so you can run to avoid zombies or collect supplies to build a virtual shelter.

The Rouvy app connects to a smart display, which turns your regular bike into a stationary bike, for a virtual ride in different cities around the world. It can even adjust your bike’s resistance when you encounter inclines or hills. Pam Moore, a cycling instructor in Boulder, Colo., says she once biked in Beverly Hills with a friend in Portland, Oregon, without leaving her home. “Even though he was faster than me, we could ride a bike together,” he says.

He behaves like a Pavlovian dog

Habits can be recorded in the brain. So make exercise a habit, something you already do every day, says Ben Ryall, a personal trainer in Atlanta. If you drop your kids off at school at 8am, for example, lift the weights at 8.15am. “As with Pavlov’s experiment, when we follow these habits consistently for several weeks, we take the hard part of the decision and willpower out of the equation,” says Real.

The more hesitant might need something more. Try combining your exercise with an activity you love, like watching the latest season of Survivor. This “temptation” is magnified if you only watch your favorite show while you’re working out, says Katie Milkman, a behavioral scientist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “So you’re giving in to the temptations of ‘bad’ TV or just listening to vampire novels in the gym,” says Milkman.

byeAdjust it to your measurements

Our brains also like things that look like they were made just for us. In a recent study, athletes who thought they had an individualized training program performed better than those who thought they were following a general program. Personal trainers are the most natural way to put this realization into practice. Alternatively, you can use an app like Stronger by the Day, where coaches take your fitness stats (how much weight you can lift, for example) and make a workout plan just for you. “I became obsessed with it,” Moore says. “By training and following the program, I got stronger.”

According to Panteleimon Ekkekakis, a sports psychologist at the University of Michigan, we tend to remember how we felt about something after we finished it. That’s why he suggests “reverse the order of the workout—doing the hardest part early after a good warm-up and gradually reducing the intensity—so we leave the workout with the best possible memory.” This reverse tempo approach not only helps you enjoy your workout, but also improves how you perceive exercise for up to a week afterward.

DrFocus emotionally

The most effective psychological trick for sticking to an exercise program may also be the simplest: Committing to something, whether it’s a 5K run in three months, a tennis tournament in a year, or a father-daughter dance next spring. “When we work out for something, we get a goal,” Bryant says. Set smaller goals along the way, making sure they are effortless but achievable as well. Above all, find what works best for you keeping in mind that whatever that means, it can change. Exercise is more sustainable if we have an emotional attachment to it. “This is why some people run marathons in support of an organization or cause, or dedicate every kilometer to a specific person,” says Grant. 