(Aug. 8, 2025) — Exercise is vitally important. While no one will seriously argue the point, people seem ready, willing and able to avoid doing it. Americans find countless excuses to skip the workout, relegating it to the bottom of the priority pile.

The recommendation for adults stands at 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week at a minimum. Moderate exercise includes walking and the general category of low-intensity physical activity, while vigorous exercise includes running, bicycling and swimming.

A landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2024 found those who exceeded that amount lived longer. The study asked more than 116,000 adults to self-report physical activity outside of that associated with work. This survey was repeated roughly 15 times during a span of 30 years.

The result showed that exercising two to four times over the minimum yielded decreased risk of death by 26% to 31%. The reduction in odds of death from cardiovascular disease decreased by an impressive 28% to 38%.

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Exercise has been proven to assist with lowering blood sugar levels, increasing good cholesterol (HDL) and improving mood. So, what is the problem? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that just 24% of Americans do the recommended amount of exercise and 25% don’t report any physical activity outside of that required for work.

But oddly, gym membership is booming. According to Anton Severin, vice president of research for the Health & Fitness Association: “Our data shows that more Americans than ever before are actively engaged in fitness.”

The association finds that gym membership is at a record high. In 2023, roughly 73 million Americans belonged to a health club and visited an average of 1.5 times a week. Gym goers tend to fall into groups, including the 30% “low-frequency members” who show up once a month and the 11.5% “highly engaged users” who visit four or more times per week.

In the years following the pandemic, the percentage of low-frequency members has doubled while the highly engaged group has dropped 40%. Kathleen Martin Ginis, director of the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management at the University of British Columbia, recognizes three categories of behavior relating to exercise:

• Non-intenders have no desire to exercise.
• Intenders have the desire but don’t follow through.
• Actors maintain a generally consistent exercise routine.

“To move intenders to actors, it’s not easy, but at least they’ve got the motivation,” Ginis says.

Some of the core barriers for many Americans are availability, accessibility and affordability of places to exercise, including parks, sidewalks and gyms.

Professor Dara Sorkin of the UC Irvine Medical School points out that “what drives the connection between physical activity and health is our (amount of) leisure time.”

Those with unpredictable work schedules may find it significantly more challenging to meet fitness goals. If that is not a core issue, fitness experts suggest some proven strategies:

• Develop a longer-term realizable goal, such as running a 5K in six months. Start with walking, work into jogging and gradually up to running. According to rehabilitation specialist Peter Duggan of Fuel, Sport & Spine in New York: “You can’t just run up Mount Everest. You have to start at base camp.”
• Block exercise time on your calendar and decide your activity in advance. “Physical activity takes time, and you need to be mindful of your other habits that need to change. Not only are you building a new habit, but how does that habit fit into the rest of the day?” notes behavioral health economist Chad Stechter of Arizona State.
• Gradually build accountability by using an app, tracker or pen and paper to mark workouts as completed and revel in the small satisfactions.
• Incorporate exercise into your identity. While many of us may never achieve athlete status, we can all become increasingly fit, stronger, happier and set up for a long healthy life.

Nathalie Montijo

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Nathalie Raven Archangel-Montijo holds a rather interesting array of degrees and certifications, including master’s in nursing and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). She has post-master certification as an adult geriatric primary care nurse practitioner (AGPCNP) and a license to practice acupuncture in California (L.Ac). To round all that out, she is certified in infection prevention and control (CIC) and as an advanced certified Hospice and palliative care nurse (ACHPN).

She also performs in the outlaw country band, Nineteen Hand Horse.