Women who Want to Want It: 6 Steps to Inspired Physical Activity

Please welcome Dr. Michelle Segar to the beYOU.tv family. Michelle is America’s leading expert on exercise motivation for women over 40. Her passion has been helping women learn to sustain physically active lives and prioritize their own health and well-being. A researcher at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, she holds a Ph.D in Psychology and  Master’s Degrees in Health Behavior, Health Education and in Kinesiology. She is also the Founder of EssentialSteps, Coaching for Women. Michelle will be checking in with us regularly, but if you have questions for her, please leave a comment for her or visit her at EssentialSteps.

If you, like most women, lack the on-going motivation to exercise and feel like you don’t have time for it, this article is for you! But in order to understand how to find that inspiration, it is important to first understand what is often the real, but hidden, reason we say “I simply don’t have time to exercise.”

True, time is a rare commodity these days. But, do women who are regularly physically active have more time than those who aren’t?

No, these women don’t actually have more time to exercise. What they do is create time for it. What tends to distinguish the “I don’t have time” women is that they don’t prioritize being physically active. (Caveat: Women living in extreme circumstances such as mom’s with a newborn, women working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet do truly have less time for activities such as exercise.)

The real question is, why do some women prioritize physical activity and others don’t?

One reason is that women who prioritize physical activity view it as an important aspect of their self-care; it reduces their stress and enhances their sense of well-being. Their daily quality of life is enhanced when they are physically active and, conversely, diminished whey they are not. So, they are very motivated to find the time! These women do what I call “want-based” physical activity.

In contrast, most of us consider being physically active a “should”; something that we are “supposed to do” rather than something that we feel we need or actually want to do. We don’t consider physical activity as an essential aspect of our self-care. In fact, “should-based” physical activity often feels draining, more like a self-care detractor! Who really has time in their day for another “should”!?

The deeper difference between women who “want it” and those that feel they “should” isn’t how much time they have, it’s what they do to stay active.

Want-based women make it fun and feel good! They do what makes them feel good by personalizing and tailoring their activity to their likes and desires, finding activities that energize and inspire them.

In general, women who feel they “should” exercise tend to get stuck on a treadmill, literally and figuratively, by following other people’s recommendations, including what the media and/or “experts” say constitutes the RIGHT way to exercise. But does this approach really sound like a life-enhancing experience? And who ever ever said there is a RIGHT way to stay active?

Sadly, the majority of us are “shoulds” and hence, the best of intentions are quickly abandoned. This is because the standard “exercise prescription” that has been doled out to us over the past 25 years simply does not work for all of us.

The good news is that “shoulds” can want to want it by tapping into personal passions and learning how to tailor physical activity to their desires, likes, and lifestyles. If you want to transform your relationship with physical activity, ditch that old prescription and try the following:

1) Make a conscious decision that you WANT TO start getting the incredible well-being benefits that physical activity brings (improved mood, sleep, etc.)

2) Decide what experiences you want to have from physical activity. Reduced stress? Social time with friends? Etc?

3) Choose a physical activity that will give you that experience(s).

• Reduced stress? Try walking outside in nature;
• Social experience? Ask a friend or family member to take a walk, or join a gym with you.

4) Plan it into your day. Give yourself permission to leave whatever you are working on/accomplishing to do your planned physical activity.

5) Evaluate whether the physical activity you chose gave you the experiences you wanted. If it wasn’t a positive experience, try a new type of physical activity, a different teacher, a lower intensity, or try a different time of day, etc. Figuring this out can be a process that may take some experimenting, but it is worth it!

6) Decide that enhancing YOU AND YOUR SENSE OF WELL-BEING ARE WORTH spending time on.

If you have any feedback or questions, please leave a comment and I’ll respond to you!

Have a great day!