Podcast Summary: "How You Can Stay Motivated to Exercise"

Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta
Guest: Dr. Diana Hill, psychologist and co-author of I Know I Should Exercise, But... 44 Reasons We Don’t Move and How to Get Over Them
Date: February 6, 2026

Overview

This episode explores the real-life barriers that prevent people from exercising regularly, beyond just knowing that movement is good for us. Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with Dr. Diana Hill about the psychological hurdles, environmental factors, and mindset shifts necessary to sustain motivation for physical activity throughout the year. Using Dr. Hill's research and practical advice, the conversation delves into how to break down common excuses, reframe the concept of exercise, and connect personal values to lasting movement habits.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Don’t We Exercise, Even When We Know We Should?

• Psychological Barriers:
  • Dr. Hill emphasizes it's not lack of knowledge that stops us, but "a lot of inner barriers, psychological barriers to moving our bodies." (01:16)
• Personal Backstory:
  • Hill shares her journey from "the joy of movement" as a child to rigid, unhealthy exercise patterns as a young adult, leading her to the concept of psychological flexibility. (03:14)
  • Psychological flexibility is key: "your ability to pursue what matters to you in a much more flexible way, as opposed to rigid rules that our mind makes or shoulds." (03:42)

2. The “44 Reasons” People Don’t Move

• Origin of the List:
  • Dr. Hill and co-author Katie Bowman polled their audiences for real-life reasons people avoid exercise, ranging from "my cat climbs all over me when I'm trying to do my exercises" to "my teenagers won't get off a screen." (05:01)
  • They picked 44 reasons because it's Bowman's favorite number—just another reminder of the personal and sometimes arbitrary nature of our barriers. (05:32)

3. Shifting the Mindset: From "Either/Or" to "Both/And"

• Many people see exercise as competing with other life priorities. Dr. Hill urges reframing:
  • “Is there a way you could go to your kid's soccer game and you don't have to choose? You still get to move your body ... walking around the field, not sitting on the stands.” (06:27)
  • Time Affluence is Malleable:
    • “When we are doing things that are meaningful, we feel like we have more time. So we could work on how could we move our bodies in ways that are more meaningful ..." (07:32)
  • Encourages time audits to find hidden movement opportunities, like turning grocery shopping or carrying bags into strength exercises. (08:02)

4. Our Modern Environment and the Seduction of Convenience

• Convenience Dilemma:
  • “Convenience is a problem for all of us. It's not healthy for us.” (08:54)
  • Devices, comforts, and especially phones provide dopamine surges and make sedentarism more alluring.
  • On fighting the phone’s lure: “You get sensitized to the wanting. Your craving increases with these dopamine hits, but you become habituated to the liking.” (09:33)

5. Harnessing Dopamine: Pair Movement with Pleasure

• Temptation Bundling:
  • “What if you were to give yourself your phone after you move or only use your phone if you're moving? ... You get to do your like really bad reality TV or YouTube or whatever it is, but you're moving, that's fine. But you only pair it with movement ... notice how it feels different.” (10:28)
  • Over time, people both “want it and like it” regarding exercise—the psychological sweet spot. (11:19)

6. Tackling Fatigue and the Illusion of Rest

• Exhausted by Inactivity:
  • “There's a line that we say in our house, which is, I'm exhausted from inactivity.” (12:13)
  • Calls out “junk food rest”—sedentary behaviors that mimic rest but don’t restore us. (12:20)
• Environmental Design:
  • Hill organizes her home with less furniture and more space for movement, e.g., ping pong tables and basketball hoops instead of just couches and screens. (13:05)

7. Small Movement Yields Big Benefits

• 10-Minute Walks:
  • Gupta highlights the physiological benefits of post-meal movement—modulating glucose spikes and signaling the body to use freshly consumed energy. (13:48)
• Holistic Approach:
  • Hill underscores cultural and social roles of movement, such as walking after dinner for community and connection. (14:33)

8. Motivation: From Extrinsic to Intrinsic

• Motivation Must Be Personal:
  • “The statement that exercise is good for heart health, that doesn't move me, that doesn't motivate me. But it motivates my neighbor who had a heart attack ... For me ... when I'm with my clients on the mornings that I move, I'm less ruminative in my own self. I'm more present with them.” (16:41)
  • Essential to find "inner motivations, intrinsic motivation" for yourself.

9. Make Motivation Last: Systems, Not Just Goals

• Motivation Fades:
  • “Motivation comes and goes. After people listen to this interview ... their motivation is going to be pretty high. That motivation may not even wane by … February 2nd. It may be waned by the afternoon ... Motivation is more of a wave than it is a consistent thing.” (19:43)
• Tiny Commitments:
  • Hill’s strategic advice: Make behaviors “small enough that you will engage in it when your motivation is really low.” (19:43)
  • Example: “…when you come in the door, the first thing you do is put on your shoes and you're willing to go for two minutes.” (20:10)
  • Stack up movement throughout the day—10-minute breaks add up.

10. Finding the Right Kind of Movement

• Meaningful Connections:
  • Sometimes the right exercise is linked to a specific goal (e.g., rehab after injury), but enjoyment matters, too.
  • “I'm a little bit hesitant to say only move in ways that you love.” Instead, connect movement to values, healing, or relationships. (22:05)
• Social Support:
  • Movement with others increases adherence and brings additional benefits: “Are there people that you could engage in moving with? Maybe they'll meet you as an accountability partner to go for a walk every Thursday.” (23:08)

11. Overcoming Discomfort and Personal Limitations

• Personal Example:
  • Hill recounts how her son pushed her out of her comfort zone to join a 30-mile bike ride, despite her reluctance: “Wow, I've written a book on movement and I'm unwilling to move my body because it's too scary ... I said yes. And so for the past few weeks, my son's been teaching me how to ride a bike.” (24:17)
  • Lessons learned: The value of discomfort, connecting with others, and the need to challenge rigid identities ("I just don't ride bikes … I just don't sweat …")

12. Sustaining Motivation: Make It Bigger Than You

• Connect to Values:
  • “Make it about something that's not about you … How does your movement ... impact the people in your life?” (26:10)
  • Example: “If I go for a run and I walk in my kitchen and it's a complete mess because my kids are making pancakes, you're gonna get a different mom than if I didn’t go for that run.” (26:43)
  • Sustainable motivation comes from linking movement to one's identity, values, and aspirations for how to show up for others.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On time barriers:

  “Movement has been sort of sectioned off into leisure time and many of us feel like we're having to choose ... And that's just what the mind tends to do. It tends to be pretty dichotomous ... I really encourage ... to shift from that either or mindset to a both and mindset.”
  — Dr. Diana Hill (06:27)

• On dopamine and scrolling:

  “Your craving increases with these dopamine hits, but you become habituated to the liking. You need more and more to get the same kind of good feeling.”
  — Dr. Diana Hill (09:33)

• On flexibility in goals:

  “We also need to combine that with structuring our environments to support movement and then also have some deeper motivations that aren’t just about, you know, sort of reaching the goal that maybe are also about the process of the enjoyment of the movement itself.”
  — Dr. Diana Hill (18:11)

• On rethinking “rest”:

  “There's a type of junk food rest that we all know very well. Just like there's junk food that, yeah, maybe it gives you the feeling of you're resting, but you don’t feel really rested afterwards. Just like junk food, it gives you a feeling that you’re eating, but you’re not really nourished.”
  — Dr. Diana Hill (12:20)

• On values and sustained motivation:

  "If you want a motivation that's sustained over the long run, make it a big motivation that's bigger than just you. Make it connected to your values. Make it about who you want to be in this world, how you want to contribute to this world. And moving your body will help you with that. I guarantee it for the long run."
  — Dr. Diana Hill (26:44)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Barriers to movement & Dr. Hill’s story: 01:16–04:09
• How the “44 reasons” were determined: 05:01–05:37
• Time management and “both/and” mindset: 06:27–08:46
• Convenience, technology & dopamine: 08:54–11:33
• Fatigue from inactivity & environmental design: 12:13–14:33
• Making motivation personal & intrinsic: 16:41–18:11
• Motivation as a wave, small habits: 19:43–22:05
• Finding the right movement, social support: 22:05–24:07
• Embracing discomfort for growth: 24:17–25:52
• Lasting motivation — connecting movement to values: 26:10–27:17

Summary Takeaways

• It's normal to struggle with motivation—everyone has barriers.
• Reframe movement as an integrated, meaningful, and often social part of life.
• Make motivation last by anchoring movement to your personal values and identity, not just physical benefits or fleeting goals.
• Design your environments and routines to support moving more, in big ways and small.
• Forgive yourself for the waves—plan for low motivation days with micro-habits.

For more practical tips and a deeper dive into the 44 most common excuses (and how to overcome them), check out Dr. Diana Hill’s book: I Know I Should Exercise, But...