If you find yourself struggling to make it to the gym, it might be time to consult a doctor, and I’m not talking about your local MD. Instead, look to Dr. Jordan Metzl, who’s made a career out of helping people overcome self-imposed barriers to getting and staying active.
Metzl is a New York-based sports medicine physician, a columnist for Triathlete and the author of a number of books, including Push: Unlock the Science of Fitness Motivation to Embrace Health and Longevity, which was published in Febuary. As a marathon runner and triathlete, he also practices what he preaches.
The mission to get us moving is important, but a tricky one to solve. According to a 2025 survey conducted by YouGov for Uscreen, 30% of Americans struggle to stick to their fitness goals, with motivation, access and lack of time listed as the main deterrents. You know how it goes: work’s a nightmare, it’s too hot or cold outside, there’s a new series on Netflix you want to watch.
There are unlimited excuses not to go to the gym. As such, rewiring your brain takes some serious commitment. We recently spoke with Metzl about the ways our brain gets in the way of healthy habits, strategies that have worked for his clients, and his three essential components to getting and staying motivated for the long haul.
InsideHook: Why do our brains prevent us from working out, even when we know going to the gym will benefit us?
Dr. Jordan Metzl: There are a lot of defenses built into why we don’t do it. In the book, I call it “The Big List.” It’s a whole bunch of reasons we tell ourselves, and the outcome is we can end up working against our best interests. It could be our own biases or previous behavior patterns that have become engrained. Ideas like “Everyone in this class is judging me” or “I can’t do the exercises properly.” Overcoming this involves examining these preconceived notions and realizing they aren’t necessarily true. Once we understand that, we tend to be able to get out of our own way a bit more easily.
Do we need to trick the brain to build healthy habits?
It’s more that you uncover a behavior pattern in which your body gets used to the endorphins, and the brain chemistry, and you feel better. That then reinforces you want to do more. The more you do, the more you want to do. That is how “behavior” can turn into a beneficial habit.
Is habit-building just about repetition?
To a degree. I was just with a client whom I’d been trying to get to be more active and fit. She just couldn’t get herself to do it. Then, all of a sudden, she joined a group class. Now she looks forward to it. She’s strength training and she feels better. There’s a whole process of your brain getting used to exercise. In this instance, if you do the same thing a few times a week, you can actually start feeling like you’re missing out if you skip a class.
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One guy I worked with had this exact problem. He just couldn’t get himself to the gym. But he did have fancy running shoes which he loved. What he would do is go to the gym at 6 a.m. on his way to work and put his shoes in a locker. Then he’d go to work, knowing that if he didn’t pick up his shoes by the end of the day, the padlock would be cut, and the staff would throw his belongings away. So he had to go to the gym on his way home. Once he was there, he realized he may as well get a quick workout in. He purposefully changed his behavior pattern over time and in doing so unlocked his own motivation. The value of the shoes was more important to him than feeling tired, and over time the workout became its own reward.
Knowledge, emotion and belief play key roles in Push. What’s their importance in terms of motivation?
Knowledge is “I know I should be doing this.” When I wrote my first book, The Exercise Cure, in 2013, a lot of people didn’t understand the impact of exercise on heart health, brain health or metabolic health. Today, the average person knows so much more, so knowing you should exercise at least for your health is something most of us understand.
The second aspect is emotion: “I feel like I should do this.” We want to get to that idea of “I feel like I want to do this. I feel like it’s something that my body’s telling me I want to do.” There’s an emotional component to everything we do. You go for a run, you feel great afterwards. Learning to understand your emotional self, and how you can unlock an emotional connection to a task is vital to forming a habit.
The third part is belief. “I believe I can do it again.” If you’ve been to the gym once, you know you can do it again. If you’ve run a marathon once, you know you can do it a second time, and you can draw on memories of that feeling of accomplishment. Focus on these three components, and you’ll be a lot closer to unlocking motivation for any task.
What are a few easy tips to help us stay motivated and on track when it comes to fitness?
Learning to channel your motivation into healthy behaviors is the key to success. It can be as simple as buying exercise clothes you like and putting them out the night before so that you want to wear them, or you remember to pack them. Or pre-paying for sessions with a personal trainer so that you actually have to go to them. You might join a running club or a strength-training club where there’s an external expectation that you’ll show up, especially if you sign up with a friend. All of these things can make a huge difference in lowering your cost to act and making sure you actually get moving.
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