How do I start exercising when I don't feel like it?
By No Rush · Updated October 29, 2026
The short answer
Make the first time so short that saying no feels silly, like one song or the stairs up and down once. You don't need to want it beforehand, and easy movement counts. Then tie it to a moment that's already in your day, such as putting your keys down when you get home. Plans like that helped in a review of 94 studies.
Does exercise help your mood?
Researchers have looked at this a lot. Weinstein and colleagues brought together 103 studies with 4,671 people, who rated how they felt before and shortly after moving once. On average the rating afterwards was a little higher. It's a short-term finding about the same day, and it says nothing about you in particular.
Does it have to be hard to count?
No. A slow walk around the block counts as moving. In the review by Weinstein and colleagues, studies with light exercise and studies with hard exercise came out about the same. So start with something easy, at your own pace, and leave steps and calories out of it.
Why do I have no motivation to exercise?
Often you're waiting to feel like it before you start, and that feeling can stay away for a long time. You can also try it the other way round: start small and see afterwards how it feels. In the studies Weinstein and colleagues combined, people rated how they felt a little higher after moving than before. So a first step can be once up the stairs and back down.
How to start working out when you don't want to?
Decide when and where, in one sentence. For example: when I get home and put my keys down, I put on one song and move until it ends. In a review of 94 studies with more than 8,000 people, plans like this helped people reach their goals. A newer review of 642 tests found a smaller effect on what people do, but still an effect.
In the No Rush app
The app has a step called "Moving for one song". You put on a song and move until it ends: dancing, walking on the spot, or up and down the stairs, at your own pace. The smallest version is going up the stairs and back down once. The app doesn't count steps or calories.
No Rush app
An iPhone app for people who feel stuck. It sets out one small next step at a time and tells you why that one. It is not therapy.
Sign up free Take the test For iPhone. Coming soon to the App Store. The first seven days are free in the app. After that, you choose whether to subscribe. Sign up now and the app stays free for you, for life.
Sources
- Weinstein e.a. (2024). Affective responses to acute exercise: A meta-analysis of the potential beneficial effects of a single bout of exercise on general mood, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 86(6), 486-497. doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000001321
- Gollwitzer & Sheeran (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119. doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1
- Sheeran, Listrom & Gollwitzer (2025). The when and how of planning: meta-analysis of the scope and components of implementation intentions in 642 tests. European Review of Social Psychology, 36(1), 162-194. doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2024.2334563
Read next
- What does dopamine do for motivation?What dopamine does for motivation, why a dopamine detox or 30 day reset does not work, and what helps when your phone keeps pulling at you.
- Why do I never finish what I start?Why the middle of a task is where most people stall, why the finish only pulls once it's in sight, and how to get through the middle.
- Why do I always choose instant gratification?Why what feels good now wins from what you want later, what dopamine has to do with it, and how to change the moment it tips.