Did you make a fitness resolution on New Year’s Day? Have you re-upped your gym membership? How long do you think you’ll keep it up this year? Will you make it past February? If you don’t already engage in regular exercise activities, working up the motivation to do so could be challenging. In fact, experts recommend you take baby steps to build up your motivation and (hopefully) enjoyment of exercise by setting specific goals, finding a meaningful reason, bundling your exercise with a fun activity (like binging a tv series while on the treadmill) and overall, being kind and patient with yourself. But let’s face it, some of us will never be able to create or sustain a regular fitness routine. Either we just can’t get ourselves to the gym, we really don’t enjoy the equipment and routines required by a class, or maybe, we just lack the passion to sustain a regimen that feels more like punishment than pleasure. If that sounds like you, then what can you do to stay active and keep moving? Because as you know, exercise and physical movement are essential for healthy aging- perhaps the essential factor in allowing us to stay physically and cognitively strong as we head into our later years.

Well, there’s hope for you yet. Because this year, it appears that experts and enthusiasts alike are more focused on finding what works for you than prescribing what tradition reflects. In fact, if there’s a theme to this new year’s exercise advice, it’s “do whatever works for you.” In fact, in an effort to help you find your passion, The New York Times has started a new series called Why Not Try. Among the activities they suggest in order to create your own fitness routine are rowing, battle ropes, paddle boarding, and pickleball. If you think you’re too old or too set in your ways, or even too unathletic to take up some physical activity, then get inspired by these four writers who tell the tale of their journey from inertia to high energy by finding a physical activity they could get passionate about. 

But if these potential activities hold little appeal, there’s something else we can suggest. New research published in the journal Nature Medicine reports that just 1-2 minute periods of vigorous (leaving you momentarily breathless) physical activity 3 or 4 times a day, while you’re going about your regular daily activities, can be enough to significantly reduce your risk of premature death from cancer, cardiac disease, and other causes. Known as VILPA (vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity) these brief bouts of heightened physical exertion (like adding a brief power walk while on your daily stroll or pushing yourself to go faster up the stairs) can significantly prolong your life. While we’ve previously introduced you to the concept of NEAT activities as a way of calculating your movements while just going about your usual routines, with VILPA, by adding a bit of intense movement during the day, you can really achieve many of the health benefits you would otherwise strive for with more formal fitness routines. That’s not to say if you’re already exercising you should give that up in place of VILPA but what it does suggest is that everyone can raise their health benefits by briefly upping the intensity of their daily activities for short bouts. For more on this research, click here and for a humorous take on VILPA, read here.

Finally, if you are willing to just do one exercise, what should it be? Experts recommend that squatting is the one thing you should regularly do, as it mimics the essential movements you need to conduct your daily affairs, including using the toilet, sitting at the table, and getting in and out of the car. For the essential benefits of squatting your booty, take a look here.