Physical activity is one of the most accessible health tools available and yet most Americans still aren’t getting enough of it. It improves mood, boosts energy, supports better sleep and, over time, significantly lowers the risk of chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. The evidence has been in for decades.
So why, with all that knowledge widely available, are so many people still not moving?
As a physical therapist and rehabilitation scientist who studies how to increase movement in people living with chronic conditions and physical disabilities, she has spent years examining the gap between what people know about exercise and what they actually do.
Her answer may surprise you: education alone almost never changes behavior.
The gap between knowing and doing
People are constantly being told about the benefits of physical activity from national health organizations, their own doctors and a seemingly endless stream of wellness content online. But research is consistent that information alone does not reliably shift habits.
What does move the needle, according to decades of research, is something called self efficacy a concept introduced by psychologist Albert Bandura in 1977. It refers to a person’s belief in their own ability to carry out a task, even when it gets hard.
Someone with high self efficacy will find a way to get a workout in even when they’re tired or pressed for time. Someone with lower self-efficacy may abandon their routine entirely after missing a single session. Half a century after Bandura’s original work, self efficacy remains one of the most reliable predictors of long term physical activity.
And while there is no single method to build it, researchers have identified several practical strategies that consistently help.
For the approximately 194 million Americans already living with one or more chronic illnesses, the stakes are especially high. Beginning or maintaining an exercise routine has been shown to slow disease progression, reduce symptoms and improve overall health outcomes making self efficacy not just a wellness concept but a meaningful health tool.
4 strategies that can actually help
Make it manageable. Setting ambitious goals feels motivating at first but often leads to early burnout. Long range targets around weight loss or cardiovascular fitness can take months to show results and that timeline rarely helps in the tough moments. Short term goal setting, like committing to a set number of lunchtime walks during the workweek, creates visible, achievable progress that keeps momentum going.
In early 2026, the American College of Sports Medicine updated its strength training guidance for the first time since 2009, drawing on findings from 137 systematic reviews. Its most significant takeaway: consistency matters more than the specifics of any given program. In other words, the best strength routine is the one a person will actually keep doing.
Make it add up. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week and that total is meant to be spread out, not completed in a single session. Research confirms that short bursts of movement carry real health benefits and are far easier to sustain. A 15 minute workout during a child’s nap, a couple of stair climbs between video calls or heel raises while waiting for food to heat up all count. Every bit of movement adds to the weekly total.
Make it meaningful. The gym is not a requirement. Bird watching, gardening clubs and dancing in the living room all qualify as physical activity. Prioritizing movement that genuinely feels enjoyable dramatically increases the likelihood of sticking with it over the long term.
Make it social. Research shows that sedentary people increase their physical activity when they spend time around someone who is regularly active. Separate studies have found that group exercise helps older adults build self efficacy by tapping into the energy of peers. Exercising with others also helps reduce social isolation an added benefit that extends well beyond physical health.
Overcoming the real barriers
These strategies come with an important acknowledgment self efficacy is empowering, but it is not the whole picture. Structural barriers including lower socioeconomic status, limited neighborhood safety and lack of access to fitness programs make consistent activity genuinely harder for many people, and individual motivation alone cannot overcome all of them.
What research does confirm, however, is that small, consistent improvements carry outsized benefits. Perfection is not the goal. Showing up regularly even imperfectly is what makes the difference over time.
