As fitness professionals and enthusiasts, we spend a lot of time explaining why people should exercise. I could give endless reasons why exercise is beneficial for our cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, metabolism, and bone health. 

However, knowing we should exercise isn’t always enough to make someone want to. Most people know they should exercise; they don’t need to be convinced that it is healthy. So then the question becomes: why don’t they?

Perhaps part of our responsibilities is not only to help individuals reach their health goals, but also to help them uncover the “why” beneath them. 

What Do You Want Your Fitness to Make Possible?

Think about one of the first questions you ask when doing a consultation with a new client:

“What are your goals?”

Whether short-term, long-term, fitness-oriented, or aesthetic-oriented, all answers typically lack one common denominator: the “why”. 

Maybe they want to lose weight, or gain muscle. Maybe they want to do ten push-ups or be able to lift things safely. Or maybe it’s just what the doctor recommended. But what if we dove a little deeper?

Maybe losing weight really means they want to be able to play tag with their grandchildren. 

Maybe feeling stronger really means they want to keep up with their friends

Maybe lifting things safely really means they want to be able to help neighbors carry in groceries. 

There’s nothing wrong with these traditional fitness goals. Goals give us direction, measurable outcomes, and help us take that first step towards meaningful change. However, now imagine asking:

“What is building muscle going to allow you to do?”

“How is feeling stronger going to affect how you approach things?”

“What do you want your fitness to make possible?”

This grounds the goal in a meaningful, emotional connection that they may not have realized was there. Their initial goal hasn’t disappeared, but now it’s connected to something larger; something that is more personal. 

What Fitness Has Given Me 

When I think about what fitness has given me, physical health is only a small part of the equation. Being healthy is important, but it’s what health allows me to do and feel that I value most. 

Fitness gives me the energy to show up for myself and others. Not just physical energy, but the mental capacity to be present for the things and people that matter to me. It’s important to remember that taking time for yourself and your health is not selfish. It allows you to bring the best version of yourself to your work, relationships, and commitments. 

It also gives me confidence that I can do hard things, and courage to try new things. It gives me discipline, patience, and resilience. It also introduced me to wonderful communities and individuals. Ones that support each other, push each other, and foster growth. 

Lastly, I think one of the most important things fitness has given me is gratitude. Gratitude for what my body allows me to do and the opportunities that it brings me.  My body allows me to walk through the beautiful city I live in, hike to the top of mountains to admire the view, stand on the bus so someone else can sit, carry my groceries home, try new activities, and so much more. 

This is what I mean when I ask, “What do you want your fitness to make possible?” For me, fitness isn’t valuable because it’s healthy. It’s valuable because my health enables me to participate in the experiences, opportunities, and communities that make my life meaningful.

Bringing the Science to Life

This strategy isn’t meant to be a scare tactic, nor to suggest that exercise is guaranteed to prevent every health issue. However, if we can connect our health to our personal lives, rather than to the textbook definition of what will happen in our bodies, it might help individuals view it as non-negotiable.

The goal is to have people exercise not because they’re scared of what will happen if they don’t, but because it makes them feel good and allows them to keep doing the things they value most. 

Think about the different ways we cue our clients during exercises. They may not understand how to engage a certain muscle, so we change our language to make the concept more tangible. We can approach health topics in a similar way. “Maintaining muscular strength as you age” may feel distant and clinical. “Being able to play with your grandkids, stay independent, and travel” makes the value of that strength easier to visualize. 

It’s not straying away from the science but making the science mean more.

Finding the Reason Behind the Reason

At the end of the day, our job isn’t to replace our clients’ goals, just to help them find deeper meaning in them. We have the opportunity to help people find movement and exercise that fits into their lives, and that they enjoy. Fitness should support their life, not feel like it’s taking away from it. The goal is not simply to get people to exercise more, but to build a relationship with movement that benefits their lives. 

When we can connect what someone is working towards with why it matters to them, and help them find joy in that process, fitness becomes much more than just something on a checklist. It becomes a tool that helps them continue to experience and participate in the things that make their lives their own. 

So, maybe after asking our clients what their fitness goals are, we should follow up with that extra question:

“What do you want your fitness to make possible?”