The Key To Sticking to Your Workout? It’s Presence

What if your best fitness motivator isn’t willpower, but presence?

A new randomized controlled trial out of the University of Derby in the UK has uncovered a powerful shift in how we think about exercise motivation, especially for those of us focused on staying strong and mobile later in life. The study found that adding mindfulness training to an exercise routine helps boost people’s exercise motivation and enjoyment.

In other words, instead of pushing ourselves to exercise with hype and pressure, we may need to root down into the present moment and move from there.

For Super Agers looking to preserve energy, mobility, and independence for decades to come, this is more than a mindset shift. It’s a longevity strategy.

The Research on Presence to Build Momentum

The 2025 study, published in Mental Health and Physical Activity, randomized 127 UK adults into two groups: one received a traditional step-count intervention; the other received the same step-goal program plus a four-week digital mindfulness course.

Both groups increased their physical activity by the end of the intervention. But the mindfulness group stood out in one critical way: they reported significantly higher motivation to continue exercising after the trial ended. They also expressed greater enjoyment of physical activity, more confidence in their ability to stay active, and stronger alignment between their movement goals and their core values.

This boost in autonomous motivation, which is the type that comes from internal desire rather than external pressure, is exactly the kind that predicts long-term behavior change. But more importantly, it emerged from consistent present-moment awareness, not from getting “psyched up” but rooted down.

Presence Is More Powerful than Pressure

As we age, physical activity becomes even more essential for cognitive function, metabolic health, joint mobility, cardiovascular strength, emotional resilience, and social connection. But even knowing all that, it’s easy to fall out of routine due to pain, fatigue, scheduling changes, or a drop in motivation.

What this study tells us is that presence may be more powerful than pressure. Instead of chasing fleeting motivation, we can learn to create momentum through awareness.

Mindfulness training doesn’t just help us enjoy movement more. It also helps:

• Reduce the judgmental thoughts that arise when we “miss a day”
• Increase our connection to why movement matters (not just what we should be doing)
• Create more flexible, compassionate mental routines that support consistent activity over time

In short, mindfulness helps us move from grounded intention—not guilt or hype.

Try This Micropractice: Rooting Into Movement

Here’s a quick practice drawn from the intervention used in the study. It’s simple, science-informed, and takes less than two minutes.

1. Before your next walk or workout, (or when you think you don’t have time to work out) pause for 30 seconds.

Close your eyes or soften your gaze. Feel your feet on the ground. Take a breath.

2. Ask yourself:

• How do I want to feel right now?
• What matters to me about staying active today?

3. Set an intention using grounded, present-focused language.

• “I move to feel strong and alive.”
• “I walk because it clears my mind.”
• “I stretch to stay limber and connected to myself.”

This quick mindset shift helps build momentum from within.

Consistency in movement is one of the most powerful levers we have for living longer, better. But consistency doesn’t always come from willpower. It comes from presence, and from the act of showing up in the moment, reconnecting with your “why,” and taking one step at a time.

As we shared in an earlier article: Don’t chase motivation. Create momentum. And the fastest way to create momentum? Start where you are. Be where you are. And move from there.