Katy Bowman
Appearances
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Thanks for having me.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
it being good for you is not enough to motivate an individual. We all have really complex inner worlds and we are motivated by different things. We all have different values and certainly we all value, our health, but maybe not necessarily more than all the other obligations that keep showing up in our day-to-day living. So finding another way in to harness motivation is really key.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And what we tend to do is just say, it's really good for you. Well, no, it's really, really good for you. Here's more evidence. It's really, really, really good for you. And people aren't still uptaking that prescription. So we need a different way in.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Well, and that is the problem with framing movement, physical activity, exercise as something with future rewards. You're going to live longer. Your health numbers when you go visit the doctor next year are going to be better. It's really hard to orient yourself to something with a payoff that's so far down the line. So we need to change the messaging to,
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
This is something that makes you feel better today. This is something that gives you a boost of creativity, a boost of joy, more mental clarity. Maybe you value your productivity level at work. Maybe you value connection with your friends or your children.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So to reframe movement as a conduit to those experiences today is gonna be key in why someone can't use that, well, I might be hit by a bus tomorrow reason.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Well, the top derailers are gonna be time, I don't have enough time, a loss of motivation. Discomfort can be a reason that people fall off the movement wagon, so to speak. Um, more and more recently, I would say, environmental factors like I'm addicted to my phone, I, I, you know, I plan to do my morning walk. But now I grab my phone, that alarm goes off, and I start swiping.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And an hour later, I'm still, you know, looking through short form videos. And that was my my walking window, and I missed it. So those are the things that we see again and again.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Yes, and I think the industry also needs to change some of its messaging where our motivation, there are some people who are going to be motivated for aesthetic purposes, and then there's going to be people who are motivated by that boost of energy that they get or mental relaxation that they get, the fact that they feel better in their own skin no matter what it is.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So there's definitely been a shift of messaging around movement to transition from the idea of, the reason you move is for aesthetic purposes versus for all of these other not only health benefits that are not related to how you look, but are just based on how you function in a day to day basis that there's regular inputs in just that.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And you can track that like you can see as soon as you're done exercising, wow, I feel great. You feel great. It does not matter necessarily how you look in nine months from now. Again, those are those farther down the road benefits that we're talking about.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
what works for them what what what are the things that actually seem to work to get people started and then continue to exercise figuring out what your values are would be first you we have to use our values our internal values as sort of our north on a compass so that even when we don't feel like it we can muster, essentially.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So, you know, if you're a parent, you value perhaps taking care of your kid, but when the kid wakes up in the middle of the night and they're sick or they need something, you don't really want to do it. You're just like, oh, you know, I'm so exhausted. I'd rather stay here. in bed, but you value that so you get up anyway.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And so how do you recognize the values that you have around not necessarily exercise, but staying, keeping up your physical capacity. And once you identify those, then you can use those to sort of draft behind even when emotionally, you're feeling like you're not up to it. That's how you're going to motivate yourself day after day after day.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
I think I would look for... places of moving that are easiest for you so if going i mean going to the gym five days a week from nothing that's a really big goal that you set yourself up for so what if it was something more like i'm going to start taking a walk every morning and then you have to again draft behind those values so maybe it's like i noticed that if i
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
if you value connection with people in your family, it's like, I'm going to maybe ask my spouse or my child to get up and walk with me for 20 minutes in the morning. Or maybe you're going to walk your
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
kids to school or maybe you want to walk your dog because that's a high value is to making sure you take care of those animals and then you set up that practice with something that's doable that doesn't have as many physical stumbling blocks that's not so easily derailed and then maybe you're trying to get to the gym once a week so not over promising yourself is a big one and then also
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Staying flexible with what you are defining as exercise. So going to the gym five days a week, what is your plan for if your boss is requiring that you stay afterwards? Like, how are you going to adjust your entire schedule around this? spontaneous that thing that comes up.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And then once you tend to miss one, then you're like, are you to the point where you throw your hands up in the air and you're like, well, I can't do any of it because I missed Wednesday. Now, none of it's good. So now I'm not going to go Thursday and Friday. Or do you have a backup plan where, well, if I don't get to the gym, what I will do then is
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
I'm going to hop on my bike so that you're finding other domains of your life in which you can pepper in movement as opposed to setting it just aside for what we consider leisure time. Exercise is essentially a leisure time activity. The more we can distribute it through the other domains in life, the more likely you are to get those minutes of physical activity that you need.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
The reason we put this on the cover of the book is because it's so relatable.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So practically, practically speaking, I do question if it is right there. What would happen if you cleaned it off and actually put it in your way? And I think that this is something that, this is an aesthetic choice. I don't know how practical it is. But in my own home, for example, I have found too that the more Pieces of equipment are tucked out of sight.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
The more they are put into rooms that I barely go into, you know, with the best of intentions, I set up an exercise room in my house, but the more physical activity sits outside of the flow of your daily life, the less likely you are to interact with it. So I bring a lot of my pieces out into the living room. I have teenagers, and notice this as well with them,
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
The idea of stepping away from where other people are, I can absolutely recognize the value of a focused place for movement, but when you're trying to bring movement into your own house, it can get tricky because those dark spaces quickly become where you're throwing your laundry or you just have cobwebs. We sent out,
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
a photo contest of people sending in some of their equipment and we got pieces that had birds nests built into them because they had just been sitting in the garage, you know, sitting in their workout garage. And it was just a testament to the less likely you are to see it, the less it is in the flow of your day to day life, the less likely you are to engage. So scoot it out.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Um, don't throw your laundry on top of it or just recognize that maybe that's not the best situation. for you to motivate yourself.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
It's sort of like committing to going to the gym five days a week. It's a really big step. And so I do think that for many people, it's like, well, the gesture of a big investment is perhaps being confused with how big your motivation is to pick up that particular mode of exercise. So knowing yourself a little bit more here is gonna be a little bit more helpful.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So yes, you had the big intention, but maybe there wasn't as much thought going into the steps behind wanting to move more. So again, identifying your values, asking yourself what types of physical activity do you actually enjoy? Many people love going to the gym, like it's a great sense of community.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
That works for a lot of people, but if it doesn't work for you and if it's never really worked for you, maybe it's not that mode of exercise, maybe the reason the treadmill or the you know, the bike that you have in your house isn't motivating you because it's hard for you to choose movement within your house.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And so maybe it's better if you actually go to a place that has those pieces of equipment because maybe you're easily distracted in your home space. And so you need to rethink your approach in this case.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
It's absolutely better than nothing. So all movement counts. We just want to make sure that over time, doesn't have to be over the course of a day, but maybe over the course of a week or two, that you're thinking of all the different ways that your body needs you to move and try to blend them again through the different domains of your life.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Well, all of your joints, cycling through regular joint range of motion.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So that would be just, you know, you can look at it as stretching, but one of the things that I recommend is, you know, if you're gonna sit down in the evening, instead of sitting in that same shape that you do, you know, in your chair, in your car, where you're just always at that 90 degree hip and knee, you know, sit cross-legged on the ground.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Try getting up and down from the ground a few times just in the course of your day. Walking is another big one. Carrying, carrying, being able to load weight onto your frame, whether it's directly on your spine or it's really good to practice carrying in your arms.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And you could get that, you know, instead of pushing a cart at the grocery store, just hold that basket and load that weight up in there. And that's a practical way of getting a little bit of, you know, so-called weightlifting, but while you're doing something else besides exercise.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Well, I know that what happens is we have a bias in sort of recognizing the discomfort, the negativity, the effort of something, and sort of overly focusing on that when we first start. Because it does take a little bit for the benefits of movement to pay off, where especially if you are really focused on the negative aspects, you have to really choose to pay attention to
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
I feel really good right now. You know, like you're sitting there on the couch and it's so comfortable on the couch, you're doing your thing, the idea of having to get up and you perceive all of this negative effort.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
And then for anyone who's trained for anything, it kind of hurts, you know, exercise is that you're out of breath, you might be sweating, your body is kind of flopping around and you don't feel as coordinated. And so there's this period of time where The negative feelings sort of outweigh the positive benefit, especially if you're choosing to not focus on it when you're done.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
So one thing you could do if you know you're prone to the I don't wanna, it's so hard, it's uncomfortable feeling is just to, when you do it, savor That's a big psychological step is savoring the feelings that you have afterwards or maybe even the feelings that you have while you do it. Like, wow, I got outside. Look, the sun is so beautiful. I can hear birds.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
This is so much better than building a document on my screen. I'm away from my family and I'm getting a break. Or my family's right here and we're together. You're choosing to savor that. the feelings that you have while you're doing this bout of movement. And then over time, it doesn't take that long.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
You know, after a week or so, then you are going to start, yes, like you said, craving that feeling because your brain has been trained to pay attention to the positive feelings that happen while you're actually doing it. That negativity It's sort of like just a whiny kid who doesn't want to do the thing at front. Just know your body's going to whine. It's just, I don't want to go.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
I don't want to do it. I don't want to clean my room. I get it. We're grown adults. We don't want to have to do anything that we ourselves maybe didn't choose. But once you get over that whiny hurdle, then you become someone who has autonomy around movement and you want to do it, and then you can go from there.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
yeah you just don't see people going well that wasn't worth it taking that taking that evening walk wasn't worth it like these are just not sentiments that you ever hear but in your mind they are sort of like these psychological barriers that help justify continuing to sit in one space you sort of logically thought it out and can't imagine that it would pay off but it does it does every time i've never taken a walk i've never went for a bout of exercise and never regretted it
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
Thank you so much, Mike.
Something You Should Know
The Surprising History and Psychology of Board Games & Cracking the Fitness Code
What we tend to do is say, it's really good for you. Well, no, it's really, really good for you. Here's more evidence. It's really, really, really good for you. It being good for you is not enough to motivate. Finding another way in to harness motivation is really key.