Why Do I Keep Skipping Exercise When I Know I Need To?
October 7, 2026
Contributors
Robbie Stahl
If you know you need to exercise, you've got a lot of company. One of our clients told us:
"Well, I know I need to exercise. But I'm afraid because my knees have pain."
Everything before “the but” is what you know you should. Everything after it is why people don't start.
My own mom has reasons like that, the same as most of us do. They're thoughts that pull away from the things that would help. One day I asked her one question about those thoughts, and she couldn't answer it.
I'll tell you exactly what I asked her in a moment. Before I do...
You Already Know You Need To. That Was Never the Missing Piece.
Before The Fitness Doctor served people around the world online, I coached people in person. I'd ask someone to adjust their knee or their pelvis, and they'd do it right there in front of me. Then I'd watch out the big windows of our facility as they walked to the car the old way.
Knowing what to do didn't change how they moved. Exercise works the same way.
You know you need to, and you want to. A client told us, "I just want to make sure I'm not hurting myself. Because I'm very willing to do the exercises."
So telling yourself you have no motivation aims at the wrong thing.
When people quit exercising, it's rarely because the motivation ran out. Most of the time, what they were doing felt bad.
So the decision to skip gets made somewhere else.
You Don't Know Why You Put It Off. The Back of Your Mind Decided First.
Putting it off rarely feels like a decision. One client said, "It's more like, oh, not right now. I'll do it later."
There's no argument and no big refusal. There's just a quiet "later" that sounds reasonable at the moment you hear it.
The back of your mind decides before your body ever moves. You never hear it decide. You hear the reasons that come later. They’re the reasons that sound good to you… and to anyone who asks.
"I'll do it later" is one of those reasons, which is why arguing with it goes nowhere.
I've watched this in my own family. I've been trying to help my mom for years, because she's my mom.
One day, when one of her thoughts that pull away came up, I asked her to name one good thing it was going to do for her. I told her if she could, I'd jump right on that bandwagon with her.
My mom couldn't name one. Those thoughts aren't her. They're the back of her mind trying to keep things familiar, the way everyone's does.
Why? Because a thought that pulls away isn't there to move you forward. It's part of the story you've been telling yourself, and the back of your mind wants to keep that familiar story going.
So you might decide to ask yourself something a little different: What is "I'll do it later" doing for you right now? And as you do, you might notice your own answer starting to show up.
Skipping gives you something, and often it's relief. Later means today gets to stay just the way it is.
When you say "later," what is it really about for you?
Afraid of Making It Worse? That Fear Has a Reason.
A client told us, "And then I couldn't run. And then I was afraid to do yoga. So I just didn't do anything."
Walk through it with me. First, something happened to the body.
Then fear moved in. Then nothing happened at all, because doing nothing felt like the safest choice.
When the hurt is still hanging around, holding back doesn't always feel like fear. One of our clients told us: "So I'm not consistent either. Maybe that's the issue. I still feel like something's going on."
This client's first guess was that not being consistent might be the issue. The real worry came right behind that guess: Something's still going on.
That worry doesn't come out of nowhere. When a move hurts, your body gets the message that the area is damaged, and it starts using that area less.
The hurt and the fear get stored right along with the move. Until that area moves well again, your body keeps acting on both.
So the next time you think about moving, the fear shows up with the thought. Holding back doesn't feel like a choice. It feels like common sense.
And every time moving and hurting show up together, your body learns to expect them together. That's why I teach that every exercise you do should feel comfortable.
Each comfortable move gives your body something new to store: I moved, and I was fine.
The hard part is knowing which moves are safe for your body.
You're Still Active. What's Missing Is Knowing What's Safe.
You're still active: A walk most days, your stretches in the morning, the things you enjoy. You just don't call it exercise.
So you aren't starting from zero. You just don't know what's safe for your body to do even more of, so you hold back. One client said, "I used to go to the gym, but I said, without real training, you don't know if you're doing something wrong. So I just don't."
How Can You See What's Holding You Back?
Before you go any further, get a scrap of paper and a pen.
Go ahead, I’ll wait.
You'll split that paper into 4 boxes and fill them in. I walk our members through this sheet, and it shows you, in your own handwriting, what's been going on in the back of your mind.
Across the top, write: How I emotionally relate to exercise. Then draw a line down the middle and a line across to create 4 boxes.
If you'd rather print the sheet, download it here.
The left side of the sheet is for everything that pulls you toward moving. In the top left box, write: What skipping costs me. In the bottom left box, write: What I like about moving.
The right side is for everything that pulls you away from moving. In the top right box, write: What I don't like about moving. In the bottom right box, write: What I like about skipping.
Then fill in each box. Write what you feel, not what you think you should feel.
When you're done, compare what you wrote on the left side with what you wrote on the right side.
First, see which side has more on it. Next, find the feelings that are strongest for you, and see which side they're on. If the right side has more, or holds your strongest feelings, there's your answer to why you keep skipping exercise when you know you need to.
Then read the right side again. Somewhere on it, in your own handwriting, is what "later" is really about for you.
Keep the sheet. Look at it at least once a week, and add to the left side whenever something new comes to mind.
How Do You Know Which Moves Are Safe?
The sheet can show you what's been pulling you away from moving. It can't show you which moves are safe for your body. A client told us, "I need somebody to watch me do it and say, no, you're not doing this right."
My wife, Patricia, needed someone to watch her move, too. She's brilliant with technology, but understanding how her own body moves wasn't her strong suit, so she worked with our team in person.
Still, she didn't know what her own feet and knee were doing until we recorded her on video and showed her. Within about three months, what she knew about how her body moves started to grow.
Once someone shows you how you move and which moves are safe for your body, you stop guessing and start doing more of them. That's how you get your strength back.
The next time "I know I need to" shows up, let it finish the sentence. Ask it one more question: What's really holding me back? Whatever answer comes back, you'll know which box on your sheet it belongs in.
Read your top-left box one more time. If what skipping costs you matters more than what you like about skipping, you already know your next step.
If the answer is that you don't know whether you're doing it right, that's the one thing the sheet can't settle for you. In a Functional Movement Consultation, two of our top Fitness Doctor Experts watch how you move on a live video call from your home. Then they show you which moves are safe for your body to do more of. The consultation is $297, and it runs a full hour, sometimes longer.
It's one call, from your own home, and you leave knowing which moves are yours to do more of.
Robbie Stahl
