Distance x Dollars — The Two Factors That Will Make You Exercise More

Exercise has to be convenient. A distracted mind can easily create an excuse not to go. In my 14 years as a sports scientist, I have heard them all. Those struggling to maintain momentum create opposing strategies to overcome each excuse but only two factors have the power to make you exercise more.

Using location-based data gathered from 7.5 million mobile devices, ad tech company Dstillery tracked how often people went to prominent fitness centres and how far they had to travel there.

The research found that just like the power of The Law of Food Proximity can influence your nutrition decisions; the power of gym proximity will influence your exercise decisions.

The most frequent gym goers had these two qualities:

They lived less than 6km from their training location.
They were members of premium gyms or training studios.
Short distance x high price is the formula for ultimate exercise success.

It may come as no surprise, but members of inexpensive gyms that are far from home had the lowest levels of exercise adherence.

If a training location is not close to you, investing more money can get you there. Individuals with high-priced memberships travelled on average twice as far as individuals with low-priced memberships.

The feature that higher-priced facilities offered that motivated people to travel twice as far wasn’t explored in the research.

But it’s clear that if a gym provides a better experience through access to high-quality instructors, better facilities, newer equipment, or additional benefits like steam rooms and sauna’s you are more than likely to make it there.

If the top tier isn’t in your budget, join the gym next door.