Easy Ways for Caregivers to Motivate Sedentary Adults to Move More

Encourage activity through social time, simple routines and shared outings

Stacey Colino,

AARP

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Published April 07, 2026

a person trying to help another person move off of a chair

Kyle Hilton

Key Takeaways

Older adults may avoid movement because of pain, fatigue or fear, and pushing them can lead to power struggles.
Gentle, enjoyable strategies — like social activities and fun outings — help make movement feel natural.
Small, consistent steps, supported by patience, humor and positive reinforcement, can boost confidence and motivation.

As people get older, the use-it-or-lose-it phenomenon kicks in strongly, especially for mobility, balance, strength and other aspects of physical fitness. Adult caregivers often realize this, but sometimes it’s an uphill battle to get sedentary parents or other care recipients to stop sitting while they read or watch TV and get moving.

“We see this a lot, and it’s a difficult thing to overcome,” says Dr. Tori D. Gartmond, a geriatrician at the Patricia Bauman Center for Integrated Geriatrics Care at New York’s Montefiore Health System. The best approach, she says, is to “put yourself in the shoes of an older adult and meet them where they are.”

The first step is to consider why they may be reluctant to move more. It could be because they’re depressed or perpetually tired. Or maybe they’re in constant pain and they’re worried about exacerbating their pain by moving. Perhaps even that they’re afraid of falling.

On a very basic level, it also could be that they “don’t actually believe they’re going to lose it if they don’t use it,” says Barry J. Jacobs, a clinical psychologist in the Philadelphia area and coauthor of The AARP Caregiver Answer Book. “Don’t assume they put stock in what doctors and physical therapists are telling them. They may be skeptical about advice they may be given.”

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In addition, a study in a 2023 issue of the journal BMC Public Health found that a sedentary lifestyle among adults ages 70 to 97 is often based on their conscious choices, such as choosing to spend time reading in a seated position. For many of these adults, being able to make a conscious choice to be sedentary creates a sense of freedom and gives them a feeling of accepting their body.

Indeed, for many older adults, there may be a desire to assert their autonomy. They may firmly believe, This is still my life, and I get to choose how to live it. I don’t want to push myself to do things I don’t want to do, according to Jacobs.

Regardless of the underlying reasons for their sedentary behavior, “you don’t want it to become a power struggle,” Jacobs says. “The caregiver’s approach needs to be gentle and soft, with a certain amount of cajoling and humor.”

Here are creative strategies caregivers can use to help a loved one move more, without being overbearing or even using the word “exercise”:

Introduce temptation bundling.

The idea is to encourage an older adult to engage in a particular enjoyable activity — such as listening to a favorite podcast or audiobook or watching a certain TV show — only while using a stationary bike or elliptical machine, says Katy Milkman. She is a behavioral scientist and professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book How to Change: The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.

This makes the physical activity more enjoyable and creates a built-in reward for doing it, which can lead to positive associations and motivation to continue.

“One of the things caregivers can do is make the movement not seem like exercise or work,” says Robyn Culbertson, a board-certified clinical specialist in geriatric physical therapy in Columbia, South Carolina, and a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association. “It’s about finding something they enjoy so it doesn’t seem like work.”

Facilitate making it social.

Encourage the care recipient to schedule a regular walk or yoga class with a friend or neighbor, or to spend time working in a community garden with a group of people if they enjoy gardening. “When people are socializing, they’re more likely to do physical activity because it’s more enjoyable and they feel accountable to the other person,” Jacobs says.

Link movement to everyday activities.

This is also known as“piggybacking” or “cue-response mapping.” With this approach, think about cues that will work for the person as they go about their daily routines. This could include doing five chair squats immediately after standing up from the breakfast or dinner table, or doing a series of toe taps or shoulder shrugs while waiting for the coffee to brew. It could include balancing on one foot, then the other, for five seconds each while brushing their teeth, or standing up and marching or taking a lap around their home during a commercial break on TV.

Whatever the specifics are, this strategy can help turn these moves into automatic habits. “Incorporating it into daily activity makes it more palatable,” Gartmond says.

Do fun things together.

Solicit ideas from the care recipient for places they’d like to go see and plan accordingly. It helps to “make the ideas feel like they’re coming from them,” Gartmond says.

Or think about places and activities the care recipient enjoys — such as going to gardens, museums or a farmers market — and plan appealing outings for the two of you to go on together that involve walking (with or without a cane or rollator for your loved one). You could also suggest taking a walk to a nearby café, then taking a different way home — with the secret goal of getting more steps in.

“The spirit needs to be: Hey, let’s go do something together,” Jacobs says.

Whatever the destination might be, “try to frame it as quality time you’re spending together, as opposed to focusing on doing the physical activity they should be doing,” Gartmond says. “It’s making sure the end goal is what’s being accomplished.”

This way, the movement becomes incidental to the experience you’re enjoying together.

Have a contingency plan for bad weather.

If you can’t spend time outside because it’s raining or snowing, move your outing indoors — to a museum, a historic house or a favorite department or grocery store.

Another option is to do an at-home activity like chair tai chi together (there are lots of online videos). Besides this being a novel way to spend time together, “if the caregiver does it with the person, it gives them motivation to do it and it gives them something to mirror or mimic, which can make it easier,” says Culbertson.

Use positive reinforcement.

A psychological concept called behavioral activation focuses on the relationship between mood and behavior to counter negative or avoidant actions, Jacobs points out. In terms of physical activity, “when you get people moving, they tend to feel better emotionally,” he says.

You might point out that you noticed an upturn in their mood after they’ve taken a walk in the fresh air, for example.

Get the grandkids involved.

“Grandkids love to help and feel like they are part of things,” says Culbertson, and older adults usually love spending time with their grandkids. That’s why it’s a great idea to suggest they play an active game like cornhole, ping-pong, exercise bingo or freeze dance (where everybody dances while the music plays, then has to freeze in place when it stops).

“Anything that’s fun or reinforces relationships that matter to them is inherently motivating,” Jacobs says.

Remember: Whichever strategies you choose, start with small steps to add more movement to their lives, because every addition counts toward cumulative benefits.

“One thing I counsel caregivers about is having patience,” Gartmond says. “Your loved one has changed over the years. It’s important to stay calm and patient when you want them to do things that are in their best interest.”

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Stacey Colino is an award-winning writer, specializing in health, psychology and science. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, Prevention, Newsweek, Parade and many other national magazines.