American lifestyles are becoming increasingly sedentary. Consequently, diagnoses of health conditions related to sedentary lifestyles are on the rise in the United States. While Americans’ participation in physical activity has decreased, gym memberships have recently hit an all-time high (IHRSA, 2014; Ng & Popkin, 2012). How can this contradiction be explained? We hypothesize that while many Americans have good intentions when signing up for gym memberships, they lack the psychological skills needed to overcome physical and psychological blockages that often interfere with establishing consistent, committed behavior change. When used to address psychological blockages associated with the development of exercise habits, mindfulness- and acceptance-based practices can help exercisers establish the consistent, high-quality exercise practices required to experience the health benefits of exercise and physical activity.

Just as air, food, and water are necessary for the well-being of the human body, so too is exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, 2014) has identified many health-related benefits associated with regular exercise, including improved cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, body composition, and flexibility, as well as decreased cardiovascular disease risk factors, morbidity, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, engagement in regular exercise has been shown to promote and support motor and cognitive development, hormone release and regulation, and generation of neurons in the brain (Ratey, 2008).

Despite the well-documented health benefits of regular exercise, America's growing reliance on comfort- and convenience-oriented technology has dramatically stripped physical activity and exercise from many Americans’ daily lives (ACSM, 2014; Ng & Popkin, 2012). In a 2012 study, Ng and Popkin quantified physical activity trends organized in five domains (sleep, leisure, occupation, transportation, and home-based activities). Ng and Popkin (2012) found that Americans’ physical activity levels fell dramatically from an estimated 235 MET hours per week in 1965 to an estimated 160 MET hours per week in 2009. Based on these data, Ng and Popkin (2012) predict that Americans’ physical activity levels will fall to an estimated 142 MET hours per week in 2020 and an estimated 126 MET hours per week in 2030.

As a result of Americans’ decreasing physical activity levels, incidences of health conditions related to sedentary lifestyles have risen dramatically. Health survey data reported by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS, 2006, 2014) estimates that American adults’ (ages eighteen to seventy-five) body mass indexes (BMI) have steadily increased since 2005.