Butler students exercising at the Health and Recreation Complex. Photo courtesy of Butler University. 

AVA ROEMER | OPINION COLUMNIST | aaroemer@butler.edu 

With 2026 kicking into high gear, a lot of us are feeling that sense of inspiration and motivation that this is going to be the year we take care of ourselves and our bodies. You know, the only ones we get in this life. 

This isn’t a 20-step guide on how to completely transform your body. I do not believe that you need an extensive exercise regimen, an unrealistic diet or a 12-step skincare routine in order to look and feel your best. In fact, by simply walking thirty minutes every day, you will improve not only your physical body, but also your mood, cognition, memory and sleep. 

This semester, I am working on intentionally exercising at least three times a week. I am not focusing on walking, cycling or lifting for a specific amount of time. For beginners, a good place to start is simply familiarizing your body with the habit of routinely going to the gym.

In fact, full-time Bulldogs receive a RecWell membership, as well as full access to our facilities and equipment. Having the accessibility of a full exercise facility on campus is just one more reason for us to incorporate exercise into our daily routines.  

Walking anywhere from five to 30 minutes has been my goal thus far. It’s not about how long or how aggressively I exercise, it’s the fact that I am intentionally choosing to exercise. 

First-year biology major Lauren Hauersperger discussed how everyone should incorporate some movement into their daily routine. 

“Even just walking on the treadmill for five minutes, stretching or cleaning your room, that’s movement,” Hauersperger said. “Especially with mental health, [exercise] has a huge impact on it.”

The struggle of consistently exercising is the fact that we overthink it. For the longest time, I didn’t exercise because I thought I’d have to run for an hour or lift massive weights if I wanted to be fit. The reality, though, is that prioritizing intentional exercise in our lives is a habit we must ease into. 

First-year biology major Maren Degenhart, who plays for the women’s soccer team, talked about the importance of easing your way into exercise. 

“We’ve only had practice three days this week and we did that to ease into our school routine,” Degenhart said. “Even our coaches know you can’t go right to one-hundred percent, you have to start slow and work your way up.” 

If we stop thinking of exercising daily as a huge task that takes up all our time and all our energy, we won’t avoid exercise as much. In fact, once we start small and slowly work our way up, we might even begin to enjoy the art of exercising our bodies, because of how good we feel afterward. 

Getting into the routine of daily exercise is my biggest goal for 2026. However, a problem I’ve run into is the reasoning behind why I want to exercise. There is this whole concept of a pilates body, or a fit body physique, that is concerning to me. Exercising our bodies shouldn’t be about wanting to look like another person. It should be about wanting to look and feel the best version of you.

Allie Cox, a first-year speech, language and hearing sciences major, expresses the vitality of a positive mindset when it comes to exercising. 

“I feel like you have to find a healthy balance for [exercise],” Cox said. “Don’t work out because you hate your body. Work out because you love your body and you want your body to stay motivated and fueled.” 

It’s so easy to focus on the negative thoughts we all have about our bodies. Sometimes we use exercise as a way to punish our bodies, because they don’t look the way we want them to. However, we need to discard this mindset and look ahead to a more positive outlook on exercise — I’m going to exercise because I love myself, not because I hate my body. 

When you wake up tomorrow, don’t think about all the reasons why you shouldn’t exercise. Instead, without overthinking it, put on a gym outfit, go to the HRC on campus and walk on the treadmill for ten minutes. We don’t need to view exercise as this stressful, demanding job to get over with. Instead, we can change our mindset of “I have to exercise” to “I get to exercise” because we love our bodies for what they are right now.