Push: Unlock the Science of Fitness Motivation to Embrace Health and Longevity

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Harmony/Rodale/Convergent, Feb 3, 2026 - Health & Fitness - 256 pages
Top sports medicine physician Dr. Jordan Metzl illustrates the impact of fitness motivation on your long-term health—and delivers a mental and physical plan to help you push back against unhealthy motivation, create a sustainable exercise blueprint, and rekindle your love of movement.

We know now that low fitness is as big a health risk as diabetes, hypertension and smoking—and that physical activity improves both your lifespan and healthspan. And yet society is at brutally low fitness levels, with nine out of ten people “metabolically unhealthy.” Why aren’t people motivated to do the one best thing for their own health and longevity? Push explores the murky waters of motivation, for good and for bad. How do you transform motivation to stay on the couch and skip workouts into an irresistible desire to tie your sneakers and get moving?

Understanding the science of healthy and unhealthy motivation is at the heart of Push, and Dr. Metzl’s career-long obsession. He’s spent more than 25 years helping people stay properly motivated by combining medical and fitness expertise. Push examines why your brain is the way it is, helps you understand how your unique motivational profile works, and gives you the tools to move past understanding into action, including:

• The three ingredients of healthy motivation—knowledge, emotion, belief—and how they intertwine in your brain to get you moving.
• How to define and embrace a positive relationship with exercise that will last.
• A quick, repeatable self-test to see where you fall (and improve!) on the motivational spectrum.
• A four-week Push Plan to solidify your day-to-day, moment-to-moment motivation foundation and help you push through difficult times.
• How to build your own total-body strength workouts from more than 80 anywhere/anytime exercises.

With Push, Dr. Metzl gives you the skills to recognize and harness your fitness motivation for lasting health.
 

Contents

Push Yourself
16
Motivation Is a Big Word
24
Rescuing Your Motivation from Bad Influences
34
Knowledge
49
Emotion
62
Belief
76
Community
90
Preparing for the Push
101
Your Exercise Prescription
115
The Best Exercises No One Can Put
124
How the Plan Works
133
Weeks 1 Through 4
142
10 on the Big List
158
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
203
INDEX
219
Copyright

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About the author (2026)

Jordan D. Metzl, MD is an internationally recognized sports medicine physician, bestselling author, and fitness instructor who practices at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He lectures around the world and founded the first physician-led online fitness community, IronStrength, with more than 50,000 members. He created the Ironstrength Workout, a functional fitness program for improved performance and injury prevention that he teaches in fitness venues throughout the country. An elite athlete himself, Dr. Metzl is also a 40-time marathon runner and 14-time Ironman finisher.

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