--- title: The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder description: Setting a personal record can push you without adding undue pressure. canonical: https://time.com/7202529/how-to-set-personal-record-excercise-pr/ author: Matt Fuchs article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-01-02T15:32:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-10T23:18:24.650Z article:section: Health og:title: The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder og:description: Setting a personal record can push you without adding undue pressure. og:url: https://time.com/7202529/how-to-set-personal-record-excercise-pr/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2611e48525a517/698878be2dce01143e9e74e3/stop-watch-fitness-health-time-betterment-exercise.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: stop-watch-fitness-health-time-betterment-exercise-motto-stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder twitter:description: Setting a personal record can push you without adding undue pressure. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2611e48525a517/698878be2dce01143e9e74e3/stop-watch-fitness-health-time-betterment-exercise.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Matt Fuchs](https://time.com/author/matt-fuchs/) ## Matt Fuchs Matt Fuchs writes about science, health, aging, and well-being. His Substack is Prime Factors and he is a 2026-2027 Knight-Wallace Fellow. Jan 2, 2025 3:32 PM UTC  Molly Cranna for TIME by [Matt Fuchs](https://time.com/author/matt-fuchs/) ## Matt Fuchs Matt Fuchs writes about science, health, aging, and well-being. His Substack is Prime Factors and he is a 2026-2027 Knight-Wallace Fellow. Jan 2, 2025 3:32 PM UTC Years ago, stress kept Hannah Eden up at night before her CrossFit events. Beating her competitors “meant everything,” she says. But having a baby changed her mindset. Training for a half-Ironman in Hawaii, she focused less on the competition, and more on her own performance. “I was so grateful just that my body could do this, eight months postpartum,” she says. Feeling less pressure, she [excelled](https://www.instagram.com/hannaheden%5Ffitness/p/C7w6-EMPT4t/?img%5Findex=1), finishing the June race at a surprisingly fast pace. “It was such an individual journey,” she says. Like Eden, I’ve been chasing my (far less impressive) personal records lately: I run a 5K at an empty high school track every weekend, stubbornly trying to beat my fastest time ever, which I set years ago. I check my pace and, if I’m near my personal record, I push through agony to try to break it. My quest for a “PR,” as it’s called, is more exciting than going through the motions at the gym, and the extra exertion is boosting my cardio. Despite the empty track, I’m not alone: TikTok and Instagram are full of posts on PRs for [running](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/runningpr), [lifting weights](https://www.tiktok.com/tag/personalrecord?lang=en), [punching reflex balls](https://www.tiktok.com/@uziboxing/video/7184519696585149742?lang=en), [deep-sea diving](https://www.tiktok.com/@mudycreator/video/7445024035525741842?lang=en), and everything in between. “PRs are absolutely trending right now,” Eden says. Meanwhile, fitness trackers, smart machines, and coaches help people choose the right PR goals and achieve them. “With self-quantification becoming more precise and accurate, people enjoy the feedback,” says Hengchen Dai, an associate professor who studies decision-making at UCLA. Findings from Dai and others are pointing to a new science of PRs and how to nail them. ## Why PRs boost motivation People become more motivated and [excel](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016136) more when they set specific goals. PR goals can work especially well because they’re precisely tailored to your ability. “A personal best is tuned to an almost perfect level of personalized difficulty,” says Ashton Anderson, a University of Toronto associate professor of computer science who’s studied PRs in chess. “Beating your PR is achievable, but by definition it’s difficult, since you’ve never done it before. This calibrated difficulty gives personal bests their motivational power.” With PRs, “you’re not seeking approval from a peer group,” says writer Oliver Burkeman, who emphasizes personally meaningful goals in his book, [_Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals_](https://www.amazon.com/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Management-Mortals/dp/0374159122/ref=asc%5Fdf%5F0374159122?mcid=e9cf246db08a305d8217cdc589175ed2&hvocijid=3424751110131773217-0374159122-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3424751110131773217&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1018688&hvtargid=pla-2281435177178&psc=1). “Like the stoics, you focus on what you can control, without tormenting yourself over what you can’t.” **Read More**: [_What to Expect at Your First Therapy Session_](https://time.com/7201659/what-to-expect-therapy/) Competition with others, by contrast, may [distract](https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.2116723) rather than motivate. “If you don’t measure up, you could be improving but still feel like a failure,” says Andrew Martin, a researcher of motivation at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Seeking a PR involves fewer unlucky breaks and clearer outcomes. (PR goals help [students learn](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1041608015300376), too, Martin has found.) Of course, some people thrive on rivalries with others—think Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, or Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Both PR goals and external competition “can facilitate performance in the sports arena, classroom, and workplace,” says Andrew Elliot, a psychology professor at the University of Rochester. People with [competitive personalities](https://explore.bps.org.uk/content/bpssepr/1/1/17) and higher skill levels may benefit uniquely by testing themselves against opponents. Elliot, for one, gets “tremendous enjoyment” from the challenges of his peers. Such competition and PRs aren’t mutually exclusive; it’s often helpful to get elements of both, [studies show](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167214523475). Over the long haul, though, people who concentrate more on PRs [may enjoy](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1017836/full) [more intrinsic motivation](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029222000024), well-being, and steady devotion to their goals, Elliot says. “Social comparison can demotivate us and feel threatening, leading to burnout,” says Ilana Brody, a PhD student and Dai’s collaborator at UCLA. ## How to go for a PR ### Choose the activity PRs help with intrinsic motivation partly because they let people be creative. What you do and how you do it are totally up to you. BJ Fogg, a social scientist at Stanford University and author of [_Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything_](https://tinyhabits.com/book/), recommends choosing an area where you’re naturally proficient. Fogg is “terrible” at endurance races, so he goes for PRs involving shorter bursts. “I’m oddly good at one-minute sprint rowing,” he says. Or you could pick more of an uphill battle. Running 5Ks enticed me _because_ I’d never shown much talent for it. Similarly, Eden wondered if finishing a half-Ironman just months after giving birth was hopeless. Barely able to run a mile at first, what intrigued her most was that the goal seemed nearly impossible. **Read More**: [_Should You Tape Your Mouth Shut When You Sleep?_](https://time.com/7177855/mouth-taping-benefits-sleep/) Such PR-striving enables self-discovery—separating self-imposed limits from what you’re truly capable of—and this is why many are drawn to them, suspects Eden, who helps people achieve PRs as an [iFIT and NordicTrack trainer](https://blog.ifit.com/all-star-trainer-hannah-eden/). “Doing hard things is becoming cool again,” she says. And many get ideas about what’s achievable by watching others on social media. “Maybe you don’t have the typical runner’s body shape, but you see someone who looks like you posting their time,” Eden says. Perhaps you’re a runner after all. ### Pick a benchmark After choosing the activity, set your sights on a specific measure. Beginners might pick a PR goal just slightly better than their previous best. Such a win garners social-media bragging rights, and it’s deeply satisfying—if the PR [celebration dances](https://www.instagram.com/evanblaked/reel/Cz6nnmNLasn/) are any indication. You can add a stretch goal for further improvement. Find stats on the performance of people your age and fitness level, and choose a measure reflecting these stats. It should seem like a step change beyond your current ability but feel _just_ reachable with 2-3 months of dedicated training. “It makes a difference if you find your reference group, and then within that, you can have multiple levels to try for,” says Alex Karwoski, a [Peloton instructor](https://www.onepeloton.com/instructors/APelo%5FK) and former Olympic rower. **Read More**: [_What to Do if You Have Sleep Apnea_](https://time.com/7176245/sleep-apnea-treatments-cpap-machine/) “The goal should be challenging but realistic,” Dai says. People often appreciate round numbers, like going for an hour-mark in a marathon, because they’re easy to remember—plus they simply look more significant, Brody says. Another [strategy](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901) is to identify new PR goals at the beginning of a week, month, or year—perhaps 2025?—especially after periods of subpar performance, Dai has [found](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597816308056?casa%5Ftoken=AU2mmF0aDckAAAAA:KiifnIv94sl0XO1ZOwfXZT3wXeONU1p5DuxIyPRKDgg7M7WxHa28j0l9EEBfP2bcJjeWxVet). “These moments really make people feel different from their past self, increasing their confidence to do better going forward,” Dai says. ### Game-day The day of your PR attempt, get fired up. Right before my 5K runs, I listen to Eric Thomas’s motivational speeches. His over-the-top style (“You have to want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe!”) cracks me up, but his voice echoes in my head as I run. And I push harder. Visualize success and dress the part. [Research](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5351796/) [shows](https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4438&context=etd-project) that visualizing peak performance can help enable the real thing. Dress like a champ expecting greatness—maybe gold shoes like Usain Bolt to achieve your PR for fastest walk ever. Write a [letter](https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-12196-004) of congratulations to your future self, another research-backed approach. **Read More**: [_What to Know About Orienteering, the ‘Thinking Sport’_](https://time.com/6278281/orienteering-health-benefits-brain/) The beauty of PRs is they happen in unexpected ways. Maybe you fell short of your PR for consecutive pushups, but your fitness tracker reveals another type of PR: pushups on a record-number of days that month. Fogg looks for these surprise PRs. “I’m tricking myself in a way because I’m only looking at the successes, but seeing the successes motivates me to keep going.” It’s also useful to focus on PRs for smaller activities that support an overall goal. Fogg wanted a new PR for pull-ups, so he created a “tiny habit” of hanging on the pull-up bar to build his grip strength. Some days, he’d hang for just 5 seconds, but most days he could do more, eventually managing a PR of 1 minute, 15 seconds. The additional strength enabled record pull-ups. “If you’re very consistent with doing a habit, you’ll make progress and achieve things you wouldn’t otherwise.” ### Celebrate After achieving a PR, celebrate to “help yourself feel successful,” Fogg says. Once you start looking for PRs, you may spot them everywhere, along with more opportunities to celebrate—like a PR for the slowest mile ever run while smiling the whole time. Or a PR for most attempts at a PR without achieving it. I _didn’t_ beat my 5K time for a PR for a record 46 tries. On try 47, I succeeded, but I’m just as proud of my perseverance PR. Don’t celebrate so much that you start avoiding the activity. After a PR, people tend to quit while they’re ahead, fearing they’ll do worse next time, Anderson has [found](http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1706530115). This sacrifices the opportunity to build on momentum. ## Family record? Competing against yourself, instead of others, may seem like a recipe for loneliness. Fortunately, the “personal” part of PRs can be interpreted loosely; families or communities can strive for PRs together. After dinner, a family could team up to set its fastest time for clearing the table, dishwashing, and taking out the trash—and get a light post-meal workout in the process. I’m working on a father-son 5K PR with my nine-year-old (he runs 1K, I cover the rest). Karwoski’s fitness-oriented family tries to beat its previous times when circuit training together. Karwoski also competes in team relays, sharing “personal” records with his runner friends. ## Don’t push too hard A PR goal can be [counterproductive](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1017836) if it threatens your self-esteem. “It’s strange how some people turn leisure into more work” by going for PRs in exercise, Burkeman says. Although he thinks many people probably benefit from PR goals without any downsides, Burkeman notes that the PR chase is inherently endless. “It’s always going to be true that, at any point, you haven’t exceeded your most recent personal best. If the goal always slips away, that’s a tough way to live.” Too much PR tracking can [backfire](https://academic.oup.com/jcr/article-abstract/42/6/967/2358309), research shows. “Although measuring your behavior and progress can increase time spent on those actions, it can also undermine intrinsic motivation to succeed,” Brody says. **Read More**: [_Rock Climbing Is a Thrill. It’s Also Really Good for You_](https://time.com/6256185/rock-climbing-health-benefits/) Enjoy breaks for mental and physical recovery. Successful athletes “welcome distractions into their lives,” says Karwoski, the Olympic rower. “They do better long-term because of it.” An instructor can recommend training tips and milestones toward PRs. [Some](https://www.facebook.com/ifit/photos/set-a-new-personal-record-today-ifitlife/1015865918454070/) [exercise machines](https://www.onepeloton.com/blog/pr-workout-meaning/) connect to real-life coaches (like Karwoski and Eden) and [AI coaches](https://www.onepeloton.com/shop/guide/guide-us) focusing on PR goals. Eden preaches “progressive overload”: gradually increasing training rather than ramping it up too quickly, which causes injuries. Fitness trackers like Fitbit [build](https://www.trainingpeaks.com/partners/fitbit/) workouts based on people’s goals, fitness level, and stress. To avoid injury and burnout, rotate your PR goals seasonally. I find that fall weather is good for running PRs. In winter and summer, I shelter inside my gym for PRs in strength training, [balance](https://www.instagram.com/justinagustin/reel/CJrjMofj-w2/?hl=en), and [flexibility](https://www.instagram.com/thehowpt/reel/DCCm8kXv0Yn/). Spring is ideal tennis weather, ripe for a most-matches-played PR. ## Seasons of life As people get older, it’s often harder to achieve PRs, but that can depend on how the PR is framed. At 61, Elliot’s muscle mass has declined, affecting his ability to exercise the way he used to. Now, he frames his goals around trying not to lose his capabilities, rather than setting PRs. These maintenance goals—trying to preserve old PRs as much as possible, rather than achieve new ones—are [less motivating](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9216083/), research shows. “It’s not ideal,” he says. Fogg, who is also 61, knows he can’t do as many pull-ups as his teenage self. But he’s staying motivated by reframing the situation, looking to hit his PR for this decade of life. “Twelve pull-ups is my personal best for my 60s,” he says. So far. “Resetting the target is so important with age and as a mom,” Eden adds. Older amateurs may compensate by becoming more strategic about training. Anderson notes that chess players’ raw cognitive ability starts declining around ages 30-35\. “But for nearly all amateurs, there’s so much strategy to pick up, they can still improve throughout their lives,” he says. As it applies to fitness, this would mean that PRs remain possible if people keep learning how to excel in their chosen activity. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7202529/how-to-set-personal-record-excercise-pr/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7202529/how-to-set-personal-record-excercise-pr/"},"headline":"The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder","datePublished":"2025-01-02T15:32:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-10T23:18:24.650Z","description":"Setting a personal record can push you without adding undue pressure.","url":"https://time.com/7202529/how-to-set-personal-record-excercise-pr/","keywords":["Exercise & Fitness","freelance","Evergreen","healthscienceclimate","feat-audio"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0f2611e48525a517/698878be2dce01143e9e74e3/stop-watch-fitness-health-time-betterment-exercise.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Fuchs","jobTitle":"Matt Fuchs writes about science, health, aging, and well-being. 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