You know the type. They are in their sixties or seventies, visibly fit, moving easily, and when you ask them what their exercise routine is, they look at you blankly. They do not have one. They do not go to the gym. They do not run. They do not follow a program. And yet they are in better physical shape than most people half their age who have gym memberships they use three times a week.

They are not lucky. They are not genetically gifted. They have built a life that moves.

The research has a name for this. It is called non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, and it may be the most important concept in fitness that almost nobody talks about.

What NEAT actually is

Research by James Levine at the Mayo Clinic defined NEAT as the energy expended for everything that is not sleeping, eating, or sports-like exercise. It includes walking to work, typing, performing yard work, undertaking agricultural tasks, and fidgeting. Even trivial physical activities increase metabolic rate substantially, and it is the cumulative impact of a multitude of small exothermic actions that culminate in a person’s daily NEAT. For the vast majority of people, even avid exercisers, NEAT is the predominant component of activity-related energy expenditure.

The variation between individuals is staggering. Research published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology found that NEAT can vary by up to 2,000 calories per day between people of the same weight, primarily due to differences in lifestyle and occupation. The majority of the world’s population does not participate in formal exercise. For them, it is not variable exercise levels but rather the variance in NEAT that accounts for most of the variability in total activity-related energy expenditure.

The people who stay fit after 60 without a gym membership have simply built lives where NEAT is high. Here are the ten habits that do it.

1. They cook their own meals

Cooking is a full-body, low-grade physical activity that most people do not think of as movement. Standing, reaching, chopping, stirring, bending to get things out of the oven, moving between counter and stove. A person who cooks two meals a day from scratch is on their feet and moving for an hour or more without ever thinking of it as exercise. The person who orders delivery is sitting the entire time.

2. They maintain their own home

Vacuuming, mopping, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, making beds, tidying. A review of NEAT as a component of total daily energy expenditure noted that if obese individuals adopted the NEAT-enhanced behaviors of their lean counterparts, they could expend an additional 350 calories per day from these numerous small activities. Household maintenance is one of the largest reservoirs of daily movement available, and the people who outsource all of it are removing one of the most reliable sources of physical activity from their lives.

3. They garden

Gardening involves squatting, kneeling, digging, lifting, carrying, bending, and walking, often for hours at a stretch. It is weight-bearing, it requires balance and flexibility, and it happens outdoors. For many fit older adults, the garden is not a hobby. It is an unintentional full-body workout that they do because they enjoy it, which is why they have been doing it consistently for 30 years. Consistency is the variable that matters most in fitness, and enjoyment is the variable that predicts consistency.

4. They walk as transportation, not exercise

They walk to the shops. They walk to visit friends. They walk to the post office. The walk is not a workout. It is how they get places. This distinction matters because it removes the psychological barrier of motivation. You do not have to talk yourself into walking to the grocery store the way you have to talk yourself into going for a 30-minute walk for health reasons. The movement is embedded in the task, not attached to it.

5. They take stairs as a default

Not as a fitness decision. As a habit. They simply use stairs when stairs are available, the same way they use doors when doors are available. It is not a choice they make each time. It is a default that was set years ago and never reconsidered. That automaticity is what makes it sustainable. The moment you have to decide whether to take the stairs, willpower is involved. When it is a default, no willpower is required.

6. They carry things

Groceries, laundry baskets, grandchildren, bags of soil, firewood. They have not outsourced the physical labor of daily life to delivery services and convenience tools. They still lift, carry, and transport objects as part of their routine. This provides natural, functional resistance training that maintains grip strength, bone density, and the kind of practical strength that prevents falls and injuries as you age.

7. They stand more than they sit

Research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that NEAT movements could result in up to an extra 2,000 calories of expenditure per day beyond the basal metabolic rate, and that the benefits of NEAT include not only extra calories expended but also reduced occurrence of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. Simply standing rather than sitting is one of the most impactful NEAT behaviors. The fit older adults tend to be people who stand while talking on the phone, stand while reading, stand while cooking, and default to standing whenever sitting is not required.

8. They have active social lives

They meet friends for walks rather than coffee. They play with grandchildren on the floor. They attend community events that require getting up, going out, and moving around. Social activity that takes place in physical space, rather than on screens, is inherently movement-rich. The fit older adult’s social calendar is also, without them thinking of it this way, a movement calendar.

9. They do their own errands

They go to the bank, the pharmacy, the hardware store. They do not batch all errands into a single car trip for efficiency. They make multiple small trips throughout the week, each of which involves getting up, getting dressed, walking to and from the car or walking to the destination, moving through a store, and carrying items back. Efficiency is the enemy of NEAT. The person who optimizes their errands into one weekly outing has also optimized the movement out of five days.

10. They have a purpose that requires their body

This is the one that ties all the others together. The people who stay fit after 60 without formal exercise are not just moving more. They are moving for reasons that matter to them. The garden matters. The home matters. The meals they cook for their family matter. The grandchildren they pick up and carry matter. The community they walk through matters. Their movement is not separated from their life and packaged as a workout. It is woven into the fabric of a life that has purpose, and their body interprets that purpose as a reason to stay capable.

Levine’s original research on NEAT noted that epidemiological studies highlight the importance of culture in promoting and quashing NEAT. Agricultural and manual workers have high NEAT, whereas wealth and industrialization appear to decrease it. The modern world has systematically removed movement from daily life and then told us to add it back in the form of structured exercise. The people who stay fit after 60 simply never made that trade. They kept the movement where it always was: inside the life itself.

That is not luck. That is architecture. And it is available to anyone willing to build a life that moves instead of a schedule that exercises.

Five requirements. Seventy-five days. No breaks and no room for mistakes.

That’s the premise of 75 Hard, a challenge created by entrepreneur and author Andy Frisella and marketed as a “transformative mental toughness program” and “an ironman for your brain,” according to his website.

Chicago runner Sarah Lyons learned quickly how demanding the rules could be.

On paper, the daily checklist seems straightforward: Follow a structured diet with no alcohol, drink a gallon of water, read 10 pages of nonfiction, take a progress photo, and complete two 45-minute workouts, one outdoors, every day for 75 consecutive days.

In practice, the routine can take over your schedule and your life.

The challenge includes several healthy habits such as daily movement, reading and hydration, but experts say its rigid, all-or-nothing approach may undermine the long-term behavioral changes it promises.

For people drawn to 75 Hard, the goal shouldn’t be perfection but building habits you can keep when life inevitably gets messy, according to experts. Here’s what they say should be taken away from this challenge — and what could be left behind.

One of the program’s defining features is its strictness: Miss one task and you restart the entire challenge, whether you’re on day 2 or day 74.

The website discourages modifications, saying that “compromise nerfs off the sharp edges of what could be an exceptional life.”

Before she started her first 75 Hard challenge, Lyons “felt stuck in a rut both physically and mentally.” Initially drawn to the structure of the challenge, she was looking for something to help rebuild discipline and momentum.

But that structure can backfire.

“Sustainable fitness isn’t about punishment or proving discipline through extremes — it’s about building habits that integrate into your lifestyle in a way that feels supportive and repeatable,” said CNN fitness contributor Dana Santas, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports.

Forcing a restart after one deviation, Santas said, can reinforce a cycle of perceived failure rather than building durable behavior changes — especially when real life inevitably intervenes through travel, illness, family obligations, weather or simply an off day.

That mindset may also affect eating behaviors. It can contribute to binge eating, disordered eating patterns, negative body image and negative self-talk, warned Bethany Doerfler, senior clinical research dietitian at Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Institute in Chicago.

People may also define “slip-ups” differently, she added, creating a potential gateway to unhealthy behaviors.

Lyons said the rigidity sometimes created stress in her own life, too. During her first attempt, she said there were many days when she delayed tasks until late in the evening, which added pressure rather than making her feel healthier.

With that strict framework in mind, experts say it’s worth separating the challenge’s healthier building blocks from the parts that may be risky or unsustainable.

One important note: Before beginning any new exercise program, consult your doctor. Stop immediately if you experience pain.

One element of the 75 Hard that does allow flexibility is the way people eat. Participants choose their own diet. That could mean Mediterranean, Paleo, cutting ultraprocessed foods or another structured approach.

But experts stress that any diet change works best when it’s designed for real life.

If you’re considering a structured eating plan, Doerfler points to the Mediterranean diet. It emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts, uses plant-based fats, and limits ultraprocessed foods and desserts, she noted.

Lasting dietary change usually requires a lifestyle shift — and consistency matters more than intensity. “Patients often benefit from a routine strategy which reduces friction for lifestyle change,” she said.

Doerfler recommends setting aside one or two days each week to wash and cut produce for meal prep and snacks. She suggests having a plan for social settings so eating out feels manageable rather than stressful.

Lyons, the runner, said her diet evolved between her two attempts at the challenge. During her first round, she followed a strict whole-food, plant-based diet. During her second attempt, she focused on eliminating processed sugars, fast food and baked goods while still including meat and fish.

But she also noticed the rules changed how she navigated food socially. Lyons said she became cautious about eating out and often avoided restaurants because she felt anxious about potentially breaking the challenge.

Alcohol and water: One clear benefit and one major red flag

Food rules may be flexible in 75 Hard — but the drinking rules are not.

Participants must abstain from alcohol and drink 1 gallon of water each day.

Cutting back on alcohol can improve how you feel and lower your risk of cancer, heart disease, liver disease and memory problems to list a few, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The water requirement, however, raises concerns among experts.

“I do not recommend drinking this much water,” Doerfler said. She noted 1 gallon is 16 cups of water. Experts recommend 9 cups of fluids for females and 12 ½ cups for males. Combined with a strict diet and increased exercise, there is a great risk of developing an electrolyte imbalance, particularly sodium, she said.

Symptoms of hyponatremia, or having abnormally low sodium levels in the blood, can include seizures, muscle cramping, nausea and vomiting according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Hydration needs vary widely depending on body size, activity level and climate, Santas said. While drinking enough water is important, rigid daily targets without guidance can disrupt sleep or contribute to electrolyte imbalances if large amounts of fluid are consumed quickly.

Lyons said the gallon rule often felt excessive. The frequent bathroom breaks often disrupted her routine and didn’t always feel necessary from a hydration standpoint.

Because the program requires two workouts a day, hydration and recovery can become even more important.

Participants must complete two 45-minute workouts every day for 75 straight days — and one must be outdoors. This is where experts see some of the biggest physical and behavioral risks.

During her first attempt, Lyons quickly realized that using the outdoor workout primarily as a walk would be more feasible.

“Two high-intensity 45-minute workouts each day would not have been realistic for me long term ,” she said.

Santas pointed to the US Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, which recommend 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity (or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity), with an emphasis on customization, progressive overload, recovery and sustainability.

“The 75 Hard structure far exceeds the recommendations and doesn’t provide any individualized guidance or programmed recovery,” Santas added.

The program’s claim that it works for everyone “regardless of physical fitness” may not hold up in practice, Santas said. Professional athletes or people with highly flexible schedules might manage it, but for many people balancing work and family, the structure can be unrealistic.

Even for those who complete it, Santas warned of overuse injuries, excessive fatigue and burnout due to unclear intensity guidance and zero recovery days.

Lyons experienced that challenge firsthand during her second attempt, which overlapped with training for the Boston Marathon. Long marathon runs can last 2 to 3 ½ hours and because the challenge prohibits combining workouts, she often had to complete a long training run plus an additional 45-minute workout.

On some days, this resulted in four or more hours of exercise.

It was “physically and mentally exhausting and ultimately unsustainable,” she said. In hindsight, she would not recommend pairing 75 Hard with marathon training. She found herself avoiding the gym because she needed physical and mental recovery, she added.

Lyons also questioned the rigidity of the outdoor-workout requirement. During her 2025 attempt, she was living in Chicago during winter, when temperatures occasionally dropped below zero. Exercising outdoors in extreme conditions felt unsafe and impractical, she said, and while she still completed two workouts daily, she chose to prioritize safety and consistency over strict adherence to that specific rule.

If the extreme discipline of Hard 75 isn’t the best way to build lasting habits, what does science-based research show?

“Habits are behaviors that we enact without deliberation,” said Dr.
Katy Milkman, James G. Dinan Endowed Professor at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Imagine everyday routines like shampooing your hair or making coffee in the morning she said.

Habits are formed through repetition. The more often we repeat a behavior, the more likely it is to become habitual and go on autopilot, added Milkman, the author of “How To Change : The Science of Getting From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.”

“They’re formed through positive associations and rewards,” she said. Picture your caffeine buzz after drinking a coffee or getting paid after you complete your work, these habits are often triggered by a common cue like a location, time or even smell.